You've successfully completed proofs-of-concept using the cloud. You've staffed a cross-functional cloud tiger team to define standards. You've communicated broadly and won executive support. Why is your cloud transformation program stalling? If this sounds familiar, know that you're not alone. Many organizations experience program delays, with some delays lasting 12 months or longer. We spoke with leaders, project consultants, and engineers from mature organizations that have successfully accelerated through program delays. In this session, we discuss what we learned about why cloud transformation programs stall even when you do everything right and share nine best practices for avoiding or breaking through a delay.

1. © 2015, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Eric Tachibana, Professional Services
October 2015
ISM308
Keep Cloud Transformation on Track
Ten Best Practices to Avoid or Break Through
a Stalled Cloud Transformation Program

2. What to expect from the session
• Learn from research done by AWS Professional
Services to understand why many enterprise cloud
transformation programs stall in the field
• Discuss 10 best practices shared by enterprises
who were able to break through the stall

3. Most transformation programs
will stall in the field

4. Stall [stawl] verb
1.1 stop or cause to stop making
progress
1.2 (of a motor vehicle or its engine) stop
running, typically because of an overload
on the engine

5. accelerate
through the
stall
10%
experience a
prolonged stall
at around 20%
adoption
70%
never
recover
20%

6. Here is what we’d like to see
in a cloud adoption…

7. CUSTOMER 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
CUSTOMER 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
1 4 7 101316192225
CUSTOMER 3 CUSTOMER 4
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 4 7 101316192225
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1 4 7 101316192225
CUSTOMER 5 CUSTOMER 6 CUSTOMER 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 4 7 101316192225
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 4 7 101316192225
STALLED 9 MONTHS STALLED 18 MONTHS STALLED 8 MONTHS STALLED 18 MONTHS
STALLED 15 MONTHS STALLED 8 MONTHS STALLED 14 MONTHS
Jan 2013: What we actually saw in Asia
* Cheerio Score is used as a proxy for growth rates. However, it holds price drops and revenue outliers constant
ESCAPED?
ESCAPED?
ESCAPED?
STUCK STUCK
STUCK
STUCK
CUSTOMER 8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 4 7 101316192225
STALLED 16 MONTHS
STUCK

8. * Cheerio Score is used as
a proxy for growth rates
that hold price drops and
revenue outliers constant
Enterprises behaved the same way globally…
CUSTOMER 9 CUSTOMER 10 CUSTOMER 11 CUSTOMER 12
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
CUSTOMER 13 CUSTOMER 14 CUSTOMER 15
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
0
20
40
60
80
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
0
20
40
60
80
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
STALLED 20 MONTHS
STALLED 9 MONTHS STALLED 18 MONTHS STALLED 12 MONTHS STALLED 25 MONTHS
STALLED 15 MONTHS STALLED 10 MONTHS

9. accelerate
through the
stall
10%
experience a
prolonged stall
at around 20%
adoption
70%
never
recover
20%

10. That’s hundreds of
millions of dollars in
delayed transformation
each year

11. What if you could
escape the stall?

12. THE GOOD NEWS!
There are proven tools
we can use

14. S-curves are a natural law
of product markets
MARKETSATURATION

15. S-curves are made up of
groups of buyers

16. These groups share buying goals and
buying behaviors
herd
:

17. S
Because of the differences
between buying groups….

18. Several crises emerge in the process…
THE CHASM!!!
(this is the BIG one)
Crack 2
Crack 1

19. The Chasm
occurs because Early Majority and
Early Adopters are so different

20. It is new to the market
It is the fastest product
It is the easiest to use
It has elegant architecture
It has unique functionality
It is the de facto standard
It has the largest installed base
It has most third-party supporters
It has great support
It has low cost of ownership
s
What they want
is different
Early Adopters
Early Majority

21. What does all this mean for you?

22. Managers in enterprises BEHAVE THE
SAME as consumers in consumer
markets

23. The Great Stall is actually
Moore’s Chasm!!!

24. Accelerating through the Great Stall
is the same as Crossing the Chasm

25. 10 things you need to do differently
in your cloud transformation
program…

26. 01
Admit you’ve got a problem
What made your change initiative successful thus far
is not relevant for the next stage in adoption.
Next step
Do a lean-ux user persona workshop to understand
the early majority in your enterprise.

27. 02
Change and incentivize the team members
Your cloud enablement team is likely full of innovators,
led by an early adopter, and very poachable.
Next step
Bring in new team members who can open doors into
the Early Majority market, bring key supplementary
skills, and provide lots of positive reinforcement.

28. 03
Identify the beachhead
You need a strategic market entry project that you can
complete. Your victory will impress follow-on Early
Majority buyers.
Next step
Do a beachhead analysis workshop to develop your
decision rubric and analyze the context.

29. 04
Identify the bowling pins
Don’t boil the ocean. It’s about momentum, not volume.
Next step
Re-use your beachhead decision rubric, and run a
bowling pin analysis workshop.

30. 05
Re-position / Re-communicate
Change the communications script to speak to the early
majority psyche.
Next steps
Adopt a cloud-first strategy led from the top.
Throw out your existing communications plan and do a
new one.

31. 06
Re-prioritize the offering
Deliver the product halo and remember that
transformation != migration.
Next step
Revisit your MVP and start to experiment again with the
offering, but use a new group of target customers.

32. 07
Address Early Majority org ecosystem
Clear barriers proactively, and don’t bring a knife to a
gunfight – bring in experts here.
Next steps
Put cloud first into vendor RFPs.
Get on the front foot with finance and financial reporting,
security, legal, and procurement.

33. 08
Be heard and seen
Communicate wins. And then communicate wins. And
then after that communicate wins.
Next step
Develop a communications tactical plan that reflects
Early Majority values, and start delivering it.

34. 09
Lead, lead, lead
Leaders must stay engaged and visible. They must also
discipline with carrots and sticks.
Next step
Require middle managers to get certified, and
encourage senior managers to set examples by sitting
beside them.

35. 10
Automate
It was fine to do things manually in the early phase, but
that will never scale to thousands of apps.
Next step
Get your people trained with DevSecOps and
DevSecOps on AWS. Reuse a Bot Army like GE or a
Simian Army like Netflix.

36. Admit you have a problem
Change the team members
Identify the beachhead
Identify the bowling pins
Re-position
Re-prioritize the offering
Work on the ecosystem
Be heard and seen
Lead
Automate
Say what?!?

37. How can we help?

38. 01Consultancy Services
Accelerator Programs

39. 02Leverage customer-to-customer
contacts

40. 03
Broadly train. A few stars
cannot implement an all-in
approach alone

41. 04Facilitate vendor-to-vendor
collaboration

42. Remember to complete
your evaluations!

43. Thank you!

44. CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTIONS
Toilet Slide: https://www.flickr.com/photos/japokskee/
Money Slide: https://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/
Jumping Slide: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vinothchandar/
Book cover Slide: http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Edition-Collins-Business-Essentials-ebook/dp/B00DB3D81G
S-Curve Slide: http://www.technology.org/2013/06/25/the-long-road-for-electric-vehicles/
Lifecycle vis-à-vis s-curve Slide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations
Crossing the Chasm Bell Curve & Summary: http://www.slideshare.net/khberglund/crossing-the-chasm-henrik-berglund
D-Day Slide: http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/h_normandy.asp