SEADRILL

infrastructure to a cloud provider . After a process of evaluation , it decided to opt for HP ’ s private cloud infrastructure , now part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ). “ We started moving our operations to our virtual private cloud ( VPC ) provider HPE in October 2014 . Our IT infrastructure is now 100 percent in a hybrid private and public cloud .” This means that from that point the IT department no longer had to be concerned with component management and keeping the lights on , he emphasises . It is now defined as an organisation that manages the IT value chain , working with its suppliers and business partners to enable business outcome through use of technology .

He instigated a process of consolidating these suppliers into a smaller , more strategic cohort . This is perhaps the real transformation

– IT suppliers , even when called partners , are traditionally engaged under the ‘ black box ’ model : what he wanted was for his partners to be much more integrated with Seadrill . “ We see them as extensions of our organisation participating in how we work with our business , understanding their goals and trajectory and helping them to achieve those goals . Partnership means something really close . We proactively share strategies and plans , and their input does help us formulate these .”

Since January 2015 this process has taken place at monthly ‘ town hall ’ meetings open to key partners , not least HPE , where hundreds of people from the partners ’ dedicated teams join the townhall over Skype for Business to hear directly from the CIO about current IT challenges . “ The town hall meetings give

38 August 2016