Cloud Modernization & Data Center Consolidation Strategy for IT Cost Reduction

Challenge

The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) of a leading federal agency of the U.S. government is tasked with serving 20 lines of business within the organization, as well as some external federal agencies, with IT services, cybersecurity solutions, and centers of excellence for new technologies.

The majority of the organization’s IT infrastructure was hosted on-premise, with large data centers supporting a vast array of systems and applications. The OCIO believed business units would continue to increase their cloud adoption and cloud data management capability over time, and not all data centers would be needed. To determine this, OCIO needed support with conducting a study of their organization’s state of cloud readiness, priorities for cloud adoption and cloud migration, the suitability of various enterprise cloud data management solutions, and the best course of action for the organization.

The OCIO wanted to answer these important questions:

• Will cloud adoption prove to be more cost-effective than maintaining on-premise data centers?
• Which systems and applications are best suited for cloud adoption, and in what order should migration occur?
• What strategies can be implemented to minimize disruption during the transition?
• For systems that must remain on-premise, where should they reside? 

Solution

Analysis and Advisory Services
The OCIO was approached by one of its business units to purchase a leased data center. The OCIO’s preferred option was to shift away from managing data centers as part of its Data Center Optimization Initiative and reduce on-premise environments by investing in cloud modernization and enterprise cloud data management. Guidehouse supported the OCIO in determining the best course of action by conducting an objective study to analyze the financial implications of all viable options, providing support throughout the process by:

• Collecting relevant data for analysis.
• Conducting cost-benefit and break-even analyses.
• Assessing the organization’s existing IT infrastructure and data center efficiency.
• Offering unbiased evidence and strategic guidance to demonstrate the value of cloud modernization.

Guidehouse’s study determined that migrating high-value IT systems to the cloud was the most cost-effective option, saving the OCIO from the financial burden of purchasing a new data center.

• Evaluated the OCIO’s readiness to migrate to cloud.
• Analyzed the workloads of each application to determine how it fit into an overall cloud strategy.
• Provided a cost analysis for cloud versus on-premise options.
• Created a cloud architecture designed to deliver optimum performance and maximize ROI. Delivered a strategic agile roadmap for the migration of the cyber portfolio to cloud-based management systems.

Cloud Implementation Support
Guidehouse’s expertise extended beyond strategy, helping the OCIO with the implementation of cloud technology solutions, including large-scale projects like migrating mailboxes and deploying Office365. From development and testing to change management and user training, Guidehouse supported the entire project lifecycle while providing ongoing support, performance tuning, and maintenance through cloud transformation processes.

Determining the Correct Strategic Decision
Guidehouse’s analysis detailed five viable options for the organization. With objective data and tangible evidence, the OCIO used in-depth cost-benefit analysis to identify the best approach and advocate effectively for cloud/software modernization. Guidehouse’s strategic guidance and advisory services allowed the OCIO to overcome a daunting internal challenge and helped the office demonstrate the value of investing in modernization efforts to both leadership and the wider organization.

Unlocking Cost Savings Through Enterprise Cloud Solutions 
Guidehouse identified potential savings of up to $20 million per year for the OCIO via the most cost-effective route to cloud modernization.  While the organization had initially deemed the cloud strategy for certain complex applications too expensive, Guidehouse was able to deploy its extensive expertise to re-architect elements of the IT infrastructure to optimize application performance, remove unnecessary licenses, improve readiness for cloud data management solutions, and reduce the overall cost of cloud investment.

Delivering Cloud Modernization
With Guidehouse’s support, the OCIO is positioned to move from outdated systems to a modernized, cloud-based infrastructure. This transition has enabled: 

• Enhanced performance
• Increased operational agility
• Cost reduction in IT 
• Up-to-date technology
• Improved service delivery 
• Streamlined management
• Future-readiness

Guidehouse’s support of a number of mission-critical applications has enabled the OCIO to drive greater performance, improve its operational agility, reduce IT costs, keep up with the pace of modern technology, gain competitive advantages, and deliver better services to both its internal and external customers.