IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor Wins in the 2020 BIG Business Innovation Awards
By: Arin Bhowmick
Tags: Design, UX Design, UI, Cloud Computing, UX

Our team at IBM Cloud is excited to announce that we have won a 2020 BIG Business Innovation Award for IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor. It’s so exciting to see our experience design work recognized for such a technically complex domain, and forward-thinking product in the space of cloud technology.

The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and excellent performance in the business world. This year the awards received submissions from around the world, from organizations looking to receive recognition for their most exciting innovations. The jury consisted of a carefully selected group of business leaders and executives with industry expertise in different science and science and technology fields.

We’re thrilled to start off the new year strong with another award for our team at IBM Cloud. I’m proud of all the designers, researchers, developers, and managers that worked hard to create this outstanding product.

What is IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor?

As part of IBM Cloud Pak for Applications, Transformation Advisor (you can try it out here) is a software tool that helps businesses modernize and migrate their applications from on-premises environments to the cloud. This process typically requires a lot of preparation and an in-depth analysis of the applications being migrated. Every software application is different in terms of how up-to-date it is and how suitable it is for a cloud environment. Users first need to spend time determining the structures of their application, which parts need to be modernized, and which tools and conditions are needed in order to migrate it to the cloud. Transformation Advisor helps with assessing, planning, and executing these app modernizations.

Transformation Advisor allows users to sort their applications into business applications and collections to prepare for a migration plan.

The software tool performs an analysis of users’ software applications, including an evaluation of each application’s file content and structure. The tool then offers estimates for how complicated a specific application will be to migrate to a cloud environment and what issues might arise, a rating of how much effort it will take to prepare the application for migration, and recommendations for target cloud environments most suited for the application. All of these complex processes are carefully designed with a focus on simplicity and understandability, thus enabling the user to achieve success with a application modernization and cloud journey.

Transformation Advisor offers recommendations for a migration and modernization plan for each application, including how complex it will be to migrate to a cloud environment.

The process of migrating applications to the cloud is typically costly and time-consuming for users, as it requires in-depth resources, technical knowledge, and skills. Many businesses in these situations feel intimidated by modern cloud technology and don’t know how to approach this transition to the cloud. The IBM Transformation Advisor experience was designed intentionally to help bridge this gap in skill and knowledge, by providing users with guidance and informed recommendations on how to successfully modernize their on-premises applications for cloud environments. By being informed on these processes, users are able to make the best decisions for their business without disrupting too much of their operations, saving money and effort in the long run.

Designing for a Future in the Cloud

The design team behind Transformation Advisor worked through intensive user research and design iteration cycles leveraging the IBM Enterprise Design Thinking framework, to deliver a product that helps users through a highly technical and complex process. The product is monumental in helping IBM users and clients build a future for their businesses. As cloud technologies are becoming more mainstream and necessary for everyday business operations, our design team at IBM is advocating for inclusivity and accessibility by helping build bridges between our users and these seemingly high-tech systems. A modern and technologically up-to-date business infrastructure shouldn’t be out of bounds to anyone, and with the help of a well-designed software tool, we are able to bring this powerful capability to all of our users.

Winning Team