The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) is structured into a trilogy of phases: Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate & Modernize. The subject of this article is the inaugural phase, which involves evaluating your preparedness. Contemplating a cloud migration underscores the realization that its implications extend beyond the realm of development and operations. AWS acknowledges this reality, highlighted by the availability of the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), an instrumental resource designed to address these broader considerations.

AWS Cloud Adoption Framework

The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) plays a pivotal role in assisting businesses not only in the identification of pertinent personnel within their organizational structure but also in furnishing a suite of capabilities for these individuals to leverage. Notably, the framework also serves to pinpoint areas where the allocation of personnel or additional resources might be necessary. In the realm of cloud migration, a multifaceted approach is paramount.

In delineating its concepts, the AWS CAF categorizes these facets as "perspectives," encapsulating distinct capabilities owned or managed by stakeholders integral to the cloud transformation journey. In essence, it defines the roles that should be entrusted with specific responsibilities throughout the Cloud Transformation process. These perspectives encompass:

• Business
• People
• Governance
• Platform
• Security
• Operations

In the next sections, a comprehensive exploration of each perspective will be explored, elucidating the key stakeholders intricately linked to each facet.

Business

If your primary objective for this migration is limited to a mere "shift from on-premises to the cloud," you might need to reassess your approach. A cloud migration inherently represents a pivotal occasion to "Enrich your digital transformation aspirations and augment business outcomes through strategic cloud investments." While certain segments of the migration could involve a "lift and shift" approach, other facets might present opportunities for the modernization of your technological infrastructure or addressing accrued technical liabilities.

To fully harness the array of advantages of the cloud, the prospect of modernizing data, directing investments toward data science, refining product management practices, and undertaking portfolio management initiatives could become essential. It's imperative to underscore the significance of a well-crafted strategy in this context, complemented by the astute utilization of strategic partnerships.

Key Stakeholders for this perspective include: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operations Officer (COO), Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

People

One of the quotes that has significantly resonated with me over time is: "Change is the only constant." This sentiment particularly holds true in the dynamic realm of cloud technology. Adapting to change isn't always an innate strength for individuals. When transitioning your infrastructure to the cloud, the prospect for refinement and enhancement becomes virtually limitless. This requires a comprehensive transformation not only of your technological framework but also of your workforce.

The domain encapsulated by the people's perspective necessitates the harmonization of your organization and its cultural fabric towards the shared pursuit of perpetual growth and knowledge. An adept workforce capable of swiftly accommodating change and perpetually pursuing learning objectives will inherently possess the capacity to navigate the cloud landscape with remarkable agility.

Key Stakeholders for this perspective include: CIO, COO, CTO, Cloud Director, and cross-functional and enterprise-wide leaders.

Governance

With a unified alignment spanning the entire organizational hierarchy, encompassing top-tier executives through individual contributors, a significant surge in productivity becomes inevitable. In ensuring the sustained vitality of the organization, a paramount role is assumed by Governance. The Governance perspective encompasses the meticulous management of projects, financial aspects, risk mitigation, and the diverse array of responsibilities commonly associated with governance, including the pivotal domains of data curation and data governance.

For enterprises grappling with an expansive portfolio of applications and confronting multiple initiatives poised for implementation, this perspective emerges as the quintessential conduit for orchestrating these endeavors. Its role lies in effectively marshaling these diverse components and managing their seamless realization within a framework characterized by both safety and meticulous management.

Key Stakeholders for this perspective include: Chief Transformation officer, CIO, CTO, CFO, Chief Data Officer (CDO), and Chief Risk Officer (CRO).

Platform

The platform perspective delves into the technical intricacies underpinning your organizational infrastructure. While each organization boasts its distinctive configuration, established methodologies exist to expedite cloud adoption. This frequently entails the establishment of a hybrid cloud/on-premises setup.

Leveraging the potentialities within this perspective becomes instrumental in the architectural and engineering aspects of the platform. This process involves resource provisioning and orchestration, the integration of contemporary application development frameworks, data integration, and the assimilation of continuous integration and delivery.

Key Stakeholders for this perspective include: CTO, technology leaders, architects, and engineers.

Security

The Security perspective offers an array of capabilities crafted to ensure unwavering control over your organization's systems and data. This encompasses a spectrum of anticipated elements, including vulnerability management, incident response protocols, application security measures, threat detection mechanisms, and the vital domain of identity and access management.

The integration of this perspective guarantees the attainment of objectives: upholding data confidentiality, ensuring data integrity, and safeguarding data and cloud workloads' availability. This becomes acutely significant, particularly amid the migration process, wherein a hybrid environment emerges, hosting specific workloads in the cloud while retaining others on-premises. It's worth noting that AWS is equipped with the requisite tools and capabilities to orchestrate a seamless and secure confluence of these elements.

Key Stakeholders for this perspective include: Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), internal audit leaders, and security architects and engineers.

Operations

For a DevOps engineer like myself, the operations perspective resonates profoundly. This standpoint furnishes an array of capabilities to manage a spectrum of critical aspects, including incident and problem resolution, configuration oversight, application performance and capacity optimization, observability enhancement, and precision in change and release management. An emphasis on observability underscores the significant advantages that transitioning to the cloud holds for numerous organizations.

Within the cloud landscape, operational processes assume a heightened level of seamlessness. Many organizations converge on comparable technologies and methodologies, resulting in accelerated bug detection and the establishment of refined best practices. The cloud serves as a realm where infrastructure management attains unprecedented ease, a trend poised to amplify further as additional layers of abstraction are progressively incorporated atop the cloud architecture.

Key Stakeholders for this perspective include: infrastructure and operations leaders, site reliability engineers, and information technology service managers.

AWS Cloud Readiness Assessment

If you are in search of a robust starting point, I recommend exploring the AWS Cloud Readiness Assessment. Crafted by AWS and based on their extensive expertise in shepherding numerous organizations through cloud migration journeys, this assessment serves as an invaluable tool. Its purpose is to illuminate potential gaps in your state of preparedness. The assessment is structured around a series of inquiries encompassing 47 distinct capabilities integral to the six perspectives within the cloud adoption framework.

Conclusion

The Amazon Web Services Cloud Adoption Framework is a pioneering and meticulously devised framework, widely regarded for its industry prominence. It serves as a definitive resource to enhance the understanding of your organization's preparedness, facilitating the initiation of pertinent internal discussions. If you have completed the assessment and now seek to engage with seasoned professionals, rest assured that our expertise is at your disposal. Ippon Technologies is a distinguished member of the AWS MAP program and an AWS Migration Competency Partner. You can find more information about Ippon Technologies as an Advanced AWS Partner on their website.