Cloud Strategy and Action Plan

Do not fill in this field

Enter no text in this field

Get Instant Access
to This Blueprint

Business Email

Full Name

Company

Phone

Job Title

The cloud is more appealing than ever, but cloud strategies (where they exist) often lack critical information about skills and roles, governance, and financial controls.
Not all clouds are created equal, and the value propositions across service models can differ dramatically.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

You shouldn’t move a workload to the cloud unless you expect to benefit from cloud-specific features. If your justification for the migration is “it won’t be here anymore,” think again.
Clouds have different benefits – align your workload to the right one. Host with IaaS; build with PaaS; consume with SaaS.
The cloud changes roles – it doesn’t eliminate them. Even if you stick everything in SaaS, you’ll need someone to manage vendor relationships.

Impact and Result

Creating and employing a comprehensive framework for evaluating workloads’ suitability for the cloud using Info-Tech’s methodology will allow you to select optimal cloud service models (or colocation, on-premises, or managed solutions) and provide the high-quality service end users expect from IT.
Codifying risks tied to workloads’ cloud suitability and tying them to mitigations that can be employed to improve the likelihood of a successful cloud project.
Designing a cloud strategy to ensure that any cloud migration initiatives are successful in terms of governance, monitoring and reporting, financial controls, success factors, focus, people, and processes.

Cloud Strategy and Action Plan Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise executive brief to understand the components of a successful cloud strategy and how such a strategy can benefit you. Own the cloud or find yourself left behind!

Cloud Strategy and Action Plan – Executive Brief

1. Harness the cloud’s full potential

Evaluate and understand the strengths of different cloud service models. Use this information to optimally match workloads to service models – both cloud and non-cloud.

2. Develop a cloud strategy

Identify and mitigate the risks you will face as part of your cloud migration project. Outline the seven elements of a cloud strategy and populate the cloud strategy document.

3. Communicate your strategy and roadmap

Use the results of your cloud strategy exercises to plot initiatives on a roadmap. Proceed to create a consumable executive presentation to highlight the outputs of your cloud strategy project.

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

9.2/10

Overall Impact

$17,924

Average $ Saved

Average Days Saved

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

Testimonial

Ministry of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology

Guided Implementation

9/10

$7,799

Knowledge of the analyst was excellent!

Kappa Delta Sorority

Guided Implementation

10/10

$2,599

Best part - the thoroughness of the process and the use of the templates to help guide the strategy creation.

El Dorado Irrigation District

Guided Implementation

10/10

$6,299

Best: Scott provided great insight from a variety of factual and experiential data sources, which saved us time versus trying to locate and comb th... Read More

FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

Your Guidance is always appreciated , being able to look at the market from another perspective is always best practice. Looking forward to refini... Read More

Atrium Health

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

I have read some of John's work in the past and so I was happy to find out that he will be in the call. He is very technically knowledgeable. If an... Read More

Jubilee Holdings Ltd

Guided Implementation

8/10

$55,000

Virtual meetings can be depressing

Los Angeles County Development Authority

Guided Implementation

9/10

$32,499

Real Estate Council of Ontario 1

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Jeremy was very knowledgeable and approached the discussion in an easy to follow systemic way. His experience with other organizations and his abil... Read More

Virginia Department of the Treasury

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Very good information and data. Interesting speaker - always enjoy listening to Jeremy's content.

American Bankers Association

Guided Implementation

9/10

$37,199

Great insights, materials and forward thinking

City Of Fort Collins

Guided Implementation

9/10

$55,799

I love tapping in to some one else's expertise. I hate that I don't have the time I want to devote to this work.

General Dynamics Land Systems Inc.

Guided Implementation

7/10

$30,750

Jeremy was great in leading us through the content. In addition, he took the lead on creating some documents for us that really helped with our tim... Read More

Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau

Workshop

8/10

$6,199

If there is a means to fill out the speadsheets ahead of time, might be more efficient use of time.

Vancouver Island University

Workshop

10/10

N/A

BCNET

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation

Guided Implementation

9/10

N/A

The best part of my experience is the quick response time for feedback. No areas for improvement at this time.

Department of Commerce - National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

CPS Energy

Guided Implementation

9/10

$8,943

The degree of knowledge on the topic from the analyst on the call.

Spartan Controls

Guided Implementation

10/10

$30,000

SIG INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GmbH

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

National Life Group

Guided Implementation

10/10

$1,859

NAV CANADA

Guided Implementation

10/10

$25,000

The fact that this call provided us with a missing part of the puzzle. John was extremely knowledgeable and it's very helpful to get insights from ... Read More

EOH Mthombo (Pty) Ltd

Guided Implementation

9/10

$32,836

Best - the sample strategy document sent after the call. It supported the info shared during the call. Best - ability to ask questions & get immed... Read More

General Dynamics

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

Analyst was extremely knowledgeable and helped identify area to consider as we begin to develop a cloud strategy and roadmap

Christie?s Inc.

Guided Implementation

10/10

N/A

JSS Medical Research

Guided Implementation

8/10

N/A

Load More Testimonials

Workshop: Cloud Strategy and Action Plan

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: Harness the Cloud’s Full Potential

The Purpose

Select and evaluate workloads to move to the cloud.

Key Benefits Achieved

An understanding of where the cloud makes sense (and where it does not).

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Brainstorm a list of workloads to assess.

1.2

Align workloads to service models.

Service models by workload

1.3

Highlight which service model(s) make most effective use of resources.

Service models by workload

Module 2: Evaluate Cloud Risks and Create Initiatives

The Purpose

Develop a list of risks of a cloud migration, and mitigate them.

Key Benefits Achieved

An understanding of the requirements of a cloud migration.

Activities

Outputs

2.1

Learn about the wheel of risk.

2.2

Brainstorm risks likely to impact a cloud migration.

Risks matched to workloads

2.3

Develop risk mitigation strategies.

Specific mitigations

2.4

Create initiatives from mitigations.

Initiatives to plot as part of the roadmapping exercise

Module 3: Produce a Cloud Strategy Document

The Purpose

Create a cloud strategy document.

Key Benefits Achieved

A comprehensive strategy document that collates information on cloud benefits.

Activities

Outputs

3.1

Assess current state of cloud readiness.

3.2

Identify goal state.

3.3

Populate the cloud strategy document to align goals with workload considerations.

Cloud Strategy Document

Module 4: Create a Cloud Roadmap and Executive Presentation

The Purpose

Populate the cloud strategy roadmap and the executive presentation.

Key Benefits Achieved

A cloud strategy initiative map and executive presentation to communicate the results of the workshop.

Activities

Outputs

4.1

Use the strategy document to identify initiatives.

4.2

Plot initiatives on a roadmap.

Cloud roadmap

4.3

Create an executive presentation.

Executive presentation

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents