What Banks Taught Me About Cloud Adoption

I spent time interviewing technology leaders at Canadian financial institutions about their cloud journeys. The patterns were remarkably consistent - and often surprising.

Universal Starting Point: Skepticism

Everyone started skeptical. The regulatory environment seemed prohibitive. Security concerns felt insurmountable. The status quo was working well enough. Why take the risk?

This skepticism wasn't irrational. Banks face genuine regulatory scrutiny. A security breach could destroy trust built over decades. The conservative approach made sense - until it didn't.

What Changed Minds

What changed minds wasn't vendor presentations or analyst reports. It was seeing peers succeed.

When one bank moved a workload to the cloud without incident, others took notice. When Moneris demonstrated cloud-based payment processing, the conversation shifted from "if" to "how." Success stories spread through the industry faster than any marketing could achieve.

The proof points mattered more than the promises. Once peers had demonstrated that regulatory compliance was achievable, that security could be maintained, and that operations didn't fall apart, the remaining skeptics had less ground to stand on.

The Surprises Were Human, Not Technical

The biggest surprises weren't technical. Leaders consistently mentioned that cultural change was harder than technical change:

• Getting buy-in across the organization consumed more effort than the actual migration work
• Middle management resistance was often stronger than executive resistance
• Teams that weren't involved in planning became obstacles during execution
• The "shadow IT" problem - teams going around official channels - was both a symptom and a solution

What Faster Organizations Did Differently

The organizations that moved fastest shared common traits:

Visible executive sponsorship. Not just approval, but active involvement. Leaders who asked about cloud progress in regular meetings, who removed obstacles personally, who made it clear this was a strategic priority.

Empowered cloud teams. Teams had authority to make decisions without excessive approval chains. When every architectural choice requires a committee, nothing gets done.

Learning-focused early projects. Early projects were chosen for learning value, not just business impact. Low-risk experiments that built skills and confidence before tackling critical systems.

Progress over perfection. They migrated workloads that were "good enough" rather than waiting until everything was optimized. Perfect is the enemy of done.

The Ongoing Journey

None of these organizations declared victory. Cloud adoption is a continuous journey, not a destination. But they'd built the capabilities, developed the skills, and proven the approach. The hard part was behind them.

Ready to assess your own organization? Check out the five signs you're ready for cloud.