Pursuit Brief — EdTech Company TechOps Transformation

Sales Snapshot

A consulting-entry engagement in the truest sense: Advisory was brought in to assess a fragmented TechOps organization and provide an honest point of view before any managed services conversation happened. The O&R and workflow mapping delivered exactly that — and created the commercial logic for three distinct follow-on tracks, including a fast-return FinOps initiative with a documented >6x ROI in 90 days.

FinOps Savings Identified

$700K – $900K in <90 days

FinOps ROI on Engagement Fee

>6x — $128K engagement cost vs. $832K net new savings

Managed Services TCV (3-Year)

$10M+ cumulative savings identified; ~20 FTE Advisory team proposed

Executive Overview

A major education technology and publishing company was operating four separate, siloed TechOps teams — AppOps (5 FTEs), DevOps (12 FTEs), Platform Ops (11 FTEs), and CloudOps (7 FTEs) — with a Incumbent MSP L1/L2 team of 31 contractors layered on top. The teams were managing 150+ AWS accounts, 120+ Cloud Foundry applications, and a 21,000+ alert backlog where 61.5% of alerts sat open — a textbook signal of operational debt compounding faster than it could be addressed.

Advisory was engaged to perform a TechOps assessment and deliver an Observations & Recommendations report — an objective diagnostic of the current state, with a proposed target organization and three transformation tracks. That engagement produced a clear, data-backed case for consolidation, automation, and a shift to a Centralized AIOps operating model. Simultaneously, a FinOps analysis of the AWS environment identified $700K–$900K in near-term savings achievable in under 90 days through rightsizing, reservation changes, and governance controls — at an engagement cost of $128K.

The follow-on opportunity is substantial: a three-track Operating Model Design engagement covering Centralized AIOps, Digital Platform Core (DevSecOps), and Cloud Excellence & FinOps governance — plus a Advisory Managed Services proposal for ~20 FTEs to replace the Incumbent MSP L1/L2 contract and run modern cloud operations. The financial case for action is already made; the next step is stakeholder alignment across the four business unit VPs.

The Business Problem

Four TechOps teams operating independently created a "loudest voice wins" prioritization culture, high toil from manual ops (ticket-driven "ClickOps"), and no clear ownership of the cloud platform as a product. The Incumbent MSP L1/L2 contract added 31 bodies to the alert resolution queue but hadn't improved the closure rate — 61.5% of 21,132 alerts remained open, with P1/P2 issues making up 14.7% of active alerts.

The underlying cost problem was compounding: 50%+ of AWS resources showed signs of overprovisioning, EC2 Graviton adoption was minimal despite a $462K/year potential savings opportunity, and there was no tagging strategy or account-level governance to create accountability across 5 business units. The WebAssign-to-AWS migration was underway but lacked the cloud foundation and landing zone structure needed to support it safely. The client needed an honest external assessment — not a vendor pitch — before making any major organizational or sourcing decisions.

Current TechOps Organization — Assessed State

AppOps
Tim Morley
5
FTEs
4th-tier escalation, business process support, analytics, TechCheck synthetic monitoring (~100 apps), compliance (GDPR, IAM)

DevOps
Ben Stewart
12
FTEs
CI/CD (Banzai/Tsunami pipeline), Cloud Foundry (120 apps), Kubernetes clusters, AppBuilder, build/deploy automation

Platform Ops
Mike Heinen
11
FTEs
WebAssign 24x7 production support, MySQL/MongoDB DBA, MCNC DC infrastructure, Akamai CDN, WebAssign-to-AWS migration

CloudOps
Coleman Greene
7
FTEs
AWS operations (150+ accounts), Dynatrace APM, Splunk, OpsGenie alerting, WAF management, cloud architecture consulting

Operational Diagnostic — Alert & Ticket Analysis

Open Alert Backlog

13,004

61.5% of 21,132 total alerts remain open — described in the analysis as a "Major Process Failure." Acknowledgment rate is 98% but follow-through to resolution is critically low.

P1 / P2 Active Alerts

3,105

1,177 P1 (Critical) + 1,928 P2 (High) — immediate and significant business impact. Top categories: Response Time Degradation (22%), CPU Saturation (20%), Host Unavailable (7%).

