Cloud Operating Model Strategy

DigiRen has extensive experience designing and implementing cloud operating models. Every customer’s cloud operating model is different, but through leveraging our cloud operating model “blueprint” we provide customers with a clear and precise starting point that identifies the key capabilities required and groups them in alignment to operational reality.

Our Proven Methodologies:

DigiRen engagements start by working backwards from the needs and requirements of application teams and business units. We apply right to left thinking by creating a “north star” that defines the desired future state and associated benefit. We co-create with organisations implementation “Horizons” that reflect the maturing and expanding role of cloud and new ways of working.  

Cloud Operating Model Strategy:

Creating a "North Star" serves as a guiding vision that aligns the organisation to a desired goal or future state that meets the agreed definition of good. Strategy by nature can be complex, academic, and un-actionable. Our approach and framework simplifies the process by indexing on two themes (i) Define: understanding what “good” looks like and the associated benefits, and (ii) Activate: creating mechanisms that guide decision making & track progress in the journey to the desired future state (North Star)

The NorthStar:

• Aligns the cloud operating model to business requirements (value streams), taking into consideration group IT strategy and other organisational priorities.
• Creates a shared view of the change journey & associated benefits.
• Provides a definition and rationale of what “good” looks like.

Aligns Stakeholders

• Catalyst to connect the “users” and “providers” of cloud services and creates alignment on the timeline of improvement and change (maturation horizons).
• Creates a mechanism for balancing departmental versus organisational requirements; and identifies group IT dependencies.
• Supports the formation of a cross-functional cloud governance forum.

Creates Strategic Principles

• Provides a shared point of reference for day to day and project decision making across both the “users” and “providers” of cloud services.
• Creates a scalable & consistent lever to support change & improvement.

Defines Mechanism’s and Metrics

• Design and agreement on “mechanisms” that are forcing functions to enable a shift to modern cloud-centric ways of working.
• Creation of metrics that allow measurement of improvement (value, efficiency, compliance etc.) incrementally and at defined milestone to track progress towards “future state”.

Consistently we see cloud programs that can clearly articulate the “why” move faster, achieve greater scale & adoption, and deliver greater & sustained value. This clarity and alignment are important, as cloud operating models built and operated in isolation do not drive change, scale or deliver value. Successful cloud operating models require the support and alignment of cloud users and business units, central cloud & platform teams, and group IT functions (e.g. service management, security/ identity management, networking, finance etc). Each of these stakeholder groups have their own backlog of work and competing priorities, but all of them are required to agree and undertake a level of change to support a shift to a modern cloud-centric way of working.

Cloud Operating Model Assessment:

Leveraging the DigiRen cloud operating model blueprint, we assess an organisations current cloud operating model effectiveness and maturity through five perspectives:

• Internal Customers: Who are consuming platform services, how are they consuming these services, and what skills are required on the consumer side?
• Platform Capabilities: How are platform services offered, process of provisioning / operations /governance / support, and a capability assessment of the current cloud operating functions.
• Enablers: Current platform strategy / vision, alignment to group IT priorities, and internal skills enablement offerings programs.
• Data & Metrics: accessibility, accuracy, and use of key metrics regarding internal customer experience, value, operations, compliance and security.
• Demarcation lines and RACI: Assessment of cloud service demarcation lines, clarity of roles &responsibilities between user / platform team.

This process provides a multi-dimensional view of the current operating model, including consumption models, demarcation lines, teams, and interfaces across the platforms, and recommendations regarding cloud capability uplift’s that align to the platform strategy horizons.

Gap Analysis + Cloud Operating Model Roadmap:

Performing a gap analysis of the future state vs current state cloud operating model allows us to design short / medium / long term capability goals and a cloud operating model maturity roadmap. We blend augmenting immediate priority gaps to achieve operational readiness, whilst implementing a recruitment and skills development plan to achieve cloud operations self-sufficiency.

From our extensive experience, we know that managing the people side of change is a critical enabler to driving cloud adoption – we move people to new ways of working, we don’t move technology.  DigiRen’s change program ensures robust change planning and management to support:

• Organisation cloud awareness
• Organisation acceptance, and
• Accelerate and scale successful user adoption.

DigiRen will perform organisational diagnosis activities specific to the cloud program to identify and engage with impacted stakeholder groups to determine the best practice communications, training and support needed for individuals and teams to actively participate and transition to new ways of working. A Cloud Change Program including communications, sponsorship, training and resistance management plans will be developed and implemented, tailored to the specific needs of an organisations Cloud program and people.

What is a Cloud Operating Model?

An operating model is a collection of processes and procedures that define how you want to operate as an organisation to deliver value. Modern and effective cloud operating models leverage digital technologies and modern ways of working to offer cloud services in a manner that align fulfils the needs of the cloud user and business requirements, whilst also ensuring cloud usage across the organisation is secure, compliant, and is economically optimised.

At its core, a cloud operating model is the effectiveness in which internal business requirements and demand for cloud services are effectively and efficiently serviced by the central cloud (platform) team. It is very common for organisations that have historically performed a “lift and shift” cloud migration (i.e. a migration with no uplift to process or consumer experience), for there to be a tangible “gap” and frustration between the users and providers of cloud. These environments are typically characterised by a reliance on tribal knowledge and workarounds, an increasing drift from policy and compliance requirements, and the presence of “shadow IT” activities.

To help understand and visualise the cloud operating model, the DigiRen cloud operating model blueprint depicts the considerations within the demand side as (1) who wants to use cloud, relevant cloud uses cases & business value and (2) the users desired process(experience) to consume cloud. On the supply side (3) how is cloud currently offered to internal users, and the underlying cloud architecture and foundations, (4) cloud business management capabilities.

Interestingly, it has been our experience that defining and establishing the appropriate cloud business management capabilities is often the catalyst that creates sustainable mechanisms and processes that help shift the platform team from a traditionally engineering centric approach to cloud, to one that works backwards from the needs of the users and business.

‍