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Many organizations prioritize investments in infrastructure for their future needs but often overlook the critical necessity of technical training and cloud modernization expertise for their workforce. Consequently, cloud transformation initiatives may struggle due to the lack of essential skills among employees. Amazon Web Services (AWS) assists clients in acquiring the requisite AWS Cloud skills to modernize workloads as their organizations evolve. The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF) outlines guidance through six perspectives essential for successful cloud transformation. Among these, the “People” perspective focuses specifically on developing capabilities that foster the growth of personnel within an organization.
In this blog post, we will explore how enhancing key capabilities within the People perspective of AWS CAF can contribute to sustained success in your mission.
The Long-Term Impact of Time on Organizational Capabilities
Under optimal conditions, an organization’s capabilities can decline over time due to employee turnover, technological obsolescence, and shifts in the macro-environment. When employees leave, they carry away valuable insights and knowledge acquired during their tenure. Furthermore, technologies and methodologies can become outdated, diminishing their effectiveness. Additionally, external factors like competitive pressures and innovation can render existing capabilities less relevant. Organizations facing diminishing capabilities might resort to shortcuts to stay competitive, leading to increased technical debt. For instance, an understaffed organization might feel compelled to update an outdated web platform but could end up using a coding language that, while functional, does not lend itself to modern application design methods. This shortcut can further entrench technical debt, impairing the organization’s ability to innovate and modernize.
Three Essential “People Perspective” Capabilities for Cloud Success
The People perspective of the AWS CAF acts as a vital link between technology and business, expediting the transition to a culture of continuous learning and growth. While the AWS CAF identifies seven capabilities within this perspective, three stand out as particularly important for nurturing organizational talent.
- Cultural Evolution
A significant challenge organizations often face is implementing long-term changes without disrupting immediate operational goals. The Cultural Evolution capability within AWS CAF seeks to harmonize these potentially conflicting goals by recognizing the current state and collectively evolving the culture for organizational advancement. This focus on culture is crucial for success in adopting new cloud capabilities, emphasizing the significance of employee values in retaining and implementing new cloud technology skills. Establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) can expedite cultural evolution and empower personnel to embrace change. Composed of key stakeholders, the CCoE determines organizational norms surrounding cloud adoption. The overall impact of cultural evolution can mitigate factors that lead to capability decline and enhance the effectiveness of other AWS CAF capabilities.
- Transformational Leadership
The effectiveness of any cloud initiative hinges on a well-executed plan backed by transformational leadership. This form of leadership requires C-level executive sponsorship and active involvement from director-level leaders to effectively communicate the organization’s cloud vision, priorities, and milestones. However, transformational leadership efforts can falter without management support or stakeholder buy-in. AWS provides a framework of best practices through the AWS Change Acceleration 6-Point Framework and Organizational Change Management Toolkit, which offers a structured and evidence-based approach to organizational change. This toolkit includes a comprehensive set of templates, guidelines, and tools designed to facilitate the transition to new operational methods during cloud transformation.
- Cloud Fluency
An organization’s cloud journey on AWS necessitates cultural evolution and transformational leadership, but it also requires the acquisition of new cloud skills and fluency. Cloud fluency encompasses the tactical capabilities and knowledge base of personnel within the organization. AWS provides various resources to help organizations cultivate cloud fluency among their teams. For instance, AWS Skills Builder features free and subscription-based courses covering fundamental AWS Cloud topics. AWS also offers self-paced labs through AWS Workshops and certification resources via the AWS Certification portal. Achieving cloud fluency involves understanding an organization’s existing strengths and identifying gaps; a Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA) can guide organizations in evaluating their baseline cloud readiness capabilities, helping them create a strategic roadmap for skill development.
Investing in Continuous Learning for Your Organization’s Future
Without a commitment to enhancing capabilities, an organization’s potential can wane over time. However, increasing investments in personnel to support continuous learning can foster a more adaptive organizational culture. Even if your organization has previously neglected investments in human capital, a renewed focus on the People perspective outlined in the AWS CAF—implementing cultural evolution, embracing transformational leadership, and achieving cloud fluency—can reverse the trend of declining capabilities. This capability adoption process can lead to innovation and modernization.
By strengthening organizational capabilities, clients can maximize their use of AWS Cloud services, leading to greater efficiency, resilience, and cost-effectiveness. More importantly, organizations with enhanced capabilities can shift their focus away from merely maintaining infrastructure toward innovating for their mission.
For further insights on adapting to today’s work environment, consider reading this blog post. Additionally, to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the future of work, check out this resource. For those interested in AWS’s hiring process, this is an excellent resource for your reference.