In-depth application assessment facilitates cloud transformation for leading OEM

Determining the value of the cloud

The ability of the BMW Group to adapt to developments in the automotive industry has driven its success as a world-famous vehicle brand since its founding over 100 years ago. As part of its latest enterprise transformation, which focused on digitalization and sustainability, the BMW Group wanted to optimize product and service development by modernizing the IT landscape. The increasing emphasis on software solutions demanded shorter development cycles and a greater degree of scalability and automation.

By leveraging cloud and data, the BMW Group would also be able to offer improved networked services for production and logistics. The key areas of customer, vehicle, and factory were chosen as the focus for the cloud strategy.

Having established cloud as a priority for the future, the BMW Group wanted to determine the migration potential of a predefined scope of applications and the real value of shifting them to the public cloud. IT and business decision makers required an in-depth analysis that could investigate migration capabilities, identify possible impediments, and result in a risk factor recommendation, taking into consideration modernization and standardization targets.

In order to create transparency and manageable cloud migration recommendations, the BMW Group was looking for a neutral partner to efficiently analyze large volumes of application data, map it specifically, and derive individual courses of action for over 5,000 applications.

In-depth analysis and stakeholder management

As a trusted partner with both technical and industry expertise, Capgemini was chosen to implement the largescale assessment project. Capgemini applied the economic Application Portfolio Management (eAPM) assessment approach with its proprietary eAPM Studio for collecting, analyzing, and visualizing application data. The assessment was performed in consecutive phases, enabling efficient data collection by enriching the data found in the BMW Group’s existing sources in a structured manner via online questionnaires.

The user-friendly design of the eAPM Studio enabled Capgemini to quickly and individually analyze the data and facilitated the presentation of the results to the BMW Group. Capgemini further configured the method and the tool to the OEM’s specific needs. In this regard, the design of Cloud decision logics were aligned with BMW’s architecture principles and standards. In order to reflect the BMW Group’s strategic objectives, every logical connection of data points and their interpretation was aligned and mutually designed by the project team.

In addition to the assessment, Capgemini supported the OEM with extensive stakeholder management of the circa 1,300 application managers involved. The project team established support channels, held regular status meetings and workshops, and helped prepare communication materials.

A roadmap to more sustainable, efficient IT

The results of the eAPM assessment shed light on the cloud migration potential of BMW’s application portfolio. This included detailed recommendations based on the company’s targets for approximately 5,200 applications. For each application, Capgemini calculated the migration effort for all possible scenarios, as well as evaluating blockers and potential impediments. The team also supported the design of a cloud migration roadmap, including a simulation of instance pricing for databases and application servers for different hyperscalers.

In addition to various business benefits such as faster time to market and improved software development, the roadmap to cloud migration also highlighted potential CO2 savings by shifting applications from the current server structure. By aligning the data-driven evaluation approach with the strategic objectives of the BMW Group, the cloud assessment of the IT application portfolio has achieved a new level of transparency and insight. Capgemini also created the foundation for sustainability in the planning and governance of the cloud transformation by simulating CO2 reduction potential, thereby enabling multiple stakeholders to systematically plan and adapt to the necessary steps. Going forward, the BMW Group can confidently manage the cloud transformation journey with full knowledge of the risks and benefits.

To find out more about the eAPM cloud assessment for the BMW Group, please contact references.ce@capgemini.com

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Learn more about how our unique eAPM approach can help CIOs shape their IT transformation roadmap: https://www.capgemini.com/solutions/economic-application-portfolio-management-eapm/.