Hitachi Develops Cloud Operations Maturity Model to Solve On-Site Burden and Talent Shortages in IT Service Operations
Hitachi has developed a "Cloud Operations Maturity Model" to standardize and automate service quality design and cloud cost management. This aims to reduce operational burdens and address talent shortages in IT services, supporting efficient cloud operations.
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- 📰 Published: April 2, 2026 at 22:00
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To address on-site operational burdens and talent shortages in IT service operations utilizing the cloud, Hitachi has developed a Cloud Operations Maturity Model*1 that enables IT service operators to focus on improving service value. This model standardizes and automates service quality design, such as response speed and error rates—which conventionally relied on the operational know-how and intuition of personnel—as well as the management of cloud usage costs, thereby optimizing work on the operational frontlines. Specifically, through the standard setting of Service Level Indicators (SLI*2) and the centralized management and anomaly detection of cloud usage costs using an industry-standard format (FOCUS*3 specification), rapid and appropriate service quality design and comprehensive management of cloud operations costs become possible. Moving forward, Hitachi will provide this model to many operators through cloud operations advisory services such as "Hitachi Application Reliability Centers (HARC)*4", supporting the efficiency of IT service operations and the overall optimization of cloud operation costs. Furthermore, Hitachi will tackle operational efficiency using AI and the customization of the model tailored to the operators' business environments, contributing to the improvement of the reliability and efficiency of the digital infrastructure of society as a whole 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 work element during cloud operations, serving as a guideline for current status evaluation, operational improvement proposals, and the development of implementation and support tools. The progress of each element is evaluated as its maturity level.
*2 Service Level Indicator (SLI): An indicator used to quantitatively measure the quality and reliability of IT services and systems.
*3 FOCUS (FinOps Open Cost & Usage Specification): An open specification for standardizing usage fee data for IT services, such as cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service).
*4 To the Cloud Operations You Don't Know: Hitachi Application Reliability Centers (HARC) : Hitachi's Cloud Hitachi Cloud
## Background and Challenges
As cloud utilization accelerates as the foundation for digital services, companies and organizations are required to realize high-quality, low-cost, and high-efficiency operational structures. However, in the past, setting and managing indicators for service quality and cloud usage costs depended heavily on individual skills, requiring immense effort. Moreover, the shortage of IT personnel has become severe, making the succession of know-how and the maintenance of stable operations significant challenges. As DX (Digital Transformation) accelerates and IT utilization becomes more sophisticated today, a new cloud operations model that reduces on-site burdens and enables continuous operational optimization has been demanded.
## Features of the Technology/Solution Developed to Solve the Challenges
In response, Hitachi has developed a cloud operations maturity model that reduces on-site burdens, standardizes and streamlines operations, and allows operators to focus more on improving service value (Figure 1). This model serves as a foundation capable of realizing stable operational quality independent of the person in charge, by systematizing and standardizing the operational procedures and Service Level Indicators (SLI) necessary for cloud operations. Furthermore, by linking technological elements such as the automatic extraction of SLI candidates and the centralized data management of cloud usage costs, it supports an operational design that not only improves the efficiency and optimization of overall cloud operational costs but also suppresses the fragmentation of operational frontlines, such as the siloing of monitoring data and the increase in alerts. The main features are as follows:
## 1. Stable Operations and Reduction of On-Site Burden through Standardization and Efficiency of Operational Procedures and Quality
International standard
*1 Cloud Operations Maturity Model: A model that defines the "ideal state of operations" in five stages for each work element during cloud operations, serving as a guideline for current status evaluation, operational improvement proposals, and the development of implementation and support tools. The progress of each element is evaluated as its maturity level.
*2 Service Level Indicator (SLI): An indicator used to quantitatively measure the quality and reliability of IT services and systems.
*3 FOCUS (FinOps Open Cost & Usage Specification): An open specification for standardizing usage fee data for IT services, such as cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service).
*4 To the Cloud Operations You Don't Know: Hitachi Application Reliability Centers (HARC) : Hitachi's Cloud Hitachi Cloud
## Background and Challenges
As cloud utilization accelerates as the foundation for digital services, companies and organizations are required to realize high-quality, low-cost, and high-efficiency operational structures. However, in the past, setting and managing indicators for service quality and cloud usage costs depended heavily on individual skills, requiring immense effort. Moreover, the shortage of IT personnel has become severe, making the succession of know-how and the maintenance of stable operations significant challenges. As DX (Digital Transformation) accelerates and IT utilization becomes more sophisticated today, a new cloud operations model that reduces on-site burdens and enables continuous operational optimization has been demanded.
## Features of the Technology/Solution Developed to Solve the Challenges
In response, Hitachi has developed a cloud operations maturity model that reduces on-site burdens, standardizes and streamlines operations, and allows operators to focus more on improving service value (Figure 1). This model serves as a foundation capable of realizing stable operational quality independent of the person in charge, by systematizing and standardizing the operational procedures and Service Level Indicators (SLI) necessary for cloud operations. Furthermore, by linking technological elements such as the automatic extraction of SLI candidates and the centralized data management of cloud usage costs, it supports an operational design that not only improves the efficiency and optimization of overall cloud operational costs but also suppresses the fragmentation of operational frontlines, such as the siloing of monitoring data and the increase in alerts. The main features are as follows:
## 1. Stable Operations and Reduction of On-Site Burden through Standardization and Efficiency of Operational Procedures and Quality
International standard