The journey to the hybrid cloud is a radical transformation project

In recent years, many companies have adopted an on-premise cloud solution within the business itself or have turned to a private cloud hosted by a service provider such as Swisscom. They are now weighing up the options for public cloud services and considering how to develop these into a hybrid cloud with their existing solution. In light of the innovative features offered by global providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft or Google, this is an important step. In my first article, I discussed Swisscom’s journey to the hybrid cloud. In this second article, I would like to outline the issues facing companies when they embark on their own journey into the hybrid cloud world.

A truly remarkable expansion of the public cloud sector is anticipated by 2025, with volumes set to more or less double compared to 2021 (source: PAC 2021). This does not surprise me; many companies are currently weighing up the options for public cloud services and have either already taken their first tentative steps towards a hybrid cloud environment or are on the verge of doing so. After all, providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google are investing huge sums in product development and the latest innovations. As a result, companies can now break apart the monoliths and split applications into small, independent chunks, referred to in the industry as ‘microservices’ or ‘containers’ in the cloud. This provides new opportunities to increase the speed and cost efficiency of IT development – in my view, a key requirement in a world where needs and technologies are evolving at an ever-faster pace.

I would now like to address the factors that I consider crucial for a successful journey to the hybrid cloud. These are insights I gained through Swisscom’s own cloud journey and through the experience of supporting our business customers as ICT partners. Perhaps you’ll find inspiration in what I say or be encouraged to engage in further discussion.

"When it comes to IT development, we need to become quicker and more efficient in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing world."

Complexity requiring a genuine desire to change

We can all agree that, by their very nature, large IT and technology projects are complex. However, with the hybrid cloud, we reach a new level of complexity, which I feel is all too often underestimated. In traditional IT infrastructure and in the operation of a single cloud solution, whether on premise or outsourced to a service provider, we have become accustomed to managing the entire value chain and replicating in-house aspects within the architecture. This includes business model, operation, security, governance, processes, organisation, culture and skills, to name just a few areas. The list is endless and goes far beyond the scope of this article. All these issues affect every single aspect of the business and determine its success or failure.

The journey to and the operation of the hybrid cloud dispenses with many of the traditional concepts and principles that we have taken for granted in the IT sector for the past 20 years. Integrating a public cloud is not simply another IT project; instead, it is a journey of transformation entailing a radical shift in many areas of the business. I therefore believe that the decision to embark upon the hybrid cloud journey must always be coupled with a genuine desire to change. If this latter is overlooked, there is a very high chance of failure or, at the very least, significant overstretching of the project’s scheduled resources – to say nothing of the delay and associated expense.

"The hybrid cloud journey must always be coupled with a genuine desire to change."

Think big, start small

Against the backdrop of technological and market change, companies are right to opt for a hybrid cloud solution using public clouds and merging them with their existing solutions. When tailored to the needs of the business, companies will reap the rewards in just a few short years. Global providers are bringing new features and innovations on stream with breathtaking speed. This is illustrated by the example of Amazon Web Services (AWS). In 2021, AWS invested around 45 billion USD into developing its cloud service. In the same year, Swisscom generated revenues of CHF 11 billion and invested around CHF 1.6 billion in its network and IT – a huge amount by Swiss standards. If you can harness this innovative power, you will find yourself on the winning team. Yet it is also dangerously enticing because, alongside Amazon Web Services (AWS), all the other global players are also investing. Companies quickly succumb to the temptation of using several providers at the same time or using the full range of features offered by a provider. Why is this a bad idea? After all, that’s how we’ll get the best of all worlds, isn’t it? Unfortunately, this is a fallacy. And, as I have seen on many occasions, it is also the first, far-reaching mistake often made by decision makers.

Just a few years ago, there seemed to be a trend towards standardising interfaces, user experience and features across public cloud providers. Today, it is clear that this assumption was wrong, and that concepts and approaches differ fundamentally from provider to provider. The integration of a single provider is already an enormously complex undertaking – a complexity which increases exponentially if more than one provider is involved. Even here at Swisscom, one of Switzerland’s largest ICT companies, we deliberately chose a single provider (Amazon Web Services (AWS) when embarking on our journey to the hybrid cloud and placed significant restrictions on the choice of services that could be used by the DevOps teams at the start. I would therefore recommend that businesses start ‘small’ with a single provider, that they define a few profitable use cases and that they design their hybrid cloud solution in such a way that it can be easily scaled at a later point. This also enables continuous learning and allows new aspects to be adapted and developed. In my opinion, learning is the single most important skill of a modern business – the future belongs to the learning organisation.

"I would recommend starting with a single public cloud provider and implementing a small number of use cases that you can develop and learn from."

Fundamental architecture considerations

When companies opt for a hybrid cloud solution by integrating a public and an existing cloud, key questions around security, connectivity and operation arise, which all have a significant impact on important architecture decisions. These issues are often underestimated at the beginning of the project.

The first is security, which also demonstrates what I previously discussed – that traditional concepts are becoming irrelevant. This can be seen in the familiar perimeter protection concept incorporating a “demilitarized zone” (DMZ). When it comes to security in the cloud – especially the hybrid cloud – a completely new strategy is needed. Microsegmentation and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) are examples of new and proven approaches. While microsegmentation takes the perimeter protection concept and moves it in the direction of individual micro zones, SASE is a radically different security philosophy using software-based network functions and software functions. There is no definitive right approach; it very much depends on the existing architecture, the use cases and the objectives.

