Presented at BLUEPRINT 4D 2024
Session ID: P-040675

When starting a digital transformation: it is best to know why you’re doing it. Is moving to the Cloud a means to an end: or an end in itself? Are you trying to impact the bottom line: improve the user experience: or both? As the industry learns real-world lessons about re-platforming in the Cloud era: you’d better have your priorities straight. This session will take a hopefully sober: and likely sobering look at how a SaaS project affects users and finances. Moving to the cloud will definitely change user experience and functionality – probably in both positive and negative ways. Cloud moves always change cost structures – but don’t automatically reduce cost. Your priorities should dictate the timing of your Cloud move: and well-informed decisions may contradict herd mentality. You may find it worthwhile to invest in dramatically improving your PeopleSoft user experience today while you are preparing for your Cloud move. Sorry if we’re the first to tell you this: but SaaS won’t magically make everything better. Warning: Sacred cows (and conventional wisdom) are not safe in this session! We will question the consensus meaning of “digital transformation” and propose a more challenging definition; we’ll take a clear-eyed look at the negative impacts you can expect from a SaaS move: and steps you can take to mitigate them. You might end up wanting to rethink your whole enterprise project calendar. What: did you think this was going to be easy?