The AGC Group, a major global glass manufacturer, wanted to transition from on-premises hardware to infrastructure on Microsoft Azure, which would improve cost efficiency and provide scalability benefits. AGC’s presence in Europe and Japan meant its migration to the cloud needed to be handled with the utmost care. When AGC evaluated Azure partners that would help with an on-time, on-budget infrastructure build, KochaSoft stood out. KochaSoft migrated AGC’s datacenters and conducted a wide range of related work, improving security and outfitting AGC for an even stronger market position.
A global glass innovator looks to the cloud
The AGC Group, a $16 billion company with multiple business units worldwide, produces a wide range of glass products for commercial, residential, and industrial projects. To support the needs of building teams all over the world in achieving energy savings, safety, and stunning aesthetics, AGC focuses on its core business: innovation in glass production and glass-related items.
Keeping up with this innovation on the product side requires equal innovation in IT operations. AGC wanted to move away from managing its hardware on-premises and migrate to a scalable platform on Microsoft Azure.
Seeking a partner who specialized in customized services, AGC turned to KochaSoft to provide assistance in hosting AGC’s landscape on Azure, which would allow AGC to accelerate business growth in North America.
KochaSoft, based in Novi, Michigan, is a global cloud services organization that specializes in optimizing SAP business technology. Its eight-week SAP on Azure migration service, available in the Azure Marketplace, helps companies migrate their SAP workloads to Azure.
“We needed to find a partner who could help us leverage the power of Azure,” said Ketan Palicha, Head of Information Technology for AGC Automotive North America. “We had timely requests and a set budget we wanted to stick to, and KochaSoft has proven to be the right partner in this regard.”
A complex Azure migration aligned with company goals
During the migration period, KochaSoft successfully helped AGC navigate the complexities of migrating the VPN and AGC’s datacenters. As the project continued, KochaSoft continued to advise AGC on its integration with Azure Active Directory and mitigate challenges that were faced during the build period.
KochaSoft’s SAP on Azure specialists continue to tackle a wide range of work for AGC beyond migrating on-premises systems to Azure. This includes high-availability disaster recovery and building the landscape and backup solution by leveraging Terraform and Unix automation to help AGC with fault tolerance across application and database tiers.
To ensure AGC is fully supported throughout its journey to Azure, KochaSoft also provides SAP basis and infrastructure management services to AGC’s IT teams. This allows AGC leaders to work in lockstep with KochaSoft and better serve their customers.
In addition, KochaSoft built an integrated S/4HANA data warehouse using Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Azure Data Factory. Throughout the build, KochaSoft helped AGC save 50 percent on its Azure licensing and implementation costs while deploying the tool in just four months. This tool gives key AGC business units (sales, finance, production/planning, materials management, procurement, and quality management) an intuitive dashboard and enables the creation of self-service data reports from their warehouses.
Improving security and modernizing business processes
KochaSoft continues to support AGC with application managed services in the Azure environment and with other initiatives. Building agile, flexible, and cost-efficient solutions to help AGC harness the power of Azure will modernize its business processes and improve its market position. As AGC continues on this journey, the company has placed a premium on safety. KochaSoft has helped AGC improve its security and retain business continuity throughout the implementation process, as well as realize significant cost savings.
“KochaSoft’s agility and Azure expertise have made them a go-to partner for AGC,” Palicha said. “They’ve handled everything from HADR, GRC, and security down to analytics. I look forward to continuing to partner with KochaSoft on other Azure-related projects to handle any and all business challenges as they arise."
To further streamline security system integration, KochaSoft is helping AGC build and test better ISM (information security management) tools, such as more robust access control functions. In an era where more and more IT teams are working remotely, this has become an incredibly important security feature. Another important project in progress is Security Weaver tools, which will help AGC with audit compliance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only enhanced the need for companies like AGC to embrace the power of Azure. As they continue to work with KochaSoft, AGC leaders can rest assured the combination of Azure and KochaSoft means they can handle any business challenges.
“KochaSoft’s agility and Azure expertise have made them a go-to partner for AGC. They’ve handled everything from HADR, GRC, and security down to analytics. I look forward to continuing to partner with KochaSoft on other Azure-related projects to handle any and all business challenges as they arise.”
Ketan Palicha, Head of Information Technology, AGC Automotive North America
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