"In a hybrid cloud environment, many traditional architecture principles become irrelevant."

Connectivity is another issue that is often overlooked. Many companies have designed their network very specifically to meet the needs of recent years. This means that IP range management is limited to regional IP addresses, for instance, which may subsequently lead to problems when integrating a global public cloud provider, particularly if several business sites are on the same network. New software-based concepts, such as service mesh, are commonly used, and these fundamentally change connectivity. I would recommend that companies address the issue of connectivity at an early stage in the process and that assistance is sought as required from a trusted partner, such as Swisscom, with a wealth of experience in connectivity.

Once the hybrid cloud environment is in place, the focus shifts to operation. You could say that this is often when the problems start – at least, it is for those companies whose initial architectural plans do not consider the operational aspects of a hybrid cloud environment. Operating an appropriate solution has both a technological and a cultural impact. It raises questions around the cross-platform visibility of the systems. Companies that wish to guarantee optimum stability must define a clear operational model providing an end-to-end view of the entire value chain, including the integration of inventories, monitoring, ITIL processes, ITSM systems and CI/CD pipelines to name just a few. This requires outstanding data and automation skills that have to be either developed by the company or bought in at significant expense. So much for the technical aspects – far more interesting are the cultural changes which I believe necessary to successfully design the operation of a hybrid cloud environment. At the heart is the idea of ‘shared responsibility’. Unlike previous approaches which saw the complete relinquishment of operational responsibility through the use of outsourcing contracts, all parties involved in a hybrid cloud environment must take equal responsibility for its operation. In this complex environment, an acute problem cannot always be clearly assigned. In an ideal scenario, all partners are involved in DevOps teams or constructs, if they exist.

Not just a project, but a radical transformation

At the start of this article, I said that the journey to the hybrid cloud is a radical transformation. I hope that what I have said thus far has illustrated this point. I firmly believe that cultural and organisational aspects have a part to play alongside the technical dimension. These elements are often overlooked. They can be addressed through new collaboration models, such as new ways of working, which require agile organisations and processes, and are designed in line with DevOps methodology. This requires an evolution in employee culture and skills – a prerequisite for breaking paradigms and seeing things from a new perspective. In the past three years, my management team and I have created an environment conducive to this type of change. Honest, consistent feedback is a powerful tool in combination with the learning culture that we have established and our remodelling of the organisation to create flat hierarchies wherever possible, allowing quick and efficient decision making. Equally important is the open discussion of far-reaching strategic decisions across the entire business. This is the only way to achieve employee commitment. However, there are often too few employees to be able to achieve this or there may be a certain cohort who cannot or don’t want to change. This is why companies cannot avoid the search for new employees with the necessary skills on the labour market. This task should not be underestimated; the labour shortage and ‘war for IT talent’ are particularly pronounced in Switzerland.

For companies with a significant proportion of IT in the value chain, I believe that there is no getting round the use of public clouds and their integration within a hybrid cloud environment. The only question is how efficiently and sustainably this step can be taken. I hope that my contributions have provided food for thought for future projects and that one or two companies can successfully shape their imminent transformation journey as a result. For a strong Swiss business community.

The key takeaways

• Increasing numbers of companies are currently weighing up the options for public cloud services and have already taken their first tentative steps towards a hybrid cloud environment.
• Global providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google are investing huge sums in product development and the latest innovations. As a result, companies can now break apart monoliths and split applications into small, independent chunks, which significantly increases efficiency.
• A hybrid cloud dispenses with many of the traditional concepts and principles that we have taken for granted in the IT trade for the past 20 years. The decision to embark upon the hybrid cloud journey must therefore always be coupled with a genuine desire to change.
• Concepts and approaches differ fundamentally from provider to provider. The integration of a single provider is an enormously complex undertaking – a complexity which increases exponentially if more than one provider is chosen.
• I would recommend starting with a single public cloud provider and implementing a small number of use cases that you can develop and learn from.
• When companies opt for a hybrid cloud solution by integrating a public and an existing cloud, key questions around security, connectivity and operation arise, which all have a significant impact on important architecture decisions.
• The journey to the hybrid cloud is a radical transformation – cultural and organisational aspects have an important part to play alongside the technical dimension.

What do you think about hybrid cloud integration – what is your stance on this development? I look forward to your comments.

Digital greetings, Christoph

#swisscom #telecommunications #joinswisscom

Want to carve out a career with Swisscom? Are you looking for a new challenge with the freedom to shape it as you wish? We are looking for DevOps Engineers, Product Owners & Managers, Solution Managers, Release Train Engineers and other talent. Are you interested in the ICT and telecommunications industry? Do you value an agile way of working, which allows you to help shape the future of a company? You can find out more about working at Swisscom here: swisscom.com/jobs. We are also looking for DevOps experts in Rotterdam, find out more here - and in Riga, find out more here.

Christoph Aeschlimann, CTO and CIO Swisscom. My passions include the latest technologies such as 5G, Cloud, AI and everything to do with software – modern forms of collaboration such as agility and DevOps also fascinate me. These allow employees to become more involved and autonomous when working towards achieving a common goal.