An electric and gas company seeking to have a modern, powerful all-cloud strategy was a few years into their journey. They needed a partner to help them navigate some of the more complex challenges and accelerate their roadmap.
Provoke entered the scene at the start of an Enterprise Applications review, assessment and modernization to get the most out of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. The goals were to ramp up the utilities company’s IT engine, reduce risk and technical debt, achieve optimal integration and future-proof their cloud platform.
“We had gone through an internal process of reviewing 100+ legacy applications, decommissioning, rearchitecting and removing technical debt. We approached the Provoke team for guidance around several on-premise, legacy applications where we needed deeper expertise and additional resources to achieve optimal results.”
– Utility client delivery manager
Keys to Success
Do the legwork first with a small engagement team
Provoke sent a team to educate the client team quickly about all the cloud opportunities and get their app modernization plan rolling. Rapid Discovery has an important education element, and it should always be a two-way street. In this case, the Utility Company learned what roads they had ahead for app modernization and why they might choose one over another, while Provoke could understand what the in-house capabilities were and what early applications needed to be modernized first. This upfront conversation saved loads of time and coordination that would have been needed down the road if it never happened.
Set up an Azure landing zone quickly
Provoke set up a landing zone early to make the project go more smoothly. An Azure landing zone accounts for scale, security governance, networking and identity. They are extremely useful in enabling application migration, modernization, and innovation at enterprise-scale in Azure. The landing zone Provoke set up incorporated all platform resources required to support the client’s extensive application portfolio.
Bring customer and Provoke sprint teams together to create an agile, cross-functional approach
Integration of the workflow for both teams is essential to making it to the finish line on time. Team integration removes communication blocks and meeting duplication, resulting in a more efficient and less expensive outcome.
Implement Microsoft’s Azure DevOps to see real-time changes and create full visibility of deployment pipelines
Provoke and the client used these tools to maximize the efficiency and the strengths of each team. For example, one person could prioritize stories for the next sprint while another could respond to user feedback and form final solutions simultaneously.
Results
- Six applications migrated to Microsoft Azure in a 40-week period.
- Accelerated app modernization program, shortening it from years to months.
- De-risked modernization strategy by avoiding the high-resources burn of recruiting their own skilled staff.
- Previous risks from on-premise, legacy applications were eliminated.
- Refreshed applications are easier to maintain and more robust, saving budget for overall maintenance costs.
- Future-proofing — Automated updates and maintenance removes the risk, work, and costs associated with outdated technologies.
- Documentation and support are now available to make good decisions.
