Driving Business Agility on Microsoft Cloud with a Cloud Center of Excellence (CoE)

Even
as
cloud
spend
is
set
to

grow
at
a
CAGR
of
16.9%
and
surpass
$1.3
trillion
by
2025,
the
transformation
journey
is
riddled
with
challenges,
such
as
security,
governance,
compliance,
economics,
and
resourcing.
A
cloud
center
of
excellence
(CoE)
in
an
enterprise
can
make
a
big
difference
in
the
return
on
cloud
investments.

Cloud
CoE
adoption
has

increased
from
69%
in
2017
to
82%
in
2021,
demonstrating
its
role
in
value
creation.
To
work
effectively,
CoE
transformation
must
rest
on
four
key
pillars
—
innovation,
advocacy,
scale,
and
governance
—
that
can
accelerate
cloud
adoption
throughout
an
enterprise.

But
that’s
just
the
tip
of
the
iceberg.
Besides
technology
expertise
and
contextual
knowledge,
every
successful
cloud
CoE
revolves
around
these
five
tenets:

• 
  Being
  relevant:
  A
  cloud
  CoE
  must
  stay
  relevant
  by
  bringing
  a
  convergence
  between
  the
  long-term
  objectives
  (top-down)
  and
  immediate
  priorities
  (bottom-up),
  leading
  to
  a
  strong
  foundation
  that
  supports
  future
  strategy
  and
  mitigates
  risk
  and
  rework.

• 
  Staying
  connected:
  A
  cloud
  CoE
  must
  seek
  representation
  and
  involvement
  from
  across
  the
  business
  to
  improve
  buy-in
  and
  compliance.

• 
  Building
  a
  strong
  team:
  Various
  skills,
  ranging
  from
  cloud
  experts
  to
  business
  specialists,
  are
  required
  for
  the
  effective
  functioning
  of
  cloud
  CoE.

• 
  Innovating
  continuously:
  A
  cloud
  CoE
  must
  invest
  time
  and
  resources
  to
  identify
  digital
  capabilities
  to
  innovate
  and
  build
  ecosystems
  of
  the
  future.

• 
  Transforming
  culture:
  A
  cloud
  CoE
  must
  engage
  the
  security
  and
  risk
  groups
  within
  an
  organization
  to
  understand
  the
  hybrid
  landscape
  and
  ensure
  the
  identification
  and
  mitigation
  of
  risks.

Learn
more
about
cloud-driven
business
agility
on
Microsoft
Cloud
with
this
case
study
from
TCS.

About Author

AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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