Selecting the right first “masthead” application or workload for a bank's cloud journey is vital to igniting change and ensuring buy-in from the organization. This application should possess several important characteristics:

• Contributes to the success of the business in a meaningful way
• Carries both internally and externally recognizable branding
• Includes application and support teams eager to embrace the cloud
• Suffers from scale, cost or agility constraints that cloud computing can help overcome
• Possesses some cloud-native characteristics, along with a relatively low level of technical complexity

During this initial stage, training and documentation development strengthen the foundation for future applications. This measured, iterative approach is key to overcoming the challenges of cloud adoption – many of which stem from a decentralized approach.