With the rising inclination towards cloud computing in recent years, many companies opt for different service providers. However, the popularity of AWS is second to none when it comes to cloud computing services. On the other hand, many organizations hesitate to adopt the AWS cloud due to the lack of the AWS Cloud infrastructure team.
Therefore, it is important to look at different factors to take into consideration for selecting a team to help you with the cloud transformation journey. The experience in technical capabilities and skills would not drive an effective cloud transformation journey for a business. One of the foremost and noticeable aspects here is the comprehensive paradigm shift that comes with the cloud transformation of businesses.
New to the AWS platform? Follow these simple steps and get started with AWS just like a pro.
Therefore, the following discussion would outline the important pointers for setting up the AWS Cloud infrastructure team. Also, a brief reflection on recommended best practices for the different stages of transformation to the AWS cloud is an ideal component of this discussion.
Preparing for AWS Cloud Transformation
The effectiveness of your AWS Cloud infrastructure team depends on your preparation before selecting them. The first thing for attention to preparing for selecting your team would be to take it slow. The starting from simple beginnings could help you focus on core objectives rather than pursuing prominent trends.
The next critical element for ensuring the selection of a credible team for AWS cloud transformation is the selection of a leader. The leader should follow a single thread and ensure the executive alignment of all the resources with the organizational objectives. Another important element for setting up the AWS cloud team is the distribution of responsibilities.
You need to plan out the team with an idea about the allocations of tasks and responsibilities for different personnel. Subsequently, you should also focus on certain given points such as business goals, an ideal cloud partner, and security objectives. The next important aspect of setting up the AWS Cloud infrastructure exam refers to establishing objectives related to security, compliance, and availability.
As Dwight E. Eisenhower had put it, “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” So, when you can prepare effectively with the right plan to select the team, you ensure the first step of a successful cloud transformation journey.
Also Read: List of Most Popular AWS Services
Points to Consider While Setting up Your AWS Cloud Infrastructure Team
Once you fulfill the different criteria for establishing an ideal team for handling AWS cloud infrastructure, you need to proceed. Here are the important pointers that can help you obtain better chances of success in cloud transformation.
-
Inducing cultural change
The foremost aspect that you should focus on creating the ideal AWS cloud infrastructure team is culture. As Peter Drucker has already put it, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” thereby implying that nothing is more important than culture in an organization. Cultural changes would be the first thing to hit the efficiency of an organization during cloud transition.
Therefore, the focus of the IT team on service delivery and the organizational objectives becomes very imperative in the event of cloud transformation. The team should follow a customer-oriented approach for dealing with the introduction, application, maintenance, management, and decommissioning of AWS services. As a result, businesses could stay away from the shadow AWS implementation, i.e., solutions that you think are the “best” rather than what the customer thinks are the “best.”
Regular roadmap meetings and individual consultations with different stakeholders and managers is a mandatory requirement. The feedback from these sources could provide insights to teams for optimizing the AWS cloud infrastructure of an organization. The element of communication is the most promising intervention for bringing out cultural changes in the cloud infrastructure team. Furthermore, the AWS team could adapt effectively to new roles, along with the benefits of better collaboration. The team should collaborate effectively across the design, architecture, and maintenance processes for AWS cloud infrastructure.
Also Read: AWS Security Best Practices
-
AWS infrastructure team and service team roles
The next notable pointer for ensuring a successful team for your AWS cloud infrastructure is role allocation. We know about the importance of role allocation from the tips to prepare for selecting a cloud infrastructure team. Therefore, you need to know the important roles that should be in a competent team for AWS cloud implementation.
The cloud infrastructure team should include personnel in different roles, such as data center operations, security, networking, architecture, and storage. The assignment of personnel in these different roles should depend on the criteria of professional experience and certifications. Candidates with hands-on experience in specific areas of cloud infrastructure should always be the first choice in the selection process.
Subsequently, you should also ensure the availability of a proper service team to support the infrastructure team. The appropriate roles in a cloud service team would include administrators, analysts, service owners, and service architects. An ideal supporting service team for the AWS cloud infrastructure team would have these mandatory roles. Even though the design of your AWS cloud service team could be different, these roles help in making a start. You can use these roles as an outline for developing your AWS service team.
