Shared Understanding Before Shared Platforms
Three independent business units were told to move to the cloud. What they actually needed first was agreement on identity.
The Situation
A division of a mid-sized commercial banking organization operated three separate business units (utilities, cellular, and waste expense management) that had grown through acquisition. Each unit had its own codebase, database, technology stack, and team. Leadership launched an initiative to move these systems to the cloud to reduce costs, improve customer experience, and simplify support. At the outset, the work looked like a straightforward infrastructure migration.
What We Found
As we asked how customers moved between systems, how users were authenticated, and what information was shared, it became clear the three business units were approaching the initiative from very different perspectives. Everyone agreed on the destination. Very few people agreed on the path. Interviews with five key stakeholders surfaced conflicting assumptions about which authentication system should become standard, who should lead the initiative, and how ownership and governance should work. The real starting point was not infrastructure. It was identity.
What Changed
Rather than forcing one team to adopt another team's solution, we focused on defining the shared problem, what success looked like, and which responsibilities would be shared versus stay local. The resulting strategy centered on OAuth-based authentication, IdentityServer as a common platform, distributed authorization managed by each business unit, and a phased implementation plan with clear ownership. We recommended the waste management unit lead the initiative because its operational maturity created confidence among the other groups and reduced political friction.
What Followed
All three business units quickly accepted the plan, and implementation proceeded over approximately one year. Because the work was defined up front, the organization avoided substantial rework. Leadership discovered that moving to the cloud was not a single project but a sequence of deliberate transformations requiring alignment across technology, operations, and business units. Shared understanding had to precede shared systems. Without it, technology only amplifies complexity.
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