CCoE - A model whose time has passed

The Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) is, or was, a common pattern for companies moving to the cloud. The idea was that you had a central group experimenting with the cloud and documenting standards while advising teams trying to move to the cloud.

This was great when there wasn't much knowledge of the cloud and we needed a way to propagate knowledge and get started somewhere.

The model was problematic and that is only increasing because it only solved the very first bit of cognitive load to overcome, which is "how do I get started?" and possibly "how do I know if I'm doing it right, or at least not really wrong?". The CCoE rarely provided much in the way of productized solutions, preferring instead to provide examples and guidance.

At this point, the standards are much higher for implementing cloud. It is a mature technology and the implementation is ever more complex. The CCoE model is no longer suited to implementing cloud in the enterprise.

What is needed now is a platform organization that builds and supports a cloud platform ready for teams to use. This platform should be opinionated with the standards of the enterprise baked in and offer teams a streamlined experience.

The question is no longer "How do I get started?" but "How do I solve my business problem safely and with as little friction as possible?".