Unclassified Alerts

75.1%

15,861 of 21,132 alerts have no severity classification — creating blind spots in prioritization and making automation impossible without remediation of the tagging and severity model first.

Ticket Volume (3 periods)

3,534

ServiceNow, JIRA, OpsGenie across 3 analysis periods. 65% automation potential identified. Top opportunities: Password Management (95%), CPU Saturation (90%), Host Unavailable (85%).

Automation Potential

65%

Estimated ticket volume reduction through automation. Additional 40% incident reduction projected under Advisory Managed Services AIOps model (47% headcount reduction, 64→34 FTEs).

Resolution Time Reduction

20%

Projected MTTR reduction from operational improvements alone — before AIOps tooling is introduced. Advisory Managed Services model projects 47% incident reduction at steady state.

Three-Track Transformation Recommendation

Track 1

Centralized AIOps Function

Consolidate CloudOps + AppOps responsibilities into a single AI-driven operations center. Transition from ClickOps to predictive, automated IT ops with SRE capability.

Design and mobilize target-state Centralized Ops function
Integrate Advisory Managed Services (~20 FTE) to replace Incumbent MSP L1/L2 contract
Automate alert correlation, anomaly detection, and common issue remediation
Establish observability ownership (Dynatrace, Splunk, OpsGenie rationalization)
Phased transition plan to maintain operational continuity

Track 2

Digital Platform Core (DevSecOps)

Consolidate DevOps and Platform Ops into a single "Digital Platform Core" team. Standardize the path to production across 5 business units and drive Cloud Foundry decommission.

Consolidate DevOps (12) + Platform Ops (11) → unified Digital Platform Core team
Establish Architecture Review Board and governance cadence
Standardize CI/CD pipeline (Banzai/Tsunami) and accelerate Cloud Foundry decommission
Build reusable components and self-service capabilities for application teams
Define DevSecOps vision and integrate security team into delivery workflow

Track 3

Cloud Excellence & FinOps

Establish FinOps governance and Cloud Center of Excellence function. Capture near-term savings while building the accountability model to prevent cost rebound.

90-day FinOps initiative: implement $700K–$900K in AWS savings (6x ROI on $128K engagement)
Define organization-wide tagging strategy and automate tag compliance
Dedicated AWS accounts per app/BU to isolate spend and apply guardrails
Integrate FinOps governance into CI/CD pipeline via pre-commit hooks
Establish CoE team to sustain savings and prevent cost rebound

FinOps — AWS Savings Identified (90-Day Initiative)

Total Advisory Savings Identified

$1,507,161 / yr

$125,596 / month

Net New Savings (above EdTech & Publishing Company baseline)

$832,996 / yr

$69,416 / month

Engagement Cost → ROI

$128K → >6x

3-month engagement pays back in savings within 90 days

Top Savings Items by Line

EC2 Graviton Upgrade

$462K / yr

$38,516 / month

High Effort

RDS Reservations

$345K / yr

$28,735 / month

Med Effort

Snapshot Cleanup

$122K / yr

$10,155 / month

Low Effort

ElastiCache Reservations

$108K / yr

$9,002 / month

Med Effort

ElastiCache Rightsizing

$105K / yr

$8,772 / month

Med Effort

OpenSearch Reservations

$88K / yr

$7,320 / month

Med Effort

Additional savings: EC2 Rightsizing ($70K), Spot Instances ($52K), EBS Volume migrations ($45K), EBS unattached cleanup ($41K), EC2 generation upgrades ($10K), RDS idle cleanup ($11K), RDS Extended Support ($15K). Governance sprint runs concurrently to prevent cost rebound.

Engagement Progression — What Was Delivered vs. What's Proposed

TechOps Advisory Engagement — Multi-Track Model

Advisory engagement delivering O&R + Workflow Mapping, followed by three distinct funded tracks

O&R Delivered

Delivered — O&R + Workflow Mapping

Stakeholder interviews across all 4 TechOps team leads and VP leadership (Justin Zimmerman, Pat Conniff)
Ticket analysis: 3,534 items across ServiceNow, JIRA, OpsGenie — volume, automation potential, and workload distribution by team
Alert analysis: 21,132 OpsGenie alerts across 3 periods — severity breakdown, open/closed rate, and platform distribution
Workflow Mapping Deliverable: current-state process maps for all 4 teams — demand channels, tooling, activities, and escalation flows
Observations & Recommendations deck: organizational transformation POV with current → target org design and 3-track roadmap
AWS FinOps analysis: line-item savings opportunities totaling $1.5M/year identified and quantified

