Case: SimCorp

The publicly listed Danish company SimCorp, which makes software for the global financial sector, is currently migrating all its IT infrastructure from local data centers to the Microsoft cloud computing platform Azure. All data and services will be migrated or replaced, on a byte by byte basis.

The scope of such operation is extensive and only a few international companies have done it before. Hence, to recruit IT workers who both have experience from infrastructure, IT systems administration, cloud, software development and automation has turned out to be difficult.

SimCorp has decided to bring together its own IT workers, who have vast experience from infrastructure and systems administration, with consultants from Specialisterne, who have a natural approach to software development and automation.

The two consultants from Specialisterne form an effective and stable team within an otherwise agile organization in SimCorp’s IT department. Here, the consultants perform various tasks helping SimCorp create virtual networks and pipelines in Microsoft Azure with Azure DevOps and developing new web services for SimCorp’s internal users.

The consultants perform tasks such as:

• Development of cloud components by means of infrastructure-as-code.
• Debugging developed code.
• Support in training of new employees.
• Participation in agile ceremonies, such as stand-ups, refinement and retrospectives.
• Sparring sessions on software development methodology.

“At the beginning of our cloud project, all our regular IT workers had to re-train themselves in software development and automation. Conversely, the consultants from Specialisterne, who have a natural approach to software development and automation, needed education in infrastructure, migration and cloud. We provided the consultants with a month of online training, and then we gave them their first cases. We expected it would take them a month, but they did the job within days. And they have continued in the same effective manner.”

“Overall, the consultants are incredible fast at obtaining new knowledge and use it to create new products, that are very valuable to us in this process, we are in. The consultants look at a problem and solve it quickly by using the tools, they already know or are being presented with in order to do the specific job. They effectively collaborate with IT workers who have 20-30 years of experience in a highly specialized field but lack the consultant’s intuitive sense of software development and automation. Because of the consultants from Specialisterne, these two crucial skill sets are brought together. Thanks to their contribution, 1 and 1 equals 3 in a process, none of us experienced IT folks have tried before.”

Jacob Mygind, Director, Cloud Platform Owner, SimCorp.