Cloud Value Radio

Cloud as the ultimate digital

enabler
Elevance Health’s chief technology officer of platform modernization and cloud
enablement discusses how the company uses cloud-native capabilities and a
product mindset to maximize value from its cloud migration and ultimately help
people improve their health and well-being.

August 2023
 Elevance Health, a Fortune 20 healthcare
company, has embarked on a transformative
cloud journey. Amish Patel, the chief
technology officer esponsible for advancing
that cloud journey, discusses the company’s
cloud migration—and the valuable lessons
learned along the way—with McKinsey’s Pablo
Prieto. The discussion sheds light on the
steps Elevance Health is taking to enhance
consumer experiences, use cloud-native
approaches, and drive digital innovation in the
healthcare industry.
What follows are the main takeaways from that
conversation.
Cloud journey and learnings
Pablo Prieto: Amish, could you share some key
learnings and insights from your cloud journey
at Elevance Health?
Amish Patel: Elevance Health embarked on
its cloud journey in 2017, initially focusing on
migrating member-facing digital assets to
the cloud. Over the past six years, we have
migrated numerous platforms and petabytes
of data. We started with an organic approach
but realized this was not moving the needle
fast enough. So we shifted to a systematic
migration-factory model [an “assembly-
line” model of people, processes, and tools
supported by technology] to standardize and
speed up our cloud migration. We looked at
our entire portfolio of apps and platforms that
support a business unit, and we were able
to migrate entire app and platform stacks
by collaborating closely with our business
leaders. This approach has been successful in
achieving our mission of improving healthcare
experiences through digital innovation.
Pablo Prieto: Where do you currently stand in
your cloud journey?
Amish Patel: We are currently in the middle
of our cloud journey. We have established
2 Cloud Value Radio: Cloud as the ultimate digital enabler
migration factories and are systematically
migrating digital assets to the cloud. Although
we have made significant progress, there is still
work to be done.
Drivers and benefits
Pablo Prieto: What were the main drivers
behind your cloud transformation, and what
benefits have you observed?
Amish Patel: The main drivers were agility,
stability, resiliency, and cost optimization.
By adopting cloud-native approaches and
leveraging automation, we have achieved
significant cost savings. Contrary to the
belief that the cloud is expensive, we have
found that by refactoring and utilizing native
cloud capabilities, costs can be reduced by
20 to 40 percent compared to on-premises
environments. This has allowed us to
optimize resource allocation and enhance the
scalability and resiliency of our member-facing
applications. Cost of care is a huge issue in
healthcare, so this optimized cost model is
also important for us to demonstrate to our
stakeholders that we are using our resources
in an efficient manner.
Operating model and collaboration
Pablo Prieto: How has your operating model
evolved throughout the cloud journey, and
how important has collaboration been in this
transformation?
Amish Patel: We have embraced agile
methodologies and transitioned to a product-
based mindset where we continually iterate
on our offerings based on user feedback. In
such a setup, collaboration with our business
partners has been crucial. We have invested
in creating venues and mechanisms so
technologists can better understand the goals
the business is trying to achieve and subject-
matter experts on the business side can better
 understand technology trade-offs and
implications. The cross-pollination between
technologists and business subject-matter
experts has been a significant benefit,
especially given the recent explosion of AI
with large language models. Initially, we
focused on migrating platforms with high
change velocity, but we are now digitizing
our entire business platform stack and using
advanced capabilities, such as continuous
integration and continuous delivery
(CI/CD). Our operating model has evolved to
a product-centric approach driven by cloud
technologies, allowing us to deploy new
capabilities and assets quickly and address
the full range of member needs through an
integrated digital platform.
Use cases and value creation
Pablo Prieto: Can you share any specific use
cases where the cloud has created value for
Elevance Health?
Amish Patel: One notable use case is our
engagement data platform, which centralizes
member-facing data and standardizes
interactions across multiple channels using
APIs. By leveraging cloud-native approaches,
we have achieved agility, scalability, and
resiliency in our member-facing applications.
This “single-pane-of-glass” approach to
standardization, where you, say, improve
resiliency in one place and then all your
channels are able to immediately benefit,
has significantly enhanced member
experiences and streamlined processes,
providing us with a competitive advantage.
Amish Patel is chief technology officer and vice president of platform modernization and cloud enablement at Elevance
Health. Pablo Prieto is a partner in McKinsey’s Stamford office.
Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or
positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.
Copyright © 2023 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved.
Cloud Value Radio: Cloud as the ultimate digital enabler
Resiliency, security, and privacy
Pablo Prieto: How have you addressed
concerns about resiliency, security, and
privacy in your cloud transformation?
Amish Patel: We have implemented a tiered
resiliency approach, running critical platforms
actively across different regions. Regular
resiliency testing has given us confidence in
our processes and configuration. Security
of our data and personally identifiable
information is of utmost importance, and
we have embedded security tools, such as
code scanning, throughout the development
process, adopting a shift-left approach.
Lessons learned and advice
Pablo Prieto: Reflecting on your cloud
journey, what lessons have you learned, and
what advice would you give to others starting
a similar transformation?
Amish Patel: Mindset and process changes
have been crucial and are intertwined. First,
all teams, including risk, security, audit,
compliance, and engineering, need to align
around the idea that automation is critical.
That provides the foundation to use cloud
capabilities to automate as many processes
as possible. Second, upskilling talent is
essential so people understand how to use
the new tools and capabilities effectively.
Third, finance teams play a significant role
in projecting costs and maximizing cloud
adoption benefits.
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