Bringing Clarity to the Cloud: Transparent Operations and Clear Responsibilities

Developing the Operating Model

Most companies have established operational processes that have evolved continuously over the years. Employees who have been with the organisation for a long time are usually familiar with its informal ways of working: they know whom to contact about a particular problem and which processes work in practice.

However, this way of working carries significant risks. If organisational knowledge is primarily tied to individuals, critical operational expertise can easily be lost. Incomplete documentation increases technical debt, while unclear responsibilities may result in duplicated effort or, conversely, tasks and areas with no designated owner. In the long term, this reduces both the efficiency and the transparency of operations.

The transition to cloud-based operations makes the deliberate reassessment of roles even more important. In traditional on-premises environments, responsibility for operating the infrastructure, platforms and applications is typically concentrated within the company to a greater extent. Cloud services, by contrast, introduce a shared responsibility model between the service provider and the customer. The scope of this model varies depending on whether the service is IaaS, PaaS or SaaS, while the practical allocation of responsibilities is also significantly influenced by the chosen internal operating model. Under a centralised, shared or decentralised model, individual tasks may be assigned to central platform, security, network, cost management or governance teams, or remain with the application teams. For this reason, cloud adoption should begin by identifying new or changed operational tasks, assigning clear organisational ownership and documenting the responsibilities in a RACI matrix.

The primary purpose of a platform- and workload-level operating model is to provide a consistent framework for managing operational tasks. It clearly defines roles, reduces duplication of effort and establishes clear accountability across the teams involved.

A change of this scale can only be implemented successfully if the relevant organisational functions are involved from the outset. These may include FinOps, Security, platform operations, and various technology-specific or application-specific specialist teams. Early collaboration helps establish a shared understanding of the objectives and enables the teams involved to identify the operational tasks required to keep the cloud platform secure and stable.

Once the relevant stakeholders have been identified, a formal kick-off meeting should be held to finalise the project's objectives, scope and ways of working. This is an opportunity to determine how many rounds of consultation will be required, how responsibilities will be mapped and how transparency will be maintained throughout the process. These discussions often reveal that several teams consider the same task to fall within their area of responsibility—or, conversely, that no team regards it as its responsibility. Such overlaps and gaps must be resolved before the model is finalised, laying the foundations for efficient and sustainable operations.

Once the consultation and approval process has been completed, the first official version of the operating model can be prepared. The document should be published in a central location accessible to all relevant stakeholders, ensuring that responsibilities are interpreted consistently and can be kept up to date over the long term.

Developing a RACI Matrix Is Not a One-Off Task

One of the most important lessons from developing an operating model is that creating a RACI matrix should not be treated as a one-off project task. Although publishing the first official version represents a significant milestone, the responsibility model must remain up to date as both the organisation and the cloud platform continue to evolve. New services, technological changes, organisational restructuring and new regulatory requirements may all necessitate a review of responsibilities. Accordingly, the RACI matrix should be managed as a BAU (Business as Usual) process that encompasses regular reviews, continuous collaboration with the relevant functions, and the controlled introduction of new operational tasks and roles. This ensures that the operating model continues to support transparent, efficient and accountable operations over the long term.

Summary

The introduction of cloud platforms typically calls for a central, consistent operating model that serves as a single source of truth. One proven approach is to develop platform- and workload-level RACI matrices with the active involvement of the relevant functions, including platform operations and specialist teams. The resulting documentation establishes clear lines of responsibility and significantly improves the transparency, efficiency and accountability of operations.

Our experience shows that a well-defined and continuously maintained responsibility model not only makes operations more predictable but also significantly improves collaboration across the organisation.