Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the suitability of various cloud deployment and service models (public, private, hybrid).
• Develop a structured cloud migration strategy (e.g., 6Rs: Rehost, Replatform, Refactor).
• Assess the financial impact of cloud adoption using TCO analysis and business case development.
• Establish effective cloud governance, policy, and risk management frameworks.
• Define the shared responsibility model for security and compliance in the cloud.
• Implement FinOps (Cloud Financial Operations) practices to optimize cloud spend.
• Evaluate and select appropriate multi-cloud or hybrid solutions based on business needs.
• Manage cloud vendor relationships and service level agreements.

• CIOs, CTOs, and IT Directors
• Enterprise and Cloud Architects
• IT Strategy and Transformation Leads
• Senior IT Managers overseeing cloud adoption
• Business Analysts and Financial Planners
• Procurement Specialists focused on cloud services

• Group exercises to develop a high-level cloud migration roadmap.
• Case studies analyzing major cloud cost overruns and mitigation.
• Workshops on applying the shared responsibility model to a business scenario.
• Discussions on multi-cloud vendor negotiation and risk management.
• Individual exercises in cloud resource optimization (FinOps).

Unit 1: Cloud Strategy Foundations

• Key drivers for cloud migration (agility, cost, innovation).
• Defining cloud goals aligned with strategic business objectives.
• Understanding the current state and assessing organizational readiness.
• Common barriers and risks to cloud adoption.

• Detailed comparison of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
• Public, private, and hybrid cloud deployment options.
• Identifying which workloads are suitable for each model.
• Understanding serverless computing and containers.

Unit 2: Cloud Financials and Migration Planning

• Shifting from CapEx to OpEx and its financial impact.
• Analyzing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the cloud.
• Strategies for cost control and resource management.
• Building a strong financial business case for migration.

• The 6 R's of cloud migration (Rehost, Replatform, Repurchase, Refactor, Retain, Retire).
• Developing a prioritized migration roadmap.
• Minimizing business disruption during the migration process.
• Techniques for testing and validation in the cloud environment.

Unit 3: Cloud Security and Governance

• Understanding the provider's vs. the customer's security responsibilities.
• Implementing identity and access management (IAM) in the cloud.
• Network security, segmentation, and encryption strategies.
• Monitoring cloud resources for security threats.

• Establishing a cloud governance framework and policies.
• Ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).
• Cost, security, and operational compliance checks.
• The role of automation in enforcing governance.

Unit 4: Multi-Cloud and FinOps Management

• Justifying a multi-cloud strategy (risk, compliance, best-of-breed).
• Managing interoperability and integration across cloud providers.
• Vendor contract and SLA management for cloud services.
• Avoiding vendor lock-in and ensuring portability.

• Principles of FinOps: Inform, Optimize, and Operate.
• Tools and techniques for real-time cost visibility and alerting.
• Implementing cost accountability across engineering teams.
• Strategies for resource optimization (auto-scaling, reservations).

Unit 5: Operational and Organizational Readiness

• Setting up cloud-native monitoring and logging solutions.
• Automating deployment and infrastructure using IaC (Terraform, CloudFormation).
• Managing operational stability and performance in the cloud.
• Disaster recovery and business continuity in a cloud context.

• The required skills shift in IT teams for cloud management.
• Restructuring teams to support DevOps and cloud architecture.
• Communicating the cloud strategy and benefits to the organization.
• Measuring the strategic impact of cloud adoption.