Proposed — Three Follow-on Tracks

Track 1 — Centralized AIOps: Operating Model Design engagement to mobilize the target-state ops function; Advisory Managed Services (~20 FTE) to replace Incumbent MSP L1/L2 contract at renewal
Track 2 — DevSecOps & Platform Core: Consolidation of DevOps + Platform Ops; DevSecOps charter and architecture governance design; Cloud Foundry decommission acceleration
Track 3 — FinOps Initiative: $128K, 3-month engagement — Elastic Engineering Pod (180h/mo) + FinOps Consultant (80h/mo) to implement $700K–$900K savings and governance controls; requires VP-level approval from 4 BU VPs

Forward Opportunity & Commercial Logic

The Incumbent MSP contract renewal is the most immediate commercial trigger. The existing L1/L2 team of 31 is a direct replacement target for Advisory Managed Services — and the O&R report has already built the case that the current arrangement isn't working (61.5% open alert rate, no MTTR improvement). The managed services proposal positions Advisory to land ~20 FTEs of run-and-operate work as the Incumbent MSP contract comes up for review.

The FinOps initiative has an unusually compelling self-funding argument: $128K in engagement fees to identify and implement $832K in net-new annual savings is a 6x+ ROI narrative that a CFO can approve without a board-level conversation. VP buy-in from the 4 business unit VPs is the gating item — stakeholder alignment is in progress. The FinOps track is designed to close first, prove Advisory's value quickly, and build trust for the larger Operating Model Design and Managed Services conversations.

FinOps Initiative (Track 3)

$128K, 3 months

Self-funding: $832K/yr net new savings identified. 4 BU VP approvals required — this is the first SOW to close.

Operating Model Design

TBD (5-week eng.)

3-track engagement: People + Process + Technology transformation plan, team structure, and transition roadmap from Incumbent MSP to Advisory ops model.

Managed Services (Replace Incumbent MSP)

~20 FTE Advisory

Replace 31-person Incumbent MSP L1/L2 with Advisory AIOps-driven managed services. $10M+ cumulative savings over 3 years cited in proposal. Contract renewal is the trigger.

3-Year Outcome Projection

$10M+ savings

>80% cost savings over 3 years (per Advisory proposal); 47% headcount reduction (64→34 FTEs); >60% incident reduction; 70% dev time reduction.

My Role & Contributions

Assessment & Diagnostic

Led stakeholder discovery across 4 TechOps team leads — structured interviews mapping demand channels, tooling, escalation patterns, and organizational pain points for each team
Directed ticket and alert analysis — 3,534 items (ServiceNow/JIRA/OpsGenie) and 21,132 OpsGenie alerts across 3 time periods, producing the automation potential and workload distribution findings
Produced Workflow Mapping Deliverable — current-state process maps for all 4 TechOps teams with demand flow, tooling, and key activity documentation

Recommendations & Commercial Positioning

Authored the Observations & Recommendations deck — organizational transformation POV with current-to-target org design, 3-track transformation roadmap, and next-steps framing
Built the FinOps savings analysis — line-item AWS optimization opportunities totaling $1.5M/year, structured into a 90-day implementation phased by effort and environment risk
Developed the Operating Model Design engagement scope document — 3-track framework with People/Process/Technology deliverables, assumptions, and LOE per track
Structured the Managed Services proposal — AIOps operating model POV and commercial framing positioning Advisory as the Incumbent MSP replacement at contract renewal

Engagement Model Context: This is a textbook Advisory advisory-led consulting engagement. The O&R and Workflow Mapping were delivered as a credibility-building assessment — no managed services pitch, just an honest diagnostic. The FinOps analysis and Managed Services proposal emerged from that work organically, and the commercial logic (self-funding FinOps, Incumbent MSP replacement, 3-track Operating Model) follows directly from the findings. The stakeholder situation (4 BU VP approvals required) is the active sales motion; the technical and financial case is already made. Client details anonymized.