The IBM Cloud Garage is a startup environment led by experts who help a wide range of business customers deploy cloud applications on IBM Cloud. Their mission has been very clear since the inception of Cloud Garage and it is to “make clients of all sizes successful deploying applications on IBM Cloud.” Some of the experts at Cloud Garage include designers, developers, and architects who apply their knowledge and experience to focus on individual client needs.

The Cloud Garage begins the consulting process with customers by identifying the organization’s business priorities and then developing an actionable roadmap to achieve those. This includes a very wide range of customers across different industries and an enormous amount of diverse applications. Some specific examples of business solutions explored include security protocols, user conversion, and key performance indicators. The culture at Cloud Garage is startup focused and places a strong emphasis on innovation. However, startup focused does not always mean their customer is a startup. There are many different sizes and ages of companies that define the Cloud Garage customer.

One aspect of the Cloud Garage is working with startups and small businesses on adopting IBM Cloud and making sure that it meets their needs. The first IBM Cloud Garage launched in San Francisco, where the focus from the start was on interacting with startups on a daily basis. Being in San Francisco around a creative startup community helps enterprise clients try different ways of doing things beyond their norm. Following the San Francisco location, Cloud Garages have opened in New York, Toronto, London, Melbourne and many other locations.

The relatively fast Cloud Garage process can be a shocking change for established enterprise customers. Many Garage Cloud customers are, in fact, decades old established companies with legacy systems. The current architecture of each company is a reflection of all the decisions that went into the architecture over a period of time. The cloud provides an opportunity to assess the current architecture and intentionally map out the future. This creates the chance for companies to build out a network with new tools that may not have been available before. Understanding the enterprise customer and taking a collaborative approach to address specific needs is how the IBM Cloud Garage is accelerating enterprise transformation.