Smooth operator: standardize and automate the way you work in the cloud

To be fair, that sort of patience is not typical. Most clients want their building works completed in the minimum amount of time and the speed at which new projects are usually completed is a testament to this. After all, every moment spent in construction is a moment that it’s not delivering a profit.

There’s a good reason for this difference in speeds. The Sagrada Família is a monolith that has evolved in tandem with new construction techniques – adding new aspects means working around and with the existing elements. With a new construction however, amenities such as the electricity and plumbing are completely standardized before work has even started.

Mixing the methods

The two ways of working are not mutually exclusive. Very often, a new development will need to incorporate elements of an older one. The analogy is particularly pertinent to IT projects since IT departments are increasingly moving towards a bimodal way of working. The first approach represents the more traditional ways of working – those projects that relate to core system maintenance, stability, or efficiency. The second approach relates to developing projects that directly help the business innovate and differentiate.

The operation speeds are also different. The first, which we might broadly refer to as “legacy IT” that was not built for the cloud, has slow-moving development cycles and requires manual changes and updates. The second way, “born in the cloud,” is based on automation. It results in a faster turnaround time since everything is repeatable; changes and patches can be built and tested and pushed into live service when ready.

And this highlights a key problem with legacy IT that was not built for the cloud. A reliance on manual changes makes it difficult to take stock of everything that is taking place in within an enterprise – which in turn impacts engagement and the ability to provide strategic support to the business. A reliance on manual steps also carries the risk of introducing errors to the process.

With cloud-native IT, everything should be built using a standardized approach, but often isn’t. When you do build in a standardized way, the resulting creation – be it a housing block or a business platform – is easier to operate and support. Under cloud-native operation, the usage of a combination of agreed components and procedures means it becomes easier to accurately trace just what has been deployed, and when.

Central to this is the use of the DevOps tool chain. This set of tools makes it possible for you to build, automate, and operate very efficiently. The result is a codified deployment that is traceable and repeatable.

Automation, innovation and operation

Innovation is a strong driver for businesses in every sector, and a cloud-native way of working lends itself best to this. By consolidating how and by whom apps are run and developed, you can achieve standardization. This in turn allows you to find cost efficiencies and innovate faster and better, and provides more freedom to test new ways to meet customer satisfaction.

The Capgemini Cloud Platform (CCP) helps make innovation a reality. It is designed to help businesses move to a way of working that is built both in and for the cloud. This marks an evolution of the DevOps tool chain, allowing for a shift to an efficient, automated operating model – a codified deployment that’s traceable and repeatable. What essentially means moving from DevOps to NoOps can pay vast dividends in improved efficiency and reliability. As an example, operating in cloud-native mode means that rather than having one person struggling to manually support tens of virtual machines (VMs) as would be the case in a legacy IT environment, you can have a single person supporting thousands of VMs.

Easy-to-manage modules

The reliance, stability, and control this brings are aspects that are highly sought by IT leaders. Standardizing and taking a modular approach allows the developers to build and innovate – they can work with a common toolkit that requires far less maintenance and support. The same operating model is used in auto construction. Volkswagen uses one standardized frame for Skodas, Audis, and VWs – meaning that they don’t have to start from scratch when building a new model – which makes it cheaper to build and service. This is the essence of the Operate aspect of the CCP function. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, no complicated workarounds, and no time spent trying to figure out what’s going on.

Not built in a day, but …

There’s no quick route to digital transformation. But unlike Gaudi’s masterpiece, it doesn’t have to take several lifetimes. Making the move from legacy to the cloud is a daunting prospect and the obstacles can be significant. But whatever the size and shape of your IT estate, Capgemini’s deep understanding and experience with cloud technologies and migration will streamline the process without impacting business continuity.

CCP’s Operate lets you seamlessly integrate all of your operations data together to get a single view of what’s running in your estate. Our advanced user portal provides a peerless user experience, and with support for IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS solutions, it gives you a completely new way to manage your cloud estate.

For more information, download the Capgemini Cloud Platform brochure
https://www.capgemini.com/resources/capgemini-cloud-platform-brochure/

Ben Scowen

I create innovative business services in the cloud. I work with clients to deploy the cloud platform services that maximize their results, while avoiding lock-in to any single software vendor, cloud provider or systems integrator.
By helping clients select, use and run the most appropriate cloud platform services, I enable them to focus on digital transformation and building business outcomes.
My work encompasses integration, DevOps, API management, microservices, applications, operations management, application lifecycle management (ALM), PaaS, identity & access management, IoT, big data, machine learning, compute, networking and storage & database.