Cloud Platforms & Enablement

Digital execution happens on the cloud and how the cloud is operationalized and consumed in digital is drastically different than non-digital focused IT infrastructure. Digital execution requires a platform approach that looks to effectively stitch together many cloud services, digital processes and highly automated management technology into a cohesive tool that enables digital solutions to be engineered at scale.

Cloud enablement is part of a DevOps/Cloud/Agile triad required for digital effectiveness. The platforms are treated as products that evolve with corporate initiatives and business objectives. Mature platforms will flex to new business needs while maintaining consistency, enabling velocity at scale and minimizing rework.

Score: 100-80

Section Scoring

100 - 80 PTS

You have a mature, product-centric approach to cloud and an API-driven cloud foundation established that ensures shared elements of cloud and general cloud consumption are secure, compliant, and operable at the scale and velocity that digital demands. Platform product teams build and enable consumption of cloud-native platforms on the API-driven cloud foundation for custom digital applications, analytics, automation and machine learning. Digital product teams can control their cloud platforms and can easily and quickly leverage common cloud foundations. This allows teams to build and deliver digital products at scale. The result is many teams executing against digital strategy without IT technology or process barriers.

Digital Execution Ready

100 - 80 PTS

You define or build cloud foundations that value flexibility to enable business growth/profit focus. Existing infrastructure is still focused on migrating applications to the cloud to reduce cost of ownership rather than support new technology and digital product. Rationalization may be necessary to manage for consistency.

Digital in Process

80-60 PTS

The cloud platform supports service delivery and core application migration. This approach hampers digital product delivery. The cloud enablement platform is run like a cost center and uses tickets and delivery SLAs rather than a core enabler for business and digital product outcomes.

Digital Gaps

60-0 PTS

Questions & Answers

The question-and-answer section outlines why the questions are important, how they are weighted, and what best practice looks like.

How quickly can your Cloud Infrastructure team stand up a new feature of cloud?

Why we ask this:

Financial institutions that build effective engineering use a well-architected cloud enablement platform that doesn’t require a legacy IT Infrastructure ticket service process to access. Building cloud infrastructure is a product team story. Setup occurs within a sprint.

How we weighed this question:

This question is weighted based on how you have amended and made an efficient ability to build on cloud.

What best looks like:

Financial institutions are developing and implementing cloud platform operating models oriented around digital product delivery. Cloud infrastructure and services are deployed at the same exact pace as application code — typically within a two-week sprint. Product teams may build off a common cloud platform and perform the work without entering a ticket to an outside infrastructure team.

Next Steps:

Establish a goal for the infrastructure increment to be the same as a product increment.
Track current cloud infrastructure stand-up cycle time for product teams and identify improvements.
Invest to enable self-service for digital products.

Do your digital products leverage existing cloud infrastructure and services?

Why we ask this:

Digitally ready IT product organizations must first look to cloud for leapfrogging capabilities and building new products quickly, reliably and at scale. A typical IT Infrastructure team operates on a services mentality (i.e., ticketing system) rather than measuring the ability to enable access to new/leapfrog technologies or capabilities.

How we weighed this question:

This question specifically looks at whether digital product managers and teams are able to build new product and adopt new technology using existing IT infrastructure and processes.

What best looks like:

Digital product teams’ cloud usage moves at pace and scale to enable more innovation and experimentation. Cloud platforms enable access and services for incubation, iteration and scale in weeks rather than typical months or years.

Next Steps:

Use the cloud enablement framework to determine how to operationalize cloud infrastructure management to business-aligned priorities rather than service tickets.
Identify the next steps to federate design for and build on a centralized cloud enablement platform.

Does the cloud infrastructure team measure and rationalize the platform based on business strategy alignment and actual use?

Why we ask this:

Focusing on customer first is a hallmark of digital teams, and that mindset needs to flow to internal cloud teams. Digital ready cloud enablement teams measure internal product team adoption, cycle time and use-rate growth as indicators of value to the business.

How we weighed this:

Scores rate the presence and maturity of internal customer metrics like adoption and use.

What best looks like:

Cloud enablement teams, which are enabled for product over traditional services delivery, measure speed of setup, product team use and ultimately end customer adoption. Legacy organizations measure the amount of code produced or services enabled.

Next Steps:

Define and apply use metrics. You want to hold the enablement team accountable for customer-impacting metrics.
Rationalize cloud enablement services based on digital development team use. Work with the CIO organization to sunset low/no-use services to maximize value-to-investment for the cloud platform.

Do you regularly review with your CIO how effectively the cloud infrastructure team is supporting business outcomes?

Why we ask this:

Financial institutions using digital products to reach new markets and drive new revenue-producing capabilities must shift cloud enablement from a traditional services model. That way, product teams can innovate faster and scale more efficiently while reducing technology risk.

How we weighed this question:

This question receives the highest weighting for the Cloud Enablement area as it indicates how or whether IT has shifted from services to product orientation.

What best looks like:

An easy maturity test is whether the cloud infrastructure team measures itself against operational metrics like cycle time and reliability or business value metrics like cloud-enabled reach resulting in revenue growth/new market access.

Next Steps:

Work with your peers to define the business domains where cloud will enable increased revenues at improved margins.
Define, track, measure and communicate business impact metrics enabled by cloud so that even internal infrastructure teams understand how what they do ties to the big picture.
Support IT infrastructure investment and skills building for cloud enablement product owners and Agility.

Resources

For more detail, check out BreakFree’s point of view on Cloud Platforms and Enablement.

Relevant Blog Posts:

5 Cloud Enablement Musts

Ditch Dashboards

Factory Vs. Cloud-Native

Cloud Native Machine Learning Action Plan

Percent Migrated is a Bad Indicator of Successful Cloud Adoption

Workbook Sections

Cloud Platforms & Enablement

Section Scoring

Questions & Answers

How quickly can your Cloud Infrastructure team stand up a new feature of cloud?

Resources

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