Cambridge
Academy
In London

Introduction

Cloud strategy and architecture determine whether cloud adoption delivers real business value—securely, reliably, and cost-effectively. This practical program equips cloud managers with the frameworks and tools to design cloud strategies, build landing zones, establish governance, and create executable roadmaps that align technology decisions with business outcomes.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

·        Define a cloud strategy aligned to business goals, risk appetite, and operating constraints

·        Design cloud target architectures and landing zones for secure, scalable adoption

·        Establish cloud governance across security, cost, standards, and operating model

·        Plan migrations and modernization through phased roadmaps and dependency management

·        Strengthen architecture decision-making using patterns, reference models, and trade-off analysis

·        Build executive-ready cloud roadmaps, metrics, and governance cadence 

Target Audience

This course is designed for:

·        Cloud computing managers and cloud program leaders

·        IT infrastructure and platform managers transitioning to cloud leadership

·        Enterprise and solution architects responsible for cloud designs

·        Security, risk, and compliance leaders supporting cloud governance

·        PMO and transformation professionals managing cloud initiatives

Course Outlines

Day 1: Cloud Strategy Foundations & Business Alignment

·        Cloud value drivers: agility, scalability, resilience, and speed-to-market

·        Cloud service models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and selection criteria

·        Cloud adoption strategy: public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud considerations

·        Application and workload assessment: suitability, constraints, and modernization needs

·        Activity: Cloud strategy map (drivers, principles, workload priorities, KPIs)

Day 2: Cloud Target Architecture & Landing Zone Design

·        Reference architectures and cloud design principles (standardization, automation, resilience)

·        Landing zone components: accounts/subscriptions, identity, networking, logging, and security baselines

·        Network architecture: connectivity, segmentation, DNS, and routing concepts

·        Platform services: CI/CD, monitoring, secrets, and configuration management basics

·        Workshop: Design a landing zone blueprint (core services + guardrails + standards)

Day 3: Cloud Governance, Security Baselines & Operating Model

·        Cloud governance domains: security, cost, architecture standards, and compliance

·        Policy-as-code concepts and guardrails for consistency

·        Identity and access fundamentals: least privilege, federation, and privileged access concepts

·        Operating model: Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE), roles, and decision rights

·        Practical activity: Build a cloud governance charter + RACI + policy baseline checklist

Day 4: Roadmapping, Migration Waves & Modernization Planning

·        Migration strategies: rehost, replatform, refactor, retire, retain

·        Wave planning: sequencing, dependencies, and environment readiness

·        Data and integration considerations: connectivity, latency, and data movement patterns

·        Cutover and stabilization planning: readiness criteria, rollback, and hypercare

·        Case study: Create a migration roadmap for a mixed application portfolio

Day 5: Metrics, Architecture Decision-Making & Executive Communication

·        Cloud KPIs: availability, performance, security posture, and cost efficiency (FinOps basics)

·        Architecture decision records (ADRs) and trade-off analysis techniques

·        Executive reporting: roadmap narrative, risks, investment asks, and progress tracking

·       Continuous improvement: posture management, technical debt, and maturity roadmap