Global spending on the public cloud will grow by 23.1 percent in 2021, according to a Gartner forecast. That's an increase of $62.3 billion compared to 2020, and symptomatic of widespread cloud transformation post-pandemic. As Gartner's Sid Nag puts it:
'Emerging technologies [...] are becoming more mainstream and driving additional cloud spending. Simply put, the pandemic served as a multiplier for CIOs' interest in the cloud.'
Increased investment doesn't guarantee success. There's a clear willingness to move to the cloud, but good intentions only translate to successful outcomes if transformations are led by certified experts. The cloud, after all, is only as good as you build it.
Who should you trust to build your cloud environment, then? While the prospect of engaging a roster of different, highly-specialised service providers may appeal, there's a stronger argument for using a single partner that can do it all.
Here's why outsourcing your whole cloud transformation to one trusted partner keeps the process simple, agile and effective:
1. Continuity and consistency
A Harvard Business Review report set out to identify the "two big reasons that digital transformations fail". While miscommunication and a lack of planning did have a role to play, there was one factor that seemed to lie at the heart of poor IT ROI:
'Most of the leaders we surveyed [...] reported poor returns on their digital investments. The primary reason: unsuccessful efforts to scale digital innovations beyond early pilot work.'
In short, there's an inconsistency of effort and expertise on transformation timelines.
Early ‘pilot work’ is often successful, but distinct from later efforts to scale and improve. Using one provider to kick-off innovation and another to pick up where they left off creates unnecessary knowledge gaps, learning curves and process adjustments. That's to say nothing of the time saved on procurement administration.
Joining the two is crucial, so using the same provider that initiated the change to build upon it further down the line is a step in the right direction.
2. Close collaboration
Ideally, a 'trusted partner' will act as an extension of your IT team, and of your business as a whole.
Instead of spreading your communication efforts across several partners - or beginning a new relationship midway through a major digital change - it's simpler to focus on strengthening understanding between your business and a single service provider.
That partner gets the benefit of your focused attention. And, you get the benefit of a provider that's had the time to learn your business' idiosynchracies, all while building strong communication channels with your in-house team.
They'll then know far better which mission-critical processes to avoid impacting, how to align their efforts with business goals, and how to tailor their solution to the way your team works.
3. Exponential improvement
One of our clients demonstrates the value of monogamous cloud transformation partnership.
They engaged us with the goal of improving capability, functionality and growth.
We began by designing and deploying SOLMAN and S/4HANA. At the same time, we migrated business-critical processes from their previous Azure environment to a new subscription. Truly achieving their IT goals wasn’t restricted to SAP migration and modernisation, though — it’s an ongoing process of refinement.
Because we were there at the foundational step of a long term roll-out, we knew their infrastructure and application foundations intimately. To that end, we continued to work with their team beyond the initial transformation, managing key services like CAR, SLT, Gateway and Furi.
The transition from 'pilot work' to long-term maintenance and steady growth was a seamless one. This is because they didn't have to rely on a new provider to catch up with a transformation that was already underway.
Make one well-informed decision
Working with a single, trusted partner takes outsourcing beyond a transactional experience and creates space for it to become something more.
Here's what that client's CIO had this to say about our long-term transformation relationship:
'Centiq were one of the few providers with whom the technicians in my team really relished engaging. They…felt they were really learning from experts.'
Choose one expert partner, and you'll save yourself the trouble of speed-dating throughout your cloud transformation.
