DevOps and cloud adoption at CDL
In 2018, CDL began to take steps to accelerate delivery of changes to its widely-used insurance software.
Conflux helped CDL to assess its current approaches to planning, building, testing, and operating its software services in three phases.
CDL is the UK market leader for insurance software. Their practices - aided by Conflux - were featured in the book Team Topologies.
“This was a very team-friendly way of assessing software delivery and it produced useful, actionable recommendations.”
CDL offers powerful solutions enabling insurers to achieve strategic, mass market distribution of their products, while retaining control through insurer hosted rating mechanisms. Combining an ambitious R&D programme with a track record of industry firsts, CDL also works closely with insurers to create next generation insurance products, in tune with the expectations of millennials.
In 2018, CDL began to take steps to accelerate delivery of changes to its widely-used insurance software. Several successful innovation pilots had shown “the art of the possible” and the challenge was then to adopt these pilot practices across the rest of the organization.
Conflux helped CDL to assess its current approaches to planning, building, testing, and operating its software services in three phases:
A team-centric assessment of practices for building and running software using DevOps principles
A wide-ranging, strategic assessment of practices across all areas of engineering and IT
A series of workshops and group sessions focused on inter-team dynamics, Team Topologies principles, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE).
The work led to increased clarity about the pathway to a cloud-centric operating model, practical steps for decomposing a large monolithic software codebase, and increased engagement from practitioners.
“We engaged Conflux to provide a 2-day DevOps-focused software delivery assessment across six of our software development squads here at CDL. We wanted to get an independent view of what was working well and what needed improvement, and the results were eye-opening for us. After the assessment it was clear that we needed to consider quite significant changes in how the teams are composed, organised and run, plus better definition of our internal and external software services.
The assessment process itself was refreshing to see: the Conflux consultant quickly developed a good rapport with the various teams, putting them at ease and helping them to produce an honest assessment of their practices, skills, capabilities, and frustrations. This was a very team-friendly way of assessing software delivery and it produced useful, actionable recommendations.”
The modern Codeworks building at CDL.
Cloud readiness and fast flow at Publish Interactive
In 2018, the Publish Interactive team began to take advantage of the AWS and Azure public cloud platforms for running their software at scale and also for build/test/deployment. Publish Interactive engaged Conflux to help guide and accelerate the adoption of public cloud alongside approaches like Continuous Delivery, DevOps, and SRE.
Publish Interactive is the publishing and monetization platform for the research sector. Conflux helped them to adopt fast flow and prepare for cloud-native approaches.
“I think we’ve managed to jump over some of the potential pitfalls in moving to cloud thanks to ... Conflux.”
Publish Interactive is the publishing and monetization platform for the research sector. Trusted by 50% of Fortune 500 companies, Publish Interactive has been in continuous development since 2004 and includes several patents for innovative data processing.
In 2018, the Publish Interactive team began to take advantage of the AWS and Azure public cloud platforms for running their software at scale and also for build/test/deployment. Publish Interactive engaged Conflux to help guide and accelerate the adoption of public cloud alongside approaches like Continuous Delivery, DevOps, and SRE.
Conflux provided initial targeted consulting sessions with Publish Interactive staff which helped them to build a high-level plan for adoption of new technologies and approaches. Conflux then ran a Value Stream Mapping workshop to identify blockers in the flow of change from version control to Production, helping to reduce significantly the time taken to prepare new changes for release.
The Publish Interactive staff participated in a full-day workshop run by Conflux covering modern DevOps approaches to software delivery including: a Run Book dialogue sheet exercise to identify gaps in operational readiness, running the Elevation of Privilege card game from Microsoft to recognize security problems, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) as an approach to responsive cloud operations, and an exploration of ways to evolve the software to take advantage of cloud technologies.
“The input we’ve had from Conflux has been great. It’s really helped us to develop a clearer picture of where we’re heading with both technology and teams. I think we’ve managed to jump over some of the potential pitfalls in moving to cloud thanks to the sessions from Matthew and the team at Conflux.”
Screenshot of the Publish Interactive cross-sell feature.