CLARIANT
This represents about 93 % of their entire environment . Khosravi says : “ The remaining 7 % is a question mark as to whether we want to migrate them , because , in some of the cases , this concerns batching systems or local building recording systems , for which it doesn ' t really make sense to move them into the cloud .
Before the project , Clariant had roughly 1700 servers running and maintaining those applications . After the project , however , they had fewer than a thousand servers hosting and maintaining either the same amount or “ actually , even more applications than before , due to the organic growth you have over time ”, according to Khosravi .
“ So , in other words , we ’ ve reduced 40 % of our overall server landscape through the consolidation .”
As a result , Clariant has also reduced roughly 40 % of their licence costs , as well as reduced 12 % of their application , operation and provider costs . Most importantly , 27 % of their global hosting costs have been reduced , which equates to savings extending into the multi-millions per year .
Success factors Khosravi reveals that building a clear vision and mission from the beginning was central to the project ' s success . It was critical to convey the message to management , to the team , and to acquire their excitement and buy-in to the project . In such projects , the human element should never be overlooked .
“ It was important that everybody understood where we were going and why we were doing this . We think big , but we started small , and that ’ s a very important point .”
Clariant built and prepared MVPs ( Minimum Viable Products ) from the beginning , which meant they gained quick wins and were able to prove that to their IT teams , giving them evidence that the technology worked and that the idea was the right one .
Clariant also conducted interviews with their people to gather their ideas as to what went well with the project and what could be improved in the future .
“ The lowest common denominator was that people who worked within the programme felt positive that it was a ‘ failuretolerant environment ’. So that means that we allowed for failures , for people to fall and then stand up stronger with lessons learned – and then make it successful the next time . Our people know that it doesn ' t need to be perfect , and that they could , and can , take risks – something necessary for big gains .
“ The last point to mention is that it was important to attract the right people into the right roles , to fully use their skills and potential to support the transformation .”
Khosravi believes that it ’ s important to be a master at choosing the right people and putting them into the right roles , so they can spread their wings and play out their strengths . “ If you want to cross the ocean , you don ' t need the best boat , but people who share with you the passion for the sea . And that is exactly what we have applied within that programme .”
For Clariant the next 12 months will be about looking at high performance computing to support them in different business areas . Khosravi says : “ We want to become as serverless as we can , wherever we can . We will also look to optimise the environment , to run sizing procedures in order to leverage the best of the pay-per-use system and increase cloud scalability . We will also look to significantly improve our security posture with our cybersecurity team , and develop better , faster modern security technology to protect the entire global IT landscape .”
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