Planning to migrate your cloud infrastructure to AWS? Check out these simple steps for AWS migration.
-
Selection of Amazon Partner Network (APN) partner
The third crucial pointer for considering before creating an AWS cloud infrastructure team is a trusted Amazon Partner Network (APN) partner. Credible and efficient APN partners could contribute to achieving a head start for your cloud transformation efforts. Most important of all, the APN partners can enable the cloud infrastructure teams of an organization for cloud adoption journey.
Apart from the delivery of technical services and products, APN partners could also ensure knowledge transfer. However, you need to establish such conditions in the contract for engaging an APN partner. You can find many APN partners with the facility of training for the whole team, and in certain cases, they provide training to team instructors.
-
Training is the key element
Training is one of the foremost prerogatives for professional development. Interestingly, it is one of the crucial requirements for AWS cloud implementation. You should try unique combinations of training opportunities for your cloud infrastructure teams. For example, a mix of informal and formal training regarding the AWS cloud transformation journey. The effectiveness of such modes of training delivery can be evident for businesses with employees having different learning styles. Some employees could show better learning outcomes in classroom learning settings.
On the other hand, certain employees could display exceptional performance through self-paced online training. Therefore, it is important to recognize the learning styles of potential participants in your AWS team. So, you should choose the right mode of training for the members of your cloud infrastructure team to ensure productivity.
Without some cost-saving tips and tricks, the AWS bill can make a big hole in your pocket. Here are the 8 Ways to Reduce Your AWS Bill.
-
Bringing in the big guns
One of the prominent recommendations among best practices for creating an AWS cloud infrastructure team is the inclusion of mission-critical staff. You may need all the expertise and experience you have at your disposal for an effective cloud transformation journey. Therefore, you could face the need for shifting mission-critical staff from their existing projects to the AWS cloud infrastructure tasks.
The dedication of total operational focus to your AWS cloud infrastructure team is a critical requirement for your cloud transformation. The support of experienced staff at the spearhead of the cloud transformation initiative can help in better results for enabling your team. Another helpful recommendation, in this case, implies the use of fully managed service providers to maintain a steady state.
-
Existing team members as mentors and trainers
Bridging the gaps within a team is the first initiative for team building. Therefore, existing members of a team should take responsibility for training and mentoring new members of the team. Businesses would always need new members in the AWS cloud infrastructure team. Why? The need for new perspectives and better productivity presents the most apt response to this case.
Therefore, the new members could have the right and relevant set of skills needed for maintaining the AWS cloud infrastructure. Therefore, splitting teams when the number of members reaches 12 and the addition of one new employee every two weeks is recommended. Splitting and bringing new teams helps in promoting the overall growth rate. Also, the facility of careful planning can help in the introduction of team members based on their practical AWS cloud experience.
-
Promote continuous learning
The final recommendation to achieve the perfect team for optimizing and maintaining a cloud infrastructure team is the promotion of continuous learning. You should focus on the promotion of cloud thinking, work methodologies, and operating models across multiple regions and countries. The choice of an apprenticeship model could also play a crucial role in fostering awareness regarding cloud skills.
For example, team leads from various regions and countries could serve as interns with an existing team for certain weeks. The practical involvement with an existing team can provide a better platform for honing the basic skills of team members. Subsequently, the trainees could qualify the requirements for establishing their cloud teams with flexibility and effectiveness.
If you are the one who is not ready to build his AWS Cloud infrastructure team, you can also outsource infrastructure management. Check out the top benefits of outsourcing AWS infrastructure management.
Final Words
The most important concern in the formation of the AWS cloud infrastructure team is the investment in the transformation of the existing staff. The existing team members have a comprehensive awareness of the company culture, along with expertise in specific domains. Existing employees are aware of the existing systems, along with the specific objectives of the organization.
Therefore, the course of action for the future development of AWS cloud infrastructure teams should focus on existing employees. Furthermore, the practice of encouraging existing team members to train and mentor new employees can also ensure sustenance and improvement of team performance. On a concluding note, the measures to deal with skill improvement and resistance to change can ensure a successful team for AWS cloud infrastructure.
