Digital transformation of a leading retail company with Altostratus and AWS
On its journey toward digital transformation, one of the largest retailers in Spain and Europe launched a process to modernize its SAP infrastructure with the aim of improving scalability, performance, and security. Operating on on-premise servers with systems such as SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, SAP Fiori, and SAP SLT, the company needed a more flexible and efficient solution to optimize its operations and respond to growing business demands.
To achieve this, the company relied on Altostratus, part of Telefónica Tech, to design and implement a migration strategy to AWS, ensuring a scalable, secure, and future-ready infrastructure.
The challenge: An infrastructure with operational limitations
The company needed to set up a cloud environment for SAP within a matter of days, without starting from a fully defined technical blueprint. The challenge was further intensified by the need to incorporate critical changes on the fly, such as VPN and Active Directory configuration, as well as to coordinate multiple teams (internal, technical, and SAP partners) under an extremely tight schedule. Any delay would have had a direct impact on operations and planning, making flawless, flexible, and perfectly synchronized execution essential.
A tailored cloud architecture with a 360° managed model
The project enabled the company to have its SAP environment on AWS in just 10 days, ensuring security, comprehensive management, and alignment with its business objectives.
The main achievements include:
- Restricted scalability, which made it difficult to manage demand spikes and expand operations.
- High operational costs, resulting from the constant maintenance and upgrading of hardware.
- Complexity in security and compliance, with critical interdependencies between SAP systems and increased risks in data management.
- Manual processes and lack of automation, slowing down key tasks and increasing the risk of errors.
To ensure sustainable technological evolution and minimize risks, the company needed a more agile and optimized infrastructure. Migration to AWS, with the support of Altostratus, became the key strategy to transform its technology environment.
The on-premise infrastructure presented multiple challenges that compromised the company’s efficiency and growth. In an increasingly demanding environment, the system began to show limitations in key areas:
A structured and secure approach to migrating SAP to AWS
The project was carried out in two main phases to ensure a controlled transition with no impact on business operations. At the same time, SAP HANA was modernized, ensuring that the platform was fully optimized before its final deployment.
To maximize performance and security, the strategy included:
- Pre-assessment with Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA), identifying risks and optimizing planning.
- Phased migration, using SAP HANA System Replication and export/import strategies to ensure continuity.
- Scalable AWS architecture, with separate environments for development, QA, and production, managed through AWS Control Tower.
- Automation with Ansible and Terraform, reducing manual tasks and improving operational efficiency.
- Enhanced security, with advanced encryption and network segmentation to ensure comprehensive protection.
Results: Greater efficiency, security, and cost optimization
The migration of SAP to AWS marked a significant turning point for the company, providing a more modern and agile technology foundation capable of overcoming the limitations of the previous system. The main benefits achieved include:
- Seamless migration, ensuring the operability of SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, and related systems.
- Improved performance, with optimized processing times and better responsiveness.
- More secure infrastructure, with network segmentation and advanced data encryption.
- Scalability and flexibility, allowing dynamic adjustment of resources according to operational demand.
- Automation and efficiency, reducing manual intervention and improving the management of SAP environments.
- Cost optimization, thanks to the reduction of physical infrastructure and the pay-as-you-go model on AWS.
A future focused on operational sustainability
Thanks to adopting AWS, the company now has a flexible and scalable infrastructure, capable of meeting business demands without limitations. The reduction in operational complexity has allowed internal teams to focus on strategic initiatives and the implementation of new capabilities, strengthening their competitiveness in the market.
With this transformation, the company has not only modernized its infrastructure but also laid the foundation for sustainable growth in the digital era.
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