How did vpTech find the balance between the private and the public cloud?
Why would a large company want to change what is already working? vpTech tells the story of the switch from public to private cloud, the reasons behind it and how, despite many challenges, this switch has helped the team grow and boost the efficiency.
The “creative destruction”* is explained by the process where innovation is possible by replacing long-standing procedures with new ones. Get rid of the old assumptions and practices to let the new energy in, and free the space for something new to grow. From caterpillars becoming butterflies, to using renewable energies in our cars instead of oil — we are surrounded by examples of changing the status quo from within, to improve and evolve.
Five years ago, the vpTech team felt the need to take a leap forward and improve the development practices, to provide an even better service for Veepee. The main process was the switch from public to private cloud. What could creative destruction have in common with the switch? Let’s find out via the experience of vpTech and Etienne Flye Sainte Marie, lead IT of the foundation Tribe.
Growth as the main stimulus to re-think the existing practices
Permanent expansion and growth of Veepee could become hard to handle if the development practices stayed the same. Five years ago, the vpTech team needed several days to create the environment for a new app. It was time for a new strategy — stronger, faster and more independent.
The vpTech team came up with the solution to build their own flexible foundation from scratch — the Veepee Cloud.
Was it possible to move forward with the services of the public cloud providers? Of course. Why did the vpTech team start building their own cloud, instead of delegating it to the major public cloud providers?
- Reason #1: Balance the cost
Often the price to leave the major providers is too high, and certain tools which are included by default aren’t used by the companies. Having their own cloud allows vpTech to build the tools they need, and balance the cost as a result. - Reason #2: Avoid vendor lock-in
You can leave major providers but it will cost you. VpCloud allows the team to cover more than 80% of services needed, which gives a much better budget control compared to a public cloud. - Reason #3: Create “Infrastructure as a Code”
With Veepee cloud, today the teams can work independently via self-service to build machines. Instead of passing through a third-party provider, today the team can create the number of machines needed within Veepee Cloud and adjust the number based on the needs.
The main goal was to hire a dev team and tell them: tomorrow you have to be able to provide pretty much the same tools as public cloud. We give the teams the possibility to deploy their resources via code. vpTech can definitely say that we have achieved this goal by creating Veepee Cloud.
Reinforcing the reasons to grow with the right attitude
On top of all the reasons for expansion and changes, the vpTech team also had the right mindset, reinforced by the experience and practices. Despite the challenges, risks and the time-consuming job of building a private cloud, the desire to build Veepee Cloud was reinforced thanks to the “because we can” attitude of the team.
“The vpTech team has extensive knowledge about Veepee’s processes. The maturity of the company gives us the opportunity to predict what we need to build on Veepee Cloud, estimate what we need to scale and avoid any unpleasant surprises.
This is also the information we use to customize the Veepee Cloud for the future.For example, we know that we need to boost the infrastructure at 7AM and 7PM, when the sales open. Start-ups don’t have this type of knowledge.” — Etienne Flye Sainte Marie.
It is not about competing with the public cloud, just the opposite
Veepee Cloud has become a foundation with the pillars that vpTech uses on the public cloud — today the team has the tools, the freedom and the skills to do them in the comfort of their own cloud. vpTech still uses the tools offered by the major providers.
This mix allows to combine the best of the two worlds:
- You take care of your own infrastructure
- You use the tools offered by the public cloud — and you know that you can build them if the need arises.
“We have the experience and the flexibility to mix both our own cloud — our priority, and the public cloud, which we will always keep using as long as it’s reasonable for us”
vpTech IT team re-discusses the process regularly, and adjusts what they need to keep on the public cloud and what can be moved to Veepee Cloud.
Bonus: Veepee Cloud is a magnet for tech talents
The Foundation Tribe attracts the best talents thanks to the particularities of the Veepee Cloud. vpTech offers something that you just don’t have when you delegate the tasks to major providers — the ability to fully understand what is going on behind the scenes and to be in charge of it. It allows those who want to dive deep into the processes to work with an incredible field of technologies and create them with their hands.
“Let’s build our own load balancer! 90% of people will hesitate. We are looking for the 10% ready for the challenge”, — when a tech talent wants to join the Tribe, we know that he will have to roll up his sleeves and start coding.
Consistent and important growth implies being able to change and adapt to the evolving nature of things. By moving the main processes to Veepee Cloud and removing them from the public providers, the vpTech team had to rebuild the foundation. Today this foundation allows to control over the major tasks within the company, and build much faster than a few years ago — and it would have taken much longer if the team had decided to stay with the existing practices rather than innovate.
