Skip to content
Tiatra, LLCTiatra, LLC
Tiatra, LLC
Information Technology Solutions for Washington, DC Government Agencies
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • IT Engineering and Support
    • Software Development
    • Information Assurance and Testing
    • Project and Program Management
  • Clients & Partners
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact
 
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • IT Engineering and Support
    • Software Development
    • Information Assurance and Testing
    • Project and Program Management
  • Clients & Partners
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact

Broadcom’s Andy Nallappan on what cloud success really looks like

Companies moving to the cloud often find themselves at a crossroads near the midpoint of their migrations, spending more than they intended and getting out less than they hoped.

Often that’s because their IT organization isn’t equipped with the culture, mindset, and skills necessary to capitalize on the cloud.

Andy Nallappan has had a long career in IT, including CIO roles, but his current job at Broadcom is managing the company’s external cloud platform, DevOps, and SaaS operations across multiple software divisions. Along the way he has developed deep expertise in what it takes to succeed in the cloud.

In this interview, Nallappan has much to share on dynamic cloud architecture, cloud cost containment, developing a cloud-conscious culture, and why it makes sense to give engineers financial goals when giving them ownership over their cloud estates.

Martha Heller: Since joining Broadcom 2016, you have been CIO, then CTO and head of software business operations, and now CTO, chief security officer, and head of software engineering and operations. How has your role shifted through that trajectory?

Andy Nallappan: I went to school for mechanical engineering in the 1980s, when people were just starting to use computers. As computers evolved, so did I. I got into software engineering and spent the next 30 years in IT, including roles as CIO of Avago Technologies and Broadcom, which involved a lot of acquisitions integration.

A few years ago, I agreed with Marc Andreessen that ‘software is eating the world’ in industries from banking to government, retail, and healthcare. These businesses had traditionally transacted with end customers through four walls. But over the last three to five years, that has changed. Now customers dictate how, when, and where they do business. The paradigm has shifted: The four walls and time zones have come down and customers can transact 24×7.  

With this change, technology has become a major part of revenue beyond CRM and sales enablement; technology has moved into the line of business [LOB].

LOB leaders want to control their own destiny and not be at the mercy of IT. They are saying, ‘Give me the technology budget and I can decide where to innovate,’ and CEOs and CFOs are saying, ‘If LOB leaders will commit to profit, well okay, let’s let them have skin in the game.’

I saw this shift happening at Broadcom, so I decided to shift out of IT and into software operations.

What is your focus as head of software business operations?

In our hardware business, the COO runs the supply chain. My role in the software business is similar. I manage the external cloud platform as a partner to the businesses. My job is to liberate the engineers in the businesses to do incremental innovations and not boil the ocean.

At Broadcom, each software division is run by a GM who is responsible for the P&L. I work across all the software divisions and manage three things: 1. DevOps, the tools used to build the software; 2. the cloud platform, which developers build the software on; and 3. SaaS operations, which runs that. Since the divisions are all using the same platform and tools, we can leverage common software operations so that customers have a similar experience. We have multiple divisions but a common toolset and platform.

Software is software, and while the user experience and transactions layer might be different in each division, there are commonalities in the layer below. As head of software business operations, I manage the noncore elements of the software so that the LOBs can be free to manage the core. My role is part of the revenue, not the cost.

You also manage Cloud FinOps to tackle the problem of overspending, which is a problem that many companies face when they first move to the cloud. Can you explain?

When the cloud is operationally new for a company, they spend too much money without achieving the right outcomes. The biggest mistake you can make when you move to the cloud is not changing the culture. Operations in on-prem is completely different than in the cloud. If you run your operations the same way as when you operated in data centers, the cloud will be three to five times as expensive. There is no question about it.

With on-prem, the mentality is around allocation and sunk costs. In this model, software engineers are not motivated to keep costs down because they think of the allocation as a tax. ‘My LOB paid the tax, so it doesn’t matter if I waste money.’

But in the cloud, that mindset needs to change. Software engineers should know how much the cloud costs for their area, have visibility into where they spend money, and be equipped to manage those costs, because the cloud is a land of opportunity. Allocation doesn’t work in the cloud.

Can you walk through an example of FinOps in action?

Our on-prem software testing labs were running different operating systems and hardware combinations, because every customer is unique. We had to test each combination, and we were allocating those costs to the software businesses.

