Why has cloud become a board-level topic, rather than a C-Suite or VP discussion?
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To some extent, especially with our less tech-savvy board members, it is simply fear of missing out. In general though, the cloud computing environment is seen as such a standard that it has been distilled down to a very broadly defined generic idea. The board wants to be sure we are not falling behind, and that is their job. The details of what it means to operate in the cloud is still an IT conversation in all aspects.
Adopting cloud has become strategic for all organizations to operate their business from product and service delivery to back office operations to data fabric solutions. The speed, ease of scaling, and elastic capabilities that cloud offers makes strategic business sense. Companies must have strategic initiatives to take advantage of these benefits. The Board sees this trend across all industries and it is a solid operating model.
It is a topic at all levels given its enterprise importance for digital transformation, financial impact, and end user impact.
The Answer is not only alignment, but such decision became such a strategic decision that might affect the entire direction of the organization. Furthermore, if we add the aspect of Data residency and other compliance such as EU GDPR including all the hefty fines comes with any discrepancy which might destroy the entire business.
Infrastructure and cloud-related discussions are strategic decisions which involve the most important aspect of any organization, i.e., Data. Hence, for the majority of organizations, it's the core of their business and may cause trouble in future leading to financial losses. Hence, before moving towards any cloud infrastructure service vendor and cloud service provider it becomes important to discuss with the board.