Let's Talk Lean Not Cost (backed by data)

(It feels weird that this is a first article in a VERY long time that it feels like a new chapter. It also feels like this is a new beginning in a way. The topics and concepts here are from my everyday experiences).

Over the past few months, I've been working with Heitor H. in the #OracleCloudInfrastructure team with a different segment of the market. What I have found was that the discussions have been very cost sensitive. I don't know whether this is based upon the industry trends, customer "transformations", their customer's pressures but most conversations and discussions have been about cost.

The cost is not simply cost of software, but the total cost of ownership. I say that in the true sense of the word which I also include time and opportunity. And this is where I use the word lean vs cost.

How might we execute with a lean approach?

The conversations here that we are having are also disruptive. Disruptive in the way that it is not the status quo. And it does come with its challenges. There are notional reasons why not disrupt the status quo. But with the work that I have done, and the spaces where I have been, the disruption is not through a pure relationship-based approach, it's about awareness and research that enables tangible evidence (and data) to understand how disruptive it can be.

Taking A Lean Use-Case Driven Approach

Sometimes customers want to see use-cases - solutions of what has been done or what can be done to solve a specific problem domain. There's been plenty of examples of reference selling where other customers have delivered on their outcomes.

Taking that to the next step, the lean aspect of this is how quickly, cheaply can we execute on this whilst capturing valuable data about the experience and outcomes. This is where either our Centre of Excellence or our brilliant partners get involved where we also work in a lean manner. It's not about being lowest cost (or free) but being lean in the approach that is sustainable. The IP that comes out of this comes in multiple facets - does the solution work (and can it scale and still be lean); does the lean approach work; how it feels to work with us; how it feels to work with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Taking A Lean Cost-Driven Approach

Sometimes customers need something tangible before investing into further discussions. We can discuss use-cases, solutions, business transformations however sometimes it comes down to commercials and costs.

Taking that to the next step, typically looks at a cost comparison in a very transparent way. The nicety of the #OracleCloudInfrastructure model especially where cloud services (and configuration) meet utilisation and commercials. The models are very flexible to upscale / downscale / sidescale / pivot with a lean approach. An example of this is the Compute Flexible Shapes where the CPU scales independently from memory eg starting with 4 vCPUs and 8 GB memory can change to 6 vCPUs with 15 GB memory without the need to change cloud services or SKUs making it easier to understand the change (its linear). Another example is the Autonomous Database where you can change the type of workload from JSON (Mongo-DB compliant) database to a Data Warehouse or OLTP without needing to migrating the database itself making it easier to change without a project to migrate. Another example is changing between regions where the price list is a globally consistent price wherever you provision the services making it easier plan (and consolidate if required). These examples (and others) are ways that we can be lean in the cost but also being lean when requirements change.

Taking a Lean Change Approach

The conversation is not just about the Cloud Spend or Cloud Economics (though that is a factor as well), it's about the change management and the technology adoption. These decisions are not done in isolation. There are people involved that have invested years of training, learning and adopting technologies and solutions. This is part of the disruption. The discussion include how lean can we make any change happen (this incorporates a longer-term approach to ensure talent and knowledge is maintained).

Many of the examples where in #OracleCloudInfrastructure, there are industry standards that can be applied and aligning to these are important. It helps to be lean in terms of interoperability not just in the technology but also the people that interact with the technology (from all parts of the business). Whether it being Terraform for the Infrastructure as Code and using Oracle Resource Manager to manage the stacks; or using Mongo-DB APIs using Autonomous Database and the native JSON datatypes; or bringing VMWare to Oracle Cloud VMWare Service (OCVS) and still have root access and all of the VMWare tools you currently use. The main focus here is open standards, interoperability and being lean with the change.

From the customer conversations, there is so much pressure at the moment to deliver and in many cases, there are too many priorities to handle. (It does feel like the person with the square wheel sometimes). Carving out (in a lean approach) to understand what is possible and have some evidence / data as well help with the conversation. Honestly, the research and evidence are useful at any time and is useful to have it ready for when the time is right (to truly disrupt).