Q&A: Russell Page-Wood on a decade of cloud transformation

• True cloud success comes from adopting it as a core operating model that drives agility and long-term value.

• Organisations are shifting focus from cost savings to innovation, with FinOps and platform engineering at the forefront.

• Cloud now forms the backbone of hybrid infrastructure strategies, enabling flexibility, efficiency and scalability.

My first direct exposure to a hyperscale cloud platform came in 2013, when Datacom partnered with Microsoft and Zespri to deliver the world’s first SAP migration to Microsoft Azure. I served as Datacom’s Programme Manager for this project, which was a landmark moment for both our team and the industry.

That experience opened my eyes to the possibilities of cloud platforms. The availability, scalability, security, resilience and global reach we unlocked for Zespri were, at the time, leaps and bounds ahead of traditional on-premise infrastructure solutions.

Since then, that project has sparked a passion in me to build and grow teams dedicated to helping New Zealand organisations adopt cloud technologies and drive real value for their businesses, their people and their communities. 

Over the last decade, the key shift in the cloud landscape hasn't been the technology itself, but how organisations choose to use it. To succeed, companies need to embrace cloud as an operating model, not just a technology solution.

Early cloud adoption focused on “lift and shift” migrations to reduce hardware costs. Today, the conversation has evolved. The focus is now on leveraging PaaS (platform as a service) and cloud-native architectures to innovate and build faster, rather than simply re-hosting legacy applications. This evolution is paving the way for a broader shift toward product-centric delivery models, helping businesses focus more directly on creating tangible value.

This operational mindset has also driven new cultural practices such as Financial Operations (FinOps), embedding financial accountability into Development, Security and Operations (DevSecOps), which integrates security at every stage. Ultimately, success is now defined by how deeply cloud principles are woven into business processes to deliver agility and long-term value.

In today’s economic climate, FinOps remains a key focus – but the trend has evolved beyond simple cost-cutting. We’re increasingly partnering with customers’ technical teams to proactively re-architect existing cloud solutions, embedding cost efficiency into their very design. The aim is to deliver sustained value and performance, not just short-term savings.

Another major trend is using cloud to accelerate innovation and problem-solving. Cloud platforms lower the barrier to experimentation, enabling organisations to test ideas and deploy advanced services without heavy upfront investment. Through our Rapid Innovation Framework, we help customers build momentum by delivering projects that prove measurable business value within clear time and budget boundaries turning great ideas into real outcomes.

For many of our larger customers, the complexity of their cloud environments is becoming a bottleneck. In response, we’re seeing a strong shift toward Platform Engineering. Rather than each development team reinventing the wheel, organisations are creating internal platforms that offer standardised, secure and self-service pathways to production. This represents the next evolution of DevOps, designed to boost developer productivity and accelerate innovation at scale.

Building on that foundation, customers need a trusted partner who can help them harness the full potential of the cloud. Many want to leverage advanced digital technologies and AI but need expert guidance to navigate the growing complexity. Datacom's role is to bridge that gap by aligning cloud capabilities with business strategy to drive meaningful transformation and unlock new opportunities for growth.

It should be one and the same. Cloud is no longer a separate destination – it’s a core part of a broader hybrid infrastructure strategy. For modern organisations, infrastructure strategy isn’t about choosing between on-premises and cloud; it’s about building a Digital Infrastructure Platform that creates a seamless fabric across multiple environments focusing on unlocking agility, scale and innovation for the organisation.

This hybrid approach is also key to building resilience. By distributing applications and data across diverse environments, a well-architected hybrid cloud strategy reduces single points of failure and strengthens the entire digital ecosystem. The result is a more robust infrastructure that can withstand disruption and ensure business continuity.