Five Takeaways from Army Cloud Panel

Rob Schadey, director of PEO EIS’s Business Mission Area, was part of a Feb. 9 AFCEA DC panel discussion on “Winning the Battle for Supremacy in the Cloud.” Joined by other Army information technology leaders, including Dovarius Peoples, chief information officer (CIO) at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Angelica Phaneuf, chief information security officer at the Army Software Factory; and Paul Puckett, director of the Enterprise Cloud Management Agency (ECMA), Schadey discussed the Army’s cloud initiatives, financial impact and next steps. Below are five takeaways from Schadey’s remarks.

1. EIS is banking on FINOPS to maximize cloud cost savings. Cloud costs can rise quickly, so it’s important to figure out when and where to “consume” — or purchase — cloud services.  By establishing a financial operations (FINOPS) practice at EIS headquarters, Schadey is helping the Army reap maximum cloud cost savings. Already EIS has helped the Army save $100,000 per month by identifying some simple storage configuration changes. “It’s really an exciting time as a technology person dealing with finances in the Army,” said Schadey.


2. Cloud migration is just step one — not the end goal. EIS spent almost three years moving enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to the cARMY cloud — the Army’s secure enterprise cloud environment. The intent was to migrate all the Army’s legacy systems, so efficiencies and cost savings could be achieved. These cost savings ultimately will be passed along to Enterprise Business Systems – Convergence, the Army’s ERP modernization effort. “The whole point of what we’re doing is the first step toward modernization of the ERPs,” said Schadey.


3. EIS is using innovative techniques to develop apps in the cloud. Besides moving legacy financial systems to the cloud, EIS is starting to develop software-based programs there, like the Army Training Information System and the Accessions Information Environment. Besides using agile methods to develop programs, EIS is pursuing containerization to take advantage of cost savings. “We’re pushing the limits of technology, doing development in the cloud,” said Schadey.


4. EIS’s cloud lessons learned will benefit more than just the Army. There’s an opportunity for EIS to take lessons learned in supporting contract actions and from its budding FINOPS practice to help the DOD’s new Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC), which will provide cloud capacity for the joint force. EIS needs to catalog opportunities for harvesting by JWCC and others consuming cloud through ECMA’s Cloud Account Management Optimization (CAMO) vehicle, said Schadey.


5. EIS’s partnerships with other Army organizations are key to cloud success. EIS is working closely with Puckett’s ECMA on CAMO, which is an effort to reinvent cloud management processes. To build out EIS’s FINOPS practice, Schadey said the organization will be partnering with ASA(ALT), the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller, and the Army CIO. “Everyone needs to know what’s going on to leverage cost savings,” he said.