Faces of Cloud Transformation

As a member of the Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE), part of your core tasks is defining the cloud strategy for your organization and governing its execution. You play a crucial role in creating the “new normal” of IT operation, helping to facilitate fast decision making and spreading cloud knowledge throughout the organization.

Read about the role, tasks and best practice tips of an Enterprise Architect in our first installment of our "Faces of Cloud Transformation Interview Series" with Hannes Lischka from ARZ Allgemeines Rechenzentrum GmbH.

What is your role and how do you see the topic of cloud transformation?

As an Enterprise Architect, I am part of innovative projects such as cloud or other agile transformations. I have learned that “cloud” is far more than just a technology. Cloud if successfully implemented shakes an organization from the basement upwards. I believe it is a matter of corporate culture and vision, and many people underestimate the amount of effort and change that comes to an organization.

Has there been a recent shift in tasks, responsibilities, and your role as an enterprise architect?

An Enterprise Architect in my opinion should move into an enabling position, she/he is one of few people to have a broad overview and insights few people have. Again, if the corporate culture supports this, wonderful things can happen. For that reason, I like the approach Gregor Hohpe describes in his book "Architecture Elevator". A really good read!

Who are the most important team members of a cloud transformation project?

Everyone, I would argue! As the word “transformation” implies, the whole appearance and shape of an organization need to grow with cloud adoption.

What are the core tasks of an enterprise architect in a cloud transformation project?

One main task of an Enterprise Architect should be to provide a good overview of the application landscape and its interdependencies. I would argue that that’s the fundamental task. In fact, you have to switch one part of that landscape into totally unknown territory. And again, this new territory needs to be modeled into the application landscape.

The important role of the Enterprise Architect in the transformation is keeping an eye on the application level. Just because it's technically feasible to move an application to the cloud, that does not mean that it makes sense from a security, compliance, and business standpoint. The Enterprise Architect needs to make sure that the 6R decisions of migration are well-founded for each application.

What are the success factors for an efficient cloud transformation?

In a nutshell: vision, people, and the will to change business fundamentally.

What are the biggest hurdles or difficulties?

Understanding, that change needs to flow into each vein of the organization. Another key challenge is to have complete information about an application, both from the technical and the business side, in order to make proper migration decisions. Another challenge is making fast migration decisions without getting stuck in analysis paralysis. One needs to come up with a ruleset for making migration decisions that are aligned to the cloud strategy - and then stick to that.

Both topics can be addressed with the appropriate tool support.

Are there ways to make your job easier? (e.g. 3 Tipps)

Acknowledging that Enterprise Architecture and change also have costs. If there is a cost center, things will run smoothly! Position Enterprise Architecture in a spot of the organization, where you are able to reach out into each detail of the organizational structure! Fund Enterprise Architecture!

What kind of cloud technology or trends do you find exciting?

I think many organizations will soon be facing multi-cloud scenarios. Organizing these scenarios to get the most out of the cloud experience is the most delicate and exciting thing.

Do you have any best practices or expert advice for enterprise architects at other companies?

Go into cloud transformation deliberately, with purpose and vision! The sky's the limit! Embrace change!

Quote: Hannes Lischka, Enterprise Architect at ARZ Allgemeines Rechenzentrum GmbH.

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