CASE STUDY risk and criticality of the asset , so that if something does go down , for example , we can instantly switch to another location to keep the business running . If something is less critical , we can spin up a Disaster Recovery environment which enables us to address the issue within the required timeframe .
Another challenge is keeping our internal stakeholders aligned to what we ’ re doing . With things moving quickly , I need to explain and ensure transparency with my colleagues on the executive committee and the organisation as a whole – what is happening and why we are doing what we are doing .
If , hypothetically , we were to lose a working location , or for whatever reason people can ’ t reach an office , we have Business Continuity locations that staff can travel to . Plus , many staff can now work remotely which is a major benefit .
Can you tell us more about the digital infrastructure which underpins Travelex ’ s global operations ?
Currently , we have a hybrid setup . Traditionally , we ’ ve operated own-brand , self-managed data centres with a self-managed network , with most of the applications running on a client server-type of architecture .
For the last five or six years , Travelex has been undertaking a modernisation and transformation journey that is moving us towards the cloud . Most of our enterprise applications are now cloud hosted , on our well architected cloud landing zone ( IaaS ). We also utilise Platform-as-a-Service ( PaaS ) when developing cloud native services with embedded security and SRE features – as well as SaaS where we subscribe to and integrate with third party solutions .
We are constantly driving modernisation programmes to reduce our traditional network system and to increase our engagement with the cloud , thereby developing new ways of operating . As part of this , we are actively working on a data centre exit strategy from China , Australia and the UK and looking to switch to cloud-based data centres and third-party networks .
Can you outline some of the challenges and opportunities the company is facing in its Digital Transformation journey away from legacy systems ?
The main challenge – as is the case for any business looking to transform – is transforming while the business is running . It ’ s not just keeping the lights on , but consistently being able to adjust to what the market , customer and regulator need .
This is why we are shifting away from our legacy environment , but at the same time we need to keep this legacy environment operational and aligned to the business while we move to new solutions . This is a challenge both in terms of speed of delivery but also cost .
In terms of opportunities , our transformation journey is going to really help us with our cost base . Through transformation we can be much more transparent on what a product is costing , or what a certain business function is costing – and this makes strategic decisionmaking much easier .
Another opportunity related to transformation is that we are able to easily connect to third party solutions , because we now have a much more flexible APIbased integration layer . If we see that our compliance and risk platform , for example , ought to be replaced then it ’ s now fairly easily to move to a different platform . We can make the changes at the perimeter , the integration layer . Years ago , that may have taken five or six years to implement .
The way our colleagues work has also benefitted the business . Thanks to transformation , people can work from anywhere and collaborate much more easily . For an international company like Travelex which has thousands of colleagues all over the world , the ability to collaborate in a more efficient way has been a game-changer .
How do you expect your Digital Transformation journey will determine you as a more functional , stable , innovative and exciting business and how will this impact your customers ?
Stability is absolutely key to us . Our cloud platform and the server-oriented architecture supported by ( container ) orchestration technology , is offering much more scalability and optionality to tune processing , storage and connectivity workloads with the business needs . It also provides us more than ever before the ability to deploy software changes in runtime , without impacting the operation of the business .
On the data side , transformation means we are able to move away from anonymous transactions towards a more consistent relationship with our customers . This means customers don ’ t have to start from scratch every time they come into our store and undertake a new transaction , which is far from the optimal customer experience . Any way that Digital Transformation can directly benefit the frontend of the business , thereby helping our customers , is a real focus for us . p
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