Information technology modernization is a cornerstone of any sound business transformation strategy, especially with the risks and costs of maintaining legacy infrastructure now including potential security breaches and private data exposure. The world of digital transformation is rife with myths and misconceptions, and consultancy firm Bain & Company has recently published some insights seeking to shed light on the situation.
The article, titled “Countering the Myths That Hinder Cloud Adoption in Financial Services” may be focused on the financial industry, but any business considering making a move to the cloud may be held back by similar concerns. The authors take care to highlight and dispel six critical myths that often stop companies from pursuing a digital transformation of their business operations.
The first myth involves concerns surrounding data protection and privacy in a cloud environment. In reality, major cloud services providers offer strong encryption and key management to protect critical data, along with the ability to comply with privacy regulations. Service providers often build in capacity for regulatory compliance and controls, as well as data residency controls, in addition to AI tools that can help automate reporting - also putting to rest the second most common myth that moving to the cloud makes compliance more difficult.
The third most common myth involves the fear of becoming dependent on a single cloud services provider, with the costs and difficulties associated with typical vendor lock-in. Many larger organizations are finding themselves operating in a multi-cloud environment, and are ensuring flexibility by focusing on cloud services providers that ensure sovereignty for their clients.
Implementation and scoping constitute the fourth and fifth myths. The effective use of cloud management systems and API management layers dispel concerns about hybrid infrastructure complexities and provide additional capability to migrate core business functions to the cloud, offering agility and interoperability while leaving room to manage legacy technology.
The final myth touches on concerns that an agile transformation will not involve much planning, and could potentially disrupt the entire organization. By mandating a clear vision of the desired end state along with careful preparation, organizations can take a phased approach to their transformations, uncovering and addressing barriers along the way.
Ultimately, firms looking to foster a digital transformation will need to be equipped to address common myths and misunderstandings surrounding cloud technology if they want to take advantage of the greater speed, scalability, and flexibility of cloud-based applications. The insights offered in Bain’s report may help allay the concerns of those on the fence.
