Mugato creates dialogue and understanding between business and IT in the journey towards cloud

The Øresund Bridge Consortium, which owns and operates the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, made a strategic decision to go the cloud road years ago. To plan and implement the project, they initiated a collaboration with Fellowmind and Microsoft.

“We’ve worked according to Microsoft’s Azure Migrate Program. Very early in the process, Microsoft recommended us to contact Mugato. Microsoft had previously had good experience in using Mugato to create an overview and carry out the necessary analyses of infrastructure.” begins Christian Jørgensen, responsible for IT infrastructure at Øresundsbro Konsortiet.

“We started by analyzing our infrastructure with Mugato, especially in relation to data flow and traffic, to decide which systems to move into the cloud. Mugato also gave us the basis for migrating systems to Azure.”

Mugato forms the basis of Azure landing zone

“We are currently building a landing zone in Azure. Here we use Mugato to design the optimal solution and size the cloud platform correctly, and in general ensure that the entire setup fits what we need it for,” says Christian.

Once the landing zone is built, the plan is to test based on data from Mugato. The Øresund Bridge Consortium will also use Mugato to see how the load is on the systems and prioritize the choice of computer and storage based on it.

“We start at the light end, build up experiences and ensure that the systems work so that we can service our customers satisfactorily. We’re gonna be thorough. The network part, the landing zone part and not least safety must be in place – we need to get 100% control of it, and Mugato can really help with that.”

Mugato has created a common language for IT and business

Although cloud is first and foremost about IT and technology, it is a journey that also involves the business – but it can be difficult to get the two worlds to hang together in a common understanding.

“My challenge has been that if I start explaining to the management group about VLAN and port openings, it won’t be many minutes before they sit and look out the window. I have the technical insight, and yet it is a challenge to make these things visible and communicate – I use our technical documentation, I have lost in two minutes,” says Christian.

“With Mugato, I can visualize the connection between infrastructure and application landscape, so it’s easier digestible for people who don’t have much technical insight, but see it all from a business perspective. I can visualize things for everyone in the house who needs to understand the contexts and value chains in the core business,” he explains, summarizing:‍

“Mugato is designed so that it is intuitive to use and so you understand what is behind the visualizations.”

With Mugato I can show and explain how it all fits together

Along the way in the cloud project, Christian and his colleagues have often met the attitude that everything is possible in the cloud, and that the IT department does not have to be so much in on things. Implicitly, now the IT people are again bucking the buckle for the business.

“I understand that attitude. As private IT users, we have become accustomed to everything happening in the cloud, that it is easy and that we can control everything ourselves. And we’ll know again and again that the cloud is safe,” he said.

“Without concrete examples, it can be difficult to explain why it’s not about the IT department buckles the business – why, for example, there are systems or functionality we can’t simply move in the cloud, or change wants we can’t just comply with. The business just wants it all to run, but it often feels like the IT people are talking again about firewalls and security,” Christian explains.

“With Mugato, I can show and explain how it all fits together and explain the connections in a way that people understand. Your system is here, and it communicates with them and those systems. They are lying deep in the stomach and are hard shut down for security reasons – your wish means that we now have to open up to this so that the whole world has access.”

Overview of application owners and system managers creates clarity

Christian and his colleagues in the IT department do not only use Mugato in connection with the journey towards the cloud. They also use Mugato as a daily, operational method in the IT engine room and in their dialogue with the business in many different contexts.

“At Mugato, we have an overview of application owners and system managers. This makes it easy to show who owns the systems and needs to be involved, e.g. when the business comes with wishes for functional changes or wants a new analysis in the reporting systems. Then we can show that these systems are communicating with each other and moving data, and that we must therefore involve them and those people in our plan, so that we do not end up in the pure anarchy,” he explains.

With Mugato we make what is actually going on visible.

From the business side, IT is often met with a limited insight and understanding of things that give rise to many questions. It can be difficult to explain yourself, and, for example, justify a resource consumption when you only have the technical drawings to lean on in your answer, says Christian.

“Our IT landscape is complex and extensive. On the system alone, we have to handle many, many more systems than you are just aware of. With Mugato, for example, we can make our many systems visible and show that these systems they handle the plant’s pumping stations – and they need to be monitored and kept running,” he explains.

“With Mugato, we’ll make it visible what’s actually going on, so we’re more easily able to execute.”

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