When I moved the labs to the cloud, I told the engineers to move only what they are working on right now. When they need more cloud services, they are empowered to get them; they don’t need to ask my permission.

But I also gave them financial goals and visibility into the costs of the tools. I do control the costs. I govern the costs. When we were in data centers, IT would buy the hardware, and because they knew they needed headroom, they would overbuy and allocate those costs to the businesses. Today, the engineers themselves are empowered to buy only what they need, and to hit their own financial goals. Those savings are a part of the P&L and have a positive impact on the engineers’ bonuses.

FinOps has helped to change the sunk cost mentality. The engineers know that if they bring cloud costs down, they are contributing to their business’s P&L and their bonus goes up. They are excited by the new model. ‘As long as I save money and align with my business model, I can use the cool services in the cloud. I don’t have to ask permission.’ 

What are other mistakes companies should avoid when moving to the cloud?

Companies should avoid the lift-and-shift approach and understand that you cannot refactor every application on day one. To rightsize your move to the cloud, you need people who know the cloud, but these are not the same people who have been managing your on-prem environment for the last 20 years.

It is also important to understand that in your first year in the cloud, your costs will be higher than in years two, three, and four, but you will be able to do incremental innovations. With on-prem data centers, you innovate once in five years because that’s how data center technology refresh works. With the cloud, you innovate every quarter, month, and week. That’s the beauty of the cloud.

What is your advice to companies moving to the cloud?

Moving to the cloud is all about changing the culture, rightsizing your approach, and having a roadmap to get into a dynamic architecture that scales up and down during the week, and comes way down on the weekends when people are not working. That’s how you can scale.  

But you cannot put the same wine in the new bottle and call it new wine. You need to develop a cloud-conscious culture by bringing in new leaders who have a FinOps mindset and a focus on security. It is also important to bring the software groups together. We have consortia for DevOps, security, and cloud, so that the developers can talk to each other and not reinvent every time. Developers love to build their own tools, but that’s not necessary in the cloud.

We bring the developers together so that they can be proud of what they are doing and share it. With FinOps, we shift their pride to saving money and contributing to customer outcomes. It’s not about showing them a PowerPoint that says, ‘Cloud Conscious Culture.’ It is about showing them the outcome of their work.

Cloud Computing, IT Management, IT Operations, IT Strategy, Software Development, Technology Industry
Read More from This Article: Broadcom’s Andy Nallappan on what cloud success really looks like
Source: News

Category: NewsMay 31, 2023
Tags: art

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:Can you spot the hidden theme of CSO’s Future of Cybersecurity summit?NextNext post:I migliori 17 tool per gestire i costi del cloud

Related posts

Barb Wixom and MIT CISR on managing data like a product
May 30, 2025
Avery Dennison takes culture-first approach to AI transformation
May 30, 2025
The agentic AI assist Stanford University cancer care staff needed
May 30, 2025
Los desafíos de la era de la ‘IA en todas partes’, a fondo en Data & AI Summit 2025
May 30, 2025
“AI 비서가 팀 단위로 지원하는 효과”···퍼플렉시티, AI 프로젝트 10분 완성 도구 ‘랩스’ 출시
May 30, 2025
“ROI는 어디에?” AI 도입을 재고하게 만드는 실패 사례
May 30, 2025
Recent Posts
  • Barb Wixom and MIT CISR on managing data like a product
  • Avery Dennison takes culture-first approach to AI transformation
  • The agentic AI assist Stanford University cancer care staff needed
  • Los desafíos de la era de la ‘IA en todas partes’, a fondo en Data & AI Summit 2025
  • “AI 비서가 팀 단위로 지원하는 효과”···퍼플렉시티, AI 프로젝트 10분 완성 도구 ‘랩스’ 출시
Recent Comments
    Archives
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • May 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    Categories
    • News
    Meta
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    Tiatra LLC.

    Tiatra, LLC, based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, proudly serves federal government agencies, organizations that work with the government and other commercial businesses and organizations. Tiatra specializes in a broad range of information technology (IT) development and management services incorporating solid engineering, attention to client needs, and meeting or exceeding any security parameters required. Our small yet innovative company is structured with a full complement of the necessary technical experts, working with hands-on management, to provide a high level of service and competitive pricing for your systems and engineering requirements.

    Find us on:

    FacebookTwitterLinkedin

    Submitclear

    Tiatra, LLC
    Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.