Architecting Business Stakeholders

Notes by -

This blog post outlines the key Stakeholders involved in a Cloud Migration and Deployment process and implementation of a successful Journey to Cloud migration with well designed cloud architecture.



 Here's a summary of the main points:

  1. Key Stakeholders:
    • CEO (Chief Executive Officer): Provides business objectives and ensures the migration aligns with the company's vision.
    • CLO (Chief Legal Officer): Involved in compliance aspects and helps implement automated policies within Azure.
    • CFO (Chief Financial Officer): Focuses on reducing IT costs and understanding the value of services, justifying expenses related to cloud services.
    • COO (Chief Operating Officer): Addresses the impact of migration on daily operations and communicates changes to the organization.
    • CTO (Chief Technology Officer): Works with the IT department to determine which applications can be migrated or need to remain on-premises.
  2. Departmental Needs:
    • Different departments may require specific resources and applications, necessitating a well-organized resource allocation strategy.
    • Resource groups can be created based on departmental needs or application functionalities.
  3. Migration Strategy:
    • A phased migration approach is recommended to identify and address potential problems before completing the migration for the entire organization.
  4. Resource Organization:
    • Organizations can choose to organize resources by department or by the lifecycle of resources, using tagging for better management.

Involving Business Stakeholders in Azure Cloud Migration
Successful cloud migration isn’t just a technical initiative—it’s a business transformation. To ensure smooth planning, deployment, and long-term adoption, it’s essential to involve key business stakeholders from the beginning. These individuals offer critical insight into company goals, compliance requirements, cost management, and operational workflows.
Let’s take a closer look at the major stakeholders and their roles in a cloud migration project.

Key Business Stakeholders:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Setting Vision and Direction
The CEO provides the strategic direction and overarching business goals that the migration must support. Their involvement is crucial during the planning phase to ensure that the Azure migration aligns with the organization’s vision, priorities, and growth objectives. Gaining their early buy-in also promotes cross-departmental support for the initiative.
Chief Legal Officer (CLO): Guarding Compliance and Governance
The CLO is responsible for overseeing regulatory compliance. Their input is vital when implementing Azure services like Azure Policy or Azure Blueprints, which enforce organizational and legal requirements. Although the IT department will manage the technical implementation, the CLO ensures that the policies reflect current legal and compliance standards.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Maximizing Value and Cost Efficiency
The CFO's focus is on cost optimization and value realization. During migration planning, it's important to provide the CFO with a clear breakdown of service costs, usage patterns, and the value-added features of Azure compared to both on-premises and alternative cloud providers. This includes justifying the use of premium services (e.g., premium storage or Azure AD Premium) over standard or less expensive options.
Chief Operating Officer (COO): Managing Operational Transitions
The COO ensures that business operations and workflows continue to run smoothly during and after migration. Azure adoption will likely impact day-to-day processes, so the COO should be involved early to:
  • Assess operational impacts
  • Communicate changes to relevant teams
  • Identify training needs resulting from new workflows
A phased migration approach, where resources are migrated gradually, helps the COO and their teams test changes, identify issues early, and ensure a smooth transition across the organization.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO): Navigating Legacy and Custom Applications
The CTO plays a critical role in evaluating technical feasibility—especially for legacy applications that may not migrate easily to the cloud. Working closely with IT, the CTO will help determine whether to:
  • Re-architect or modernize applications for the cloud
  • Maintain them on-premises for the remainder of their lifecycle
This decision balances performance, cost, and long-term strategy.

Organizing Azure Resources Across Departments

Resource organization in Azure should reflect both technical requirements and business structure. One way to approach this is by aligning resources to departments, making it easier to manage permissions, costs, and usage.
Using Subscriptions and Resource Groups
  • Some organizations choose separate subscriptions for each department.
  • Others, like the example here, use shared subscriptions with department-based resource groups:
Example Resource Group Setup:
  • Accounting, HR, and Finance: Share a resource group for applications and services specific to back-office operations.
  • Sales Team: Their resource group includes web servers and SQL databases, following an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model.
  • IT Department: Manages a group containing virtual machines, databases, and storage accounts—tools used for internal infrastructure management.
Each resource group can include a storage account, but its use is tailored to the department's needs. For instance, the IT department’s storage may support backups or monitoring data, while the sales team’s storage supports application-specific data.

Alternative Resource Organization Strategies

While organizing by department is intuitive, there are other models that might suit your business better:
1. Organizing by Resource Lifecycle
Group resources by development stage (e.g., dev, test, production) rather than department. This can simplify CI/CD workflows and reduce deployment risks.
2. Using Tags for Flexibility
Azure tags allow you to assign metadata to resources, such as department ownership, project name, or cost center. This enables flexible organization and reporting, especially when resources span multiple teams or projects.
Example Tag: Department: HR, Environment: Production, CostCenter: 10245

Effective Azure migration requires more than just technical planning—it demands full collaboration with business stakeholders across leadership, legal, finance, operations, and technology. By aligning cloud strategies with organizational goals and structuring resources around real-world business needs, your cloud architecture becomes a true enabler of innovation and efficiency.
As your cloud environment grows, maintain stakeholder engagement, refine your resource organization, and continually optimize for performance, compliance, and cost.

Popular posts from this blog

Becoming an Azure Cloud Pro Engineer

Notes by -
Image
Becoming an Azure Cloud Pro Engineer: Introduction In today's cloud-centric world, having strong Azure professional skills is essential for success in the IT industry. Microsoft Azure, as one of the leading cloud platforms, offers a wide range of services and solutions that require expertise to deploy, manage, and optimize. In this article, we will explore the importance of building Azure professional skills and provide strategies to enhance your proficiency in this domain. Why Azure Professional Skills Matter Azure professional skills are in high demand due to the growing adoption of cloud technologies. Here are some reasons why building Azure skills is crucial: Career Opportunities Azure professionals are sought after by organizations across industries, offering excellent career prospects and growth opportunities. Cloud Migration and Transformation As businesses move their infrastructure to the cloud, professionals...
Read more

Preparing for Azure Cloud Administrator Role

Notes by -
Image
Preparing for Azure Cloud Admin Role : Introduction In this blog post, we will explore the path to becoming an Azure Administrator. Whether you are an aspiring IT professional or looking to enhance your existing skills, this article will provide you with a step-by-step roadmap to become proficient in Azure administration. So, let's dive in and unlock the exciting world of Azure! Introduction to Azure Cloud Administration Role Azure Administration involves managing and overseeing the various aspects of Microsoft Azure, a leading cloud computing platform. As an Azure Administrator, you are responsible for tasks such as provisioning and managing resources, ensuring security, monitoring performance, and optimizing costs within an Azure environment. Understanding the Role of an Azure Administrator As an Azure Administrator , your key responsibilities include: Key Responsibilities Managing Azure subscriptions and reso...
Read more

Designing Azure Cloud Infrastructure

Notes by -
Image
Introduction to Designing Infrastructure and Managing Migration: Covers key concepts related to cloud infrastructure models and the benefits of migrating to the cloud. Here’s a summary: Cloud Models : Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) : Provides the most control and responsibility for users, who manage the operating system and networking. Platform as a Service (PaaS) : Offers a platform for developing and managing applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. Software as a Service (SaaS) : Users access applications hosted on the cloud, with minimal maintenance required. Benefits of Cloud Migration : On-Demand Availability : Users can deploy resources as needed without IT intervention. Scalability : Easily add resources to meet growing business needs. Cost Efficiency : Pay only for what is used, avoiding costs associated with unused on-premises resources. Security : Access to a team of security experts and tools that protect data. Easy Setup : Tools available to fa...
Read more