Cloud at the Forefront of Digital Transformation

Umesh Rege, CIO, CDPHP

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When it comes to the data center, cloud transformation has been a significant trend over the last few years. It has allowed corporate IT teams to focus on business value. Additionally, it has allowed them to provide more robust disaster recovery and infrastructure capabilities, flexibility, and to move from CapEx to OpEx.

When I joined Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan, Inc. (CDPHP®) in 2013, our entire infrastructure was located in our data center in Albany, NY. This has changed considerably, as we have moved more than 50 percent of our software and infrastructure footprint to the cloud as part of our “cloud-first” strategy.

CDPHP has experienced many challenges along this journey, including the need to ensure that our data is secure. As a payer, we take this very seriously when selecting a cloud provider. At this stage in our digital transformation, we have worked through many data security concerns, and it has enabled us to focus on innovation and delivering on our promises to our stakeholders.

The Cloud-First Approach

We believe in a buy vs build approach, and also prefer to buy specific business capabilities rather than just software tools. That is why we consider software as a service (SaaS) as the first option, followed by platform as a service (PaaS).

Organizations need to embrace change and move on with it. After all, it is always survival of the fittest


We look for partners who can provide the solution as a service, the technical stack, and the business functionalities. This allows CDPHP to concentrate on enhancing underlying business value. If we are unable to find a solution that meets our needs, we will develop something in-house, and will consider the public cloud for our infrastructure.

Aligning IT with the Business

We believe that in order to become trusted partner, IT should focus on business outcomes. We have aligned our IT 2020 vision with the company’s overall strategy, particularly as it pertains to population health management and building a virtually-integrated delivery system.

As a population health management company, CDPHP is committed to improving the health and wellness of the members we serve. To do so, it is important to use data to properly segment our member population. A fundamental piece of our IT strategy is to provide a 360-degree view of the member and to deliver personalized, digital tools to engage them.

A virtually-integrated delivery system comprises of the payer, physicians, hospitals, community organizations, and more. It puts the patient at the center of care management. As a trusted IT partner, our focus is to provide the technology solutions that will help CDPHP collaborate with care providers throughout the care continuum.

What Lies in the Future?

As clouds mature, we believe that more and more corporate IT departments will start relying on clouds (both public and private) for their software and infrastructure needs. Initially, the move will be more of an experiment, but sooner or later, all organizations will fully understand the benefits. And, one day in the not-so-distant future, all business processes will be on the cloud.

The transformation in the industry has been fast-paced, and digital giants have made their presence felt in just about every industry. Organizations need to embrace change and move on with it. After all, it is always the survival of the fittest.

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