FAQ

Is the 6-Point Framework only for new customers or new migrations?

No. You can use the 6-Point Framework at any time to accelerate your cloud transformation journey, to build stakeholder buy-in, and to increase the effectiveness of actions that are already in place. 

What is culture and change leadership acceleration?

Culture and change leadership acceleration is about creating one shared reality across the organization, project, and individuals to accelerate adoption and increase return on investment (ROI). This approach helps you apply an evidence-based, end-to-end change process that is structured, integrated, and transparent, to shorten project completion times with minimal performance impact and optimal results.

Culture and change leadership acceleration follows the AWS Change Acceleration 6-Point Framework and Organizational Change Management Toolkit, which is described in detail in this article.

Why is culture and change acceleration needed for cloud adoption?

For an AWS transformation such as a cloud migration or modernization project, culture and change acceleration is needed to make the transformation effective at three levels: individual, project, and organization. 

At the organizational level, it is about increasing leadership competency and creating an enterprise that is ready to change how it governs the cloud: creating one shared reality and a culture of innovation, learning, and continuous growth.

As an executive sponsor or leader, what can I do to enhance the success of my organization's cloud journey?

Cloud transformations are most successful when they are led by communicative and fully engaged leaders. Don’t lose focus on the vision, and remain active and visible throughout the project lifecycle. Lead from the front by clearly demonstrating your support for the project in order to empower your teams. It is also crucial to know the importance of the people side of change and to be willing to devote the right amount of time and resources to address it.

Should I think of culture and change leadership as an active workstream or domain? Should I scope or staff my cloud teams with these capabilities?

Yes, culture and change leadership works both horizontally and vertically to cohesively identify and mitigate organizational disruption. Applying proven strategies at both the executive and program levels is how change gets socialized and accepted. Staffing your workstream or domain with skilled and experienced practitioners of change acceleration will help you maximize the effectiveness of the cloud adoption journey, mitigate areas of organizational and political resistance, and make the transformation an exciting and engrained part of your company’s culture.

Typical roles for the change acceleration workstream include a people transformation executive advisor who works at the executive level, a change acceleration lead who works at the program level, and a transformation executive program oversight lead who works at both levels with a focus on delivery quality. In addition to these, other roles might be required, depending on the scale and complexity that you identify when you scope your project. These can include staffing experts who have expertise in communications, training, employee engagement, readiness, and Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) activities. Resources might be full-time or part-time, internal to the customer or externally staffed through AWS or an AWS Partner. If you staff these roles externally, we recommend that you enable knowledge transfer between the change acceleration subject matter resources and the customer leads. This approach supports more rapid and lasting deployment and adoption, and paves the way for sustainable ownership of the cloud transformation changes. 

How do I know if my organization might need culture and change leadership acceleration?

Four global industry trends drive demand for change acceleration: digital transformation and cloud migration, workforce optimization and culture improvements, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory changes. These trends are at the top of most of organizations’ growth strategies because they support objectives for hiring the best talent, offering the best customer experience, and providing the best products and services. 

However, these trends have a widespread effect on an organization’s culture and the ways in which people do their jobs on a daily basis. Use the trends as guidelines to identify where your organization is currently in its cloud journey, and to determine whether you need culture and change leadership acceleration to support your project:

What value does change acceleration bring to my organization?

Prosci, a global organizational change management research firm, has surveyed more than 6000 companies globally over the last two decades. Their data shows that enterprises realize better outcomes when they apply a robust (good to excellent) change framework.  

When there is an intentional focus to manage the people side of change, leaders have recognized an increase in value realization of up to 600 percent. Getting the people components right across a project results in a positive multiplier effect in ROI and value realization, and makes the project a more enjoyable employee experience. (See The Value of Organizational Change Management for Project Managers on the Prosci website.)

A change acceleration study about cloud transformations published by Accenture surveyed 1100 organizations across eight dimensions: improved organizational agility and innovation, stronger IT and business collaboration, faster cloud migration, improved customer experience, increased cloud adoption, better use of data for decision making, achieved cost savings, and increased speed or efficiency to launch new lines of business. The report compared results from leaders who said they focused on technology only with results from leaders who said they focused on both technology and people. Leaders who managed their initiatives with a focus on people achieved better outcomes on all dimensions. Getting the people component right clearly has a multiplier effect. 

Employees who are engaged and feel secure in their roles will build their knowledge, skills, confidence, and connections. Their employers can then build a stronger IT and business collaboration, which, in turn, enables faster cloud migration, increased cloud adoption, increased efficiency, and cost savings. All of these traits show up in an established culture of digital fluency and innovation, which helps compete for the best talent.