Market View 15

Siva Paramasamy

Head of Developer Workspaces

(Hybrid cloud Engineering Frameworks & Tools)

Market View 15

Siva

Paramasamy

Head of Developer Workspaces

(Hybrid cloud Engineering Frameworks & Tools)

Embracing and supporting a massive transformation for the good of our customers is really exciting. Also, enabling accelerated development-to-deployment cycles, strengthening security, and building resiliency into our software versus infrastructure.

What excites you most about Wells Fargo moving to the cloud?

Many things. Embracing and supporting a massive transformation for the good of our customers is really exciting. Also, enabling accelerated development-to-deployment cycles, strengthening security, and building resiliency into our software versus infrastructure.

On a more personal level, I’m proud that I’m contributing to the continuous learning of our engineering talent, to help them acquire cloud-specific skills. Our developers grow their skills in several ways, including free coursework and cloud certification offered by Wells Fargo and partner providers. I lead Developer Workspaces, providing hybrid cloud engineering frameworks and tools to our application teams. There is immense value in kinesthetic learning, as well as train-the-trainer, on-the job skills acquisition models. It’s really gratifying to see some of our app teams successfully working on cloud migration within an Accelerator Pod model I led in my prior role.

Finally, Wells Fargo’s data center strategy really appeals to my love for environmental awareness. Our Chief Technology Officer, Mike Brady, recently accepted the SustainableIT Impact Award on behalf of Wells Fargo. Our new data centers will be US Green Building Council LEED Gold certified and are expected to save millions of gallons of water per site.

Is adopting the cloud a smooth process?

We’re on year three of a nine-year journey, replacing our entire heritage technology infrastructure. This means consolidating data centres, building out our hybrid public/private platform, and migrating or modernising (or retiring) our application portfolio for the entire enterprise. At the same time, the needs and expectations of our customers must still be met seamlessly. Our Technology leadership is committed to a quality-driven migration program that enables us to innovate much faster. Our journey to a cloud operating model impacts the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we deliver. It’s a monumental undertaking. As for a smooth process? One thing that really helps is preparing for cloud adoption by embracing agile adoption. We in Technology, but also in the business, have done a really good job going agile together.

One thing that really helps is preparing for cloud adoption by embracing agile adoption. We in Technology, but also in the business, have done a really good job going agile together.

To do the right thing by our customers and our business leaves no other option than taking the time we need to build it right.

Why have enterprise financial businesses been slow to adopt cloud technology?

It’s not for lack of desire. A cloud operating model is a massive transformation effort. But, we need to move slow to move fast, and plan with a risk-first mindset. It’s expected of every employee here, regardless of role. Many large financial institutions are aggregates of several legacy businesses, meaning technology infrastructure can be, and often is, very complex and very outdated. Moving to a cloud operating model, in any regulated space entrusted with customer data, requires a long runway and building confidence with regulators and business partners. To do the right thing by our customers and our business leaves no other option than taking the time we need to build it right. I’m glad our leadership set that example and expectation early on.

Wells Fargo is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. It is considered one of the ‘big four’ banks in the USA.