Watch: How to overcome the most common cloud pitfalls

AWS celebrated 15 years at AWS re:Invent 2021, and despite all the innovation and advancements we've seen, we're still in the early days of cloud. Gartner estimated that in 2021 there was a 18% increase in spend on public cloud services — up to $300 billion in public cloud services. That sounds like a lot (and it is), but it’s only 7% of the total IT spend.

For many, the cloud transformation journey is just beginning. In the next 1-3 years, more than 90% of IT leaders expect to expand their cloud usage. So if you’re looking for cloud computing ROI or trying to figure out how to measure cloud success, you’re not alone.

Check out Cloud Transformation Challenges in 9 Cartoons for a colorful look at some of the challenges that can derail an organization's efforts.

I spent much of my career at Capital One. That included being involved in talent transformation efforts as Director of Cloud Engineering and Operations and the Dean of Cloud Computing at Capital One. There I built — what was at the time — the world’s largest cloud college.

From my time then to the years since, I've focused on driving scalable, sustainable transitions to cloud computing though education and talent transformation.

Over the years, I've seen firsthand the importance of culture, teams, and cloud fluency at scale. I've seen how enterprises can go wrong when they move to cloud — from challenges around the cloud center of excellence to educating businesses that cloud fluency means even many non-technical roles need to speak cloud.

In the current market, skills development isn't just essential to innovating; it's also crucial to halt the brain drain that even the biggest and most-revered companies in tech are dealing with.

In this post, I want to share a few of the fun (well, now fun) lessons I've learned along the way. Check out the video below to see my session from re:Invent 2021 where I share cover some common cloud transformation pitfalls and the ways savvy organizations overcome them.

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