Start simple and grow: introducing scalable IT solutions for Mizuho EMEA
Find out how Mizuho EMEA built a consistent SDLC, underpinned by Atlassian tools, that could meet the needs of the whole business.
Requirements at a glance
Mizuho EMEA wanted to move from a fragmented, ad-hoc development environment towards co-ordinated, scalable Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Service Management and DevOps models. The goal? Align IT with business strategy, break down silos, and lay the groundwork for a cloud-based, AI-enabled future.
Industry: Financial services
Atlassian products: Jira Software Premium Cloud, Jira Service Management (JSM), Confluence Cloud, Bitbucket, Bamboo, Guard
Atlassian stack users: 4000 including 600 developers
Adaptavist apps: ScriptRunner
Other technology: Sonatype Repository Manager, IQ Server and Lifecycle, SonarQube
Summary
Mizuho is a global institution offering comprehensive financial and strategic services, including banking, securities, trust and asset management, credit card, private banking and venture capital, through their group companies including Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Securities.
Mizuho EMEA had progressed from a low coordinated control, ad-hoc development environment towards an organised, pragmatic SDLC and tooling strategy. This shift was driven by the organisation’s need to align IT with business strategy, reduce silos, and prepare for an AI-enhanced, cloud-native future.
With a global reach, Mizuho recognises the importance of top-down sponsorship in bringing together project portfolio management (PPM) and strategic portfolio management (SPM) with ITSM and project delivery into a coherent enterprise model.
We’re in an interesting period at this moment. We are undergoing so much change.
And because each region’s going through its own transformation consolidation initiative, we’re also learning from what’s gone before us, what we can use that’s already there and actually what we need to branch out from to make sure it works for us in our region.
Steven Fenemore
Head of ALM/DevOps, Core Technology & Innovation, Mizuho, EMEA
The challenges
Limited visibility across teams
Mizuho’s development and operations teams were working in silos, with developers handing over packages to Unix, Windows, and DBA teams for deployment. The process lacked robust change control and proper segregation-of-duty checks, creating risks and inefficiencies across the release cycle.
Fragmented tooling and siloed initiatives
Tooling and process improvements were happening in isolation across different offices and regions. Even major efforts like regional ServiceNow projects struggled to succeed because teams weren’t sharing learnings or aligning on a common approach.
No enterprise model or traceability
Without an enterprise-wide project portfolio management (PPM) or strategic portfolio management (SPM) model, Mizuho had no clear visibility between strategic goals and the solutions being delivered. Behind the scenes, teams relied on manual, duplicated processes that made tracking progress and value delivery difficult.
“We’ve got quite a few technology stacks and areas where we’ve seen adoption fail. For example, ServiceNow is used throughout every region except EMEA. But if you look at every instance of what they’ve got, it’s not a successful implementation, adoption, and utilization because it's been attempted in silos, rather than within the wider strategy.
Steven Fenemore
Head of ALM/DevOps, Core Technology & Innovation, Mizuho, EMEA
The solution
Mizuho needed a consistent SDLC and standardised pipelines to kick things off. The ethos was “start simple, then scale”. Once defined, The pipelines were piloted with trusted teams, and iteratively evolved.
“Our starting point was quite low,” said Steven Fennemore. “So all we had to do was try and put some structure around it. It wasn’t a revolutionary process – it didn’t contain all the bells and whistles that perhaps one would like. But the idea was, we start simple with certain trusted teams, perhaps some teams that got the concept of DevOps. We trialled it with them, and it’s built and evolved.”
It was important that the solution fit the business, rather than doing IT for IT’s sake. The new tools and processes needed to map to business drivers and, where possible, align with global initiatives or funded stacks.
Mizuho made the decision to bring in Adaptavist’s independent expertise so we could act as a sounding board for the business’s decisions, particularly when it came to Jira Service Management (JSM) and to help them design a scalable solution.
The results
A clearly defined standard
Mizuho’s golden path approach is now used by about 600 users (15% of the total licensed users). But it’s not everyone. Alongside these highly mature, pipeline-drive teams, there are still some specialised teams operating outside the golden path approach for valid reasons.
We're in the process of defining a strategy that we think will scale for the organisation, irrespective of what level of maturity you are at. A big challenge for us is satisfying those teams that want to keep pace and keep moving forward, but also bringing on board teams that don't have those controls in place.
Steven Fenemore
Head of ALM/DevOps, Core Technology & Innovation, Mizuho, EMEA
Atlassian adoption is growing
The success of Atlassian adoption in London is down to it being driven by a clear global-aware strategy, rather than tooling for tooling’s sake. Mizuho is now taking this approach forward for a broader EMEA rollout and future Atlassian cloud migration.
Developing a greater understanding
To continuously review and refine its strategy, Mizuho is conducting developer engagement activity, including a questionnaire, to establish a baseline. There aren’t any formal KPIs in place yet, but the team hopes to adopt developer experience metrics over time.
The future
Looking ahead, Mizuho is planning to scale its JSM instance and embark on a migration journey to Atlassian Cloud. “I look to Adaptavist to give me direction around that,” said Steven, “helping me structure scalable solutions that are fit for future use and fit for purpose now. What we’re doing in the JSM space, I’m sure we could set up ourselves, but fundamentally, I want Adaptavist as a trusted source to guide us around what’s good, what’s not, and ensure we aren't making mistakes now, that we’re going to regret further down the line.”
A cautious, considered approach to AI
When it comes to AI, Mizuho is cautious, taking a “safety-first” approach. With a predominantly Microsoft-centric set-up, Copilot has been approved for use but is restricted to select users while the organisation has more clearly defined policies, controls, and compliance.
“We do have a function that’s been set up to evaluate what AI could mean for us as an organisation,” said Steve, “and it’s looking at business cases around how AI could be utilised to bring us those kinds of efficiencies.” One pilot project already up and running is incorporating Copilot into GitHub, with ambitions to step activity up over the next six months.
Adaptavist is basically my sounding board. They’ve given me exposure to the wider Atlassian products, an honest assessment, and input into them. I think, for me personally, that has been invaluable.
Steven Fenemore
Head of ALM/DevOps, Core Technology & Innovation, Mizuho, EMEA
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