Hitachi Develops Cloud Operations Maturity Model to Address On-site Burden and Talent Shortage in IT Service Operations

Tokyo, March 29, 2026 -- Hitachi, Ltd. today announced the development of a Cloud Operations Maturity Model, designed to alleviate the on-site burden and address the talent shortage in IT service operations utilizing the cloud. This model standardizes and automates operational tasks such as service quality design (e.g., response speed, error rates) and cloud cost management, which have traditionally relied on the expertise and intuition of individual operators, thereby optimizing operational tasks. Specifically, by standardizing Service Level Indicators (SLIs)*2 and centrally managing and detecting anomalies in cloud usage costs according to industry standard FOCUS*3 specifications, it enables prompt and appropriate service quality design and comprehensive management of overall cloud operational costs. Going forward, Hitachi will provide this model through various services, including the cloud operations advisory service "Hitachi Application Reliability Centers (HARC)*4," to support the efficiency of IT service operations and the overall optimization of cloud operational costs. Furthermore, Hitachi will work on operational efficiency through AI utilization and customization of the model to fit the operational environment of users, contributing to the reliability and efficiency of society's digital infrastructure as one of the technologies supporting Lumada 3.0.

*1 Cloud Operations Maturity Model: A model that defines the 'ideal state of operations' in five stages for each operational task element in cloud operations, serving as a guideline for current assessment, operational improvement proposals, and development of implementation/support tools. It evaluates the progress of each element as maturity. *2 Service Level Indicator (SLI): A metric for quantitatively measuring the quality and reliability of IT services and systems. *3 FOCUS (FinOps Open Cost & Usage Specification): An open specification for standardizing billing data for IT services such as cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS). *4 Your Unknown Cloud Operations: Hitachi Application Reliability Centers (HARC): Hitachi's Cloud Hitachi Cloud [https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/harmonious/cloud/articles/harc/]

Background and Challenges As cloud utilization accelerates as the foundation for digital services, companies and organizations are required to achieve high-quality, low-cost, and highly efficient operational structures. However, the setting and management of indicators for service quality and cloud usage costs have been personalized, requiring significant effort. Furthermore, the IT talent shortage is becoming severe, making knowledge transfer and stable operation maintenance a major challenge. With the acceleration of DX (Digital Transformation) and the advancement of IT utilization, a new cloud operations model was needed to reduce the burden on the field and enable sustainable operational optimization.

Features of the Technology/Solution Developed to Solve These Problems To address these issues, Hitachi has developed a Cloud Operations Maturity Model that reduces the burden on the field, standardizes and streamlines operations, and allows operators to focus more on enhancing service value (Figure 1). This model serves as a foundation for achieving stable operational quality independent of individual operators by systematizing and standardizing the necessary operational procedures and SLIs for cloud operations. Furthermore, by integrating technological elements such as automatic extraction of SLI candidates and centralized management of cloud usage cost data, it supports operational design that suppresses the fragmentation of operational sites, such as siloed monitoring data and an increase in alerts, in addition to the efficiency and optimization of overall cloud operational costs. The main features are as follows:

1. Stable Operations and Reduced Field Burden through Standardization and Efficiency of Operational Procedures and Quality Based on the international standard IT Service Management framework (ITIL4*5), Hitachi has built an operations maturity model that systematizes the operational diagnosis and improvement know-how cultivated through "HARC." Specifically, it defines the 'ideal state of operations' in five stages for each cloud operations task element (service level design, measurement, alert design, on-call planning, initial response, escalation, troubleshooting, etc.) (Figure 2), organizes operational know-how such as operator actions, necessary tools, criteria, challenges, and improvement measures, and standardizes them as operational rules. By presenting requirements and improvement measures for each stage of operational maturity (progress), it enables standardization and efficiency of operations independent of operators, contributing to stable service operations while reducing the workload in the operational field (Table 1). This allows for operational design that suppresses fragmentation between tools.

2. Efficiency of Quality Design through Automatic Extraction of Service Level Indicators (SLIs) Hitachi has developed technology that automatically extracts optimal SLI candidates based on the system characteristics of IT services and applications operated by companies and organizations in the cloud. Specifically, from 57 types of SLI candidates, it automatically extracts SLI candidates using a proprietary rule-based algorithm based on functional requirements (API*6 response speed, error rate, data consistency, etc.) and non-functional requirements (availability, security, throughput, etc.) tailored to the system and industry characteristics. This enables appropriate service quality design according to system and industry characteristics, leading to faster consensus building in the field and improved service quality. Furthermore, standardization and automation of operational sites enable work efficiency improvements such as automatic ticket issuance (response records). It also contributes to reducing the burden of alert response through the aggregation and analysis of monitoring data.

3. Centralized Management and Optimization of Cloud Usage Costs by Complying with FOCUS Specifications Hitachi has developed a tool that automatically converts and integrates cost data from multiple cloud services into the unified format of the industry standard FOCUS specifications. Furthermore, by preparing a mapping table associated with FOCUS specifications, it has built a dashboard that enables centralized visualization and analysis of cloud usage cost data, such as invoice item names, data structures, units, and notation methods that differ by cloud service. This allows for comparison of cloud usage costs by service or period, and by detecting anomalies through machine learning, it enables early discovery of previously hard-to-notice fluctuations in cloud usage costs, supporting the management and optimization of cloud usage costs and accelerating management decisions in multi-cloud environments*7. It also contributes to suppressing the fragmentation and personalization of cost information.

Figure 1: Overview of the Cloud Operations Maturity Model Table 1: Example of Operational Elements in the Cloud Operations Maturity Model (Alert Design) *5 Abbreviation for Information Technology Infrastructure Library 4. An international standard framework for IT service operations that provides best practices for operational processes and management methods. *6 Abbreviation for Application Programming Interface. An interface (window) and rules (agreements) for different software to exchange data and functions. *7 Multi-Cloud Cost Management Platform with FOCUS | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11126155]

Future Outlook Hitachi plans to deploy this model to many customers through services such as the cloud operations advisory service "HARC," supporting the operational efficiency and overall optimization of cloud operational costs for IT services. Furthermore, Hitachi will work on operational efficiency through AI utilization and customization of the model to meet customer business environments, and promote collaboration with "HARC for AI*8," which maximizes the introduction effect of AI agents, thereby contributing to the reliability and efficiency of society's digital infrastructure as one of the technologies supporting Lumada 3.0.

*8 Start Providing HARC for AI to Maximize the Introduction Effects of AI Agents: October 7, 2025 [https://www.hitachi.co.jp/New/cnews/month/2025/10/1007.html]

Related Information Hitachi's Research and Development Website [https://www.hitachi.co.jp/rd/] Your Unknown Cloud Operations: Hitachi Application Reliability Centers (HARC): Hitachi's Cloud Hitachi Cloud [https://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/harmonious/cloud/articles/harc/]

Inquiries Hitachi, Ltd. Research and Development Group To the inquiry form [https://www8.hitachi.co.jp/inquiry/hqrd/news/jp/form.jsp?_gl=1*px986b*_ga*MTUzMDk3MjMyNi4xNzA1MDI2Mjgz*_ga_T8CYNVBBRR*MTcwNzI3OTU1Mi41MC4xLjE3MDcyODEzNDMuMC4wLjA.]