Following our joint development with Microsoft of the Microsoft Cloud Platform System Premium (CPS-P) in 2014, we soon realized that there was a need to develop a solution for customers requiring small to mid-size cloud infrastructure. As with any product or solution at Dell, the primary goal during development of Dell Hybrid Cloud System for Microsoft (DHCS) was to gather early feedback, align with customer value and improve customer experience.
CGI was one of our key partners during the early development of DHCS. Focused on delivering cloud services to its end users (both internal and external), CGI faced the challenge of building and deploying cloud infrastructure on time, with predictable SLAs, while keeping both CapEx and OpEx low. CGI has 68,000 employees in 400 offices across 40 countries focused on end-to-end IT services, business process management and IP targeting business solutions across multiple sectors. CGI focuses on delivering hybrid cloud with an emphasis on predictable delivery, consistent revenue and margins, and reduced risk for CGI and its customers.
Prior to deploying DHCS for Microsoft, CGI identified its top four challenges with hybrid cloud:
1. Risk associated with a constantly evolving set of cloud infrastructure technologies delivered by multiple providers.
2. Inconsistent and unpredictable performance to meet customer SLAs.
3. Complexity and time-to-build using traditional DIY models.
4. OpEx related to management and maintenance of hybrid cloud.
Dell and CGI collaborated to assess the end-to-end solution lifecycle experience. Dell was able to help address CGI’s feedback and recommendations for refinements across all aspects of the solution experience including technical designs, system fulfillment, order processing, factory integration and, ultimately, onsite deployment and configuration.
According to Jim Pilgrim, director of consulting services at CGI, “With DHCS, CGI was able to reduce the time to build and deliver hybrid cloud to customers from months to weeks, reduce risk by at least 80 percent, and reduce operational costs by upwards of 85 percent.”
Since implementing DHCS, CGI has identified several key benefits:
- Additional DHCS or CPS-Premium (CPS-P) systems can be deployed with predictable level-of-effort, repeatedly for multiple customers on-demand.
- Due to its predictability and consistency, DHCS can be deployed in the customer’s premises and worldwide.
- The service templates, PaaS, Automation and integration work for one DHCS or CPS-P solution can be applied to the next one as more customers are onboarded
- Dell provides quarterly non-disruptive, fully-automated, end-to-end patch and update system.
- Dell supports a standardized supply chain through scale, parts, servicing and support.
- Configuration options feature consistent scalability across all the DHCS components to deliver the right cloud to the right customer.
In addition to being thrilled about the experience, the CGI team working on DHCS internally evangelized the solution within their global organization with the goal of standardizing DHCS and CPS-P as the private and hybrid cloud infrastructure of choice to deliver to their customers worldwide.
Standardization with this hybrid cloud approach delivers significant benefits to CGI and its customers, such as predictability and consistency that ultimately led to a positive customer experience. As a managed service provider, standardization enables efficiencies in deploying and operating each hybrid cloud, leading to lower operational costs, increased revenue and higher margins.
But don’t just take it from me, here’s a video featuring our partners at CGI discussing their use of DHCS for Microsoft.
For demos and deep dives, be sure to schedule time with one of our Solution Centers. For additional information contact us at mscloud_sales@dell.com