How to build a Cloud Center of Excellence?

Are you considering cloud adoption but unsure whether your team can handle it? The solution is a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) – a team of experts that eliminates chaos, standardizes processes, and helps unlock the full potential of cloud computing in your organization.

You can find the basic information about the CCoE in our previous article – click here to read it. Today, we’ll focus on how to successfully build a Cloud Center of Excellence.

Where does it make sense to build a Cloud Center of Excellence?

Before deciding to establish a Cloud Center of Excellence, it’s worth answering a key question – is this model truly the right fit for your organization?

Creating a CCoE is a major step toward mature cloud management that can bring substantial benefits, but it’s not always necessary. However, there are companies for which building such a team should be a natural part of their IT strategy.

Large organizations with complex IT infrastructures

Corporations, banks, and tech companies with extensive infrastructures face numerous technological challenges. When using cloud services, they also need centralized oversight to manage all cloud-related processes. That’s why the CCoE team and its strategy help create unified standards and best practices for cloud operations. In such organizations, cloud adoption requires not only architecture but also monitoring and performance evaluation to ensure scalability and security.

Companies undergoing digital transformation

For organizations that have embraced the cloud as a key business enabler, a CCoE team supports cloud adoption while eliminating the risks of uncontrolled migration and introducing best practices. The CCoE model accelerates the implementation of new technologies and provides the necessary tools to manage the cloud environment both operationally and strategically.

Organizations in regulated industries

Sectors where cloud and security play a critical role, such as finance, healthcare, or energy, must comply with strict regulations. If your company operates in one of these industries, a CCoE team becomes an essential tool to meet regulatory requirements. The Center of Excellence also enables sustainable cloud development by introducing governance over data protection policies and risk management.

Companies with high scalability needs

Organizations in fast-paced industries like e-commerce often require business flexibility to adjust resources in real time. Cloud computing enables dynamic infrastructure management, but without the right mechanisms, it can result in excessive costs. A CCoE team and its strategy help implement cloud-native solutions that optimize both performance and cost efficiency.

Not every company needs a Cloud Center of Excellence. However, if you want to manage the cloud effectively, eliminate chaos, and maximize the benefits of digital transformation, this model is worth considering. What matters is not only the industry you’re in, but also your readiness to adopt best practices and a long-term approach to cloud governance.

How to build a Cloud Center of Excellence?

Building a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) requires a well-thought-out strategy and a tailored approach. First, it’s essential to define your organization’s goals – whether it’s cost optimization, implementing a new cloud strategy, improving security and compliance, or accelerating innovation. The CCoE team and its effective implementation should address these needs while aligning cloud operations with long-term business objectives.

The next step is to assemble the CCoE team, made up of experienced specialists from various fields. Key roles include cloud architects responsible for designing cloud-native solutions, security experts who ensure data and infrastructure protection, DevOps engineers who automate deployments, and financial analysts who monitor costs. You’ll find more on the structure in the next paragraph.

To manage your cloud environment effectively, it’s crucial to standardize processes and documentation. This means implementing best practices for cloud operations, covering areas such as monitoring and performance evaluation, deployment processes, and cost control. These efforts allow the CCoE team to maintain a consistent and predictable approach, eliminating organizational chaos.

An important element of the CCoE model’s success is integration with other departments. Your cloud strategy shouldn’t be limited to the IT team – it impacts the entire organization. For a Center of Excellence to have a tangible impact, it should act as a cloud deployment team that actively supports business units. Collaboration between IT, finance, compliance, and operations is critical to ensure the cloud delivers maximum benefits and supports sustainable technological growth.

What does the structure of a Cloud Center of Excellence look like?

Building a CCoE model requires a clear division of roles and responsibilities to ensure effective cloud management and implementation of best practices. The CCoE team and its structure should incorporate both technical and business perspectives to ensure alignment with the company’s strategic goals. Here’s an example structure:

• CCoE Leader – responsible for cloud strategy and integration with other resources in your organization, setting policies and implementation priorities,
• Cloud Operations Team – focuses on monitoring and ensuring business continuity,
• Security and Compliance Team – ensures regulatory compliance and protects cloud governance,
• FinOps Team – monitors and analyzes cloud spending and integrates with finance,
• Cloud Implementation Team – responsible for adoption, migration planning, and automation,
• Performance Monitoring Team – evaluates system performance and provides optimization reports.

The CCoE team also includes experts such as cloud architects, DevOps engineers, and financial analysts. The exact composition depends on how deeply cloud is integrated into your business.

Tasks of the Cloud Center of Excellence

The CCoE team handles a wide range of tasks, tailored to the needs of each organization. Through multiple CCoE implementations, we’ve identified the most common responsibilities:

• Defining cloud strategy – ensuring cloud initiatives align with organizational goals,
• Managing security and compliance – integrating protection policies and regulations into cloud governance,
• Cost optimization – using cloud-native solutions to improve financial efficiency,
• Monitoring and performance evaluation – analyzing cloud performance and recommending improvements,
• Cloud operations automation – implementing DevOps and CI/CD practices,
• Education and knowledge sharing – supporting IT teams and building cloud skills across the organization.

Cloud in your operations team is more than just technology – it’s a shift in how your business operates. That’s why the scope of CCoE responsibilities will vary depending on your needs and is typically defined at the beginning of the collaboration.

Build a Cloud Center of Excellence on your own or with a partner?

That’s one of the most common questions. Building a CCoE independently is a significant challenge. It requires hiring and training specialists, developing procedures and tools, and continuously monitoring results. You also need to know how to connect all the components for a seamless process.

The alternative? Partnering with an experienced cloud provider like LCloud, who can help you:

• Analyze your existing infrastructure,
• Develop a strategy and implement standards,
• Automate cloud processes,
• Train your team in dedicated cloud services,
• Provide ongoing support and further development of your CCoE.

The process may sound complex, but working with a partner simplifies it significantly. We’ll take care of the transformation – you’ll focus on the outcomes.

AWS as support in building your CCoE

Amazon Web Services offers a wide range of tools to support the creation of a Cloud Center of Excellence. From comprehensive training and certifications to services that help you manage costs, monitor security, and ensure compliance.

We’ve prepared three dedicated, free AWS training tracks to help you build the right skillset.

Cloud migration

Learn how to effectively plan, implement, and optimize the cloud migration process using AWS best practices. The training covers key aspects of migration strategy – from readiness assessment to cost and security management.

Generative AI

This training introduces the possibilities of Generative AI in AWS and shows how to apply them in business to enhance automation and innovation. You’ll explore practical applications of AI models and how to integrate them into your AWS environment.

Training for decision-makers

This final training track is designed for leaders and decision-makers who want to better understand the business value of cloud computing and its impact on the organization. The program covers cloud strategy, cost management, security, compliance, and the transformation of roles within the company to align with the new tech environment.

Want to learn more?

Building a Cloud Center of Excellence is a step toward more efficient and secure cloud adoption. If you want to explore how to implement a CCoE in your organization, book a free consultation with our expert. Reach out at kontakt@lcloud.pl.