Iconic Australian Retail Chain​

CHALLENGE

Our customer is an iconic Australian-based chain of affordable retail stores, with more than 200 stores across Australia and New Zealand and around 30,000 employees.

Like many enterprises, our customer needed to improve its ability to respond to changing market demands. The group recognise edit could meet this need by providing its application teams with the tools they needed to get their work done quickly via a well-implemented cloud services platform.

However, during implementation, the Group found that while the cloud platform provided application teams with the tools they needed, these teams could not develop at speed because they were burdened with a no operating model defined for a traditional IT environment. The platform itself was hidden behind layers of process, people, and operational and security restrictions. In short, the platform was difficult to use, and the application teams were frustrated.

APPROACH

Our customer enlisted DigiRen to implement a best practice Cloud Operating Model that would provide applications teams with both a “supported” cloud consumption model as well as a self-serve, on-demand, pay-per-use consumption model.  The new cloud operating model enabled legacy teams to leverage cloud, and more advanced application teams to develop at speed, enabling the organisation to realise the value of its cloud investment.

The DigiRen approach was first to understand the nature of the challenges that the customer Group were facing by:

1.     investigating the current state of the cloud team,

2.    exploring the needs of the customer application teams, and

3.    clarifying the goals of the broader organisation.

Working with the customer leadership team, DigiRen uncovered two distinct customers for the cloud team: traditional IT and cloud-native teams. Both had different needs, and both were frustrated - but for different reasons. The traditional IT teams did not have the skills to take advantage of cloud services, while the restrictions placed on the use of cloud services by the cloud team, meant the cloud-native teams could not access the services they expected.

Through the discovery process, DigiRen also uncovered that there was a disconnect between the cloud team and their customers: the cloud team could engineer solutions, but these solutions were not addressing customer needs.

DigiRen proposed four key strategic initiatives to address these challenges, and in close collaboration with key customer stakeholders, led and contributed to their implementation.

A cloud platform to empower teams and drive innovation

The new cloud platform was designed to meet the needs of cloud consumers, by offering two services:

1. The FAST Service, provided cloud-native teams direct access to the cloud services - the servers, the storage, the networking - and greater responsibility for operational and security concerns

2.The LEAN Service, included the operational and security support traditional IT teams rely on to manage their application.

DigiRen helped kick-start the implementation by providing both architecture and operations integration resources, to develop the architecture for the platform and map the integration points with 3rd party services.

A Cloud Business Office to redefine cloud services delivery

To build the new Platform, DigiRen proposed the introduction of a new product development function into the cloud team. The product management function bridged the gap between the cloud team and their customers. It was resourced with individuals who had the skills to translate customer needs into user stories for the Cloud team to implement. The function also included technical writing talent to provide application teams with clear run books on the services offered with the new platform. DigiRen resources filled this function while the customer Group resources were up skilled to take on the roles.

Applying a product mindset and customer-driven design

To shift the mindset of the cloud team from solution engineering to addressing customer needs, DigiRen proposed introducing elements from different product development methodologies including LEAN, Human-centred Design, Agile Delivery & DevOps. In providing customer experience expertise to undertake several initial engagements with application teams, DigiRen helped to shape the new cloud platform experience working from the customer backwards.

Mapping a migration pathway

To provide traditional IT teams with a pathway to migrate their application to the cloud, DigiRen proposed a migration process that incorporated:

·       The technical migration steps supplied by the migration partner

·       Several traditional operational processes for the cloud services to smooth the transition from the traditional IT world

·       A change program to build support for the migration amongst the teams

·       A training program to up skill teams so they could take advantage of the cloud services

DigiRen provided resources to define and run the training program and build the processes the IT teams would need to successfully operate their application in the cloud.

OUTCOMES

For the customer, the introduction of a new cloud operating model was instrumental in increasing productivity and reducing operating costs. In working side by side with the customer, DigiRen uplifted the customer team and introduced an innovative cloud operating model that meets the needs of the business by:

·       Driving a product-first mindset within the cloud team to address application team needs.

·       Building organisational capacity to define, design and implement cloud platform features.

·       Providing expert advice on delivery, implementation and use of cloud services.

·       Defining a migration plan for traditional IT teams so they could take advantage of cloud services as they migrated their applications to the cloud; and,

·       Uplifting traditional operational processes, including access management, incident management and change management so that traditional IT applications could be operated in the cloud.

The customer Platform team is now a trusted service provider to the application teams, and the new platform, processes and capabilities are driving better business outcomes for the Group.