Change of Scandinavia migrates to a private cloud

The Change of Scandinavia group consists of several companies in Europe and Canada, managing 200 luxury lingerie showrooms on several continents. Intensive sales are also conducted online.

Failures and significant restrictions on the IT environment used by the Danish operator did not support the development of such a dynamic company. This, combined with the planned implementation of a demanding, comprehensive ERP system, prompted Change of Scandinavia to look for another idea for their IT infrastructure.

It was decided to create a shared service center in Poland tasked with IT services for all companies. As a result of a series of talks and consultations, Change of Scandinavia chose Atman as its technology partner for this venture. Currently, the Client’s IT systems work in a private cloud built in two Atman Data Centers in Warsaw.

Due to its Danish origin, Change of Scandinavia originally maintained its IT resources in Denmark with a local operator. With the development of the company, more and more problems with the availability of infrastructure began to appear, and in consequence also with the continuity of the company’s IT systems.

Meanwhile, the company decided to implement a comprehensive management system for all production, warehouse, logistics and accounting processes. The proven Microsoft Dynamics AX solution was chosen because the ERP systems of this manufacturer are highly valued and very popular on the Scandinavian market. Reports generated by this system are used to conduct analyzes supporting business decision making.

Unfortunately, the leased IT infrastructure offered significantly limited configuration and administrative options, which – combined with high failure rates – was not a suitable base for such advanced software or for the type of business that Change of Scandinavia ran. It needed a stable work of IT facilities supporting the intensive growth of the company – so it was decided to change the provider.

Change of Scandinavia wanted to unify the IT tools used so that all companies and individual shops could work on a shared database in a unified IT ecosystem. The implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX – planned for this purpose – required an efficient and reliable IT environment. In addition, the company wanted easy scalability of resources, given the constantly growing IT needs as a result of the increasing globalization of its operations.

Considering the above general assumptions, Change of Scandinavia decided to find a technology partner and with its help build a suitable ICT infrastructure, creating a Shared Services Center in Poland. 

A specific concept of the environment was born only during the talks with a technological partner selected from among four companies bidding for the cooperation with Change of Scandinavia. The company decided on Atman largely due to the flexible and relational approach to the client. The IT department appreciated the openness, attentive listening to client’s needs and the huge commitment of Atman’s consultants in finding a technical solution that will fully meet the company’s expectations.

Piotr Matyjaszek, Head of IT, Change of Scandinavia
“At the solution design stage, Atman consultants helped us to understand – from technical and business point of view – how we would like our IT environment to operate. It was immediately apparent that Atman employees had experience with similar projects.”

In order to ensure high availability and efficiency, easy development and free control of the infrastructure, it was decided to implement a private cloud, i.e. fully separated for one client – with dedicated hosts and disk arrays, as well as full access of the client’s IT team to the virtualization layer.

The continuity of IT environment operation, on the other hand, was to be guaranteed by a backup data processing center – also in the form of a private cloud – built in a separate location. It was tasked with constant synchronization of data with the primary data center and automatic start of IT systems in the event of failure of the primary DC.

Tomasz Ciepliński, Presales Manager, Atman
“At Atman, we try to be a consultant for the client. We never go to sell a specific system, we do not impose the choice of a ready “off the shelf” product. Instead, we listen to the client’s needs, analyze project requirements to find – together with the client – the best solution tailored to its technical, financial and business capabilities.”

In accordance with the agreed concept, Atman built a private cloud computing for the Client divided into two data processing centers: primary and backup, located in Warsaw’s Atman WAW-1 and WAW-2 Data Centers of TIER III+ class, connected to each other by an optical fiber network via three independent routes. The private cloud hardware base consisted of Atman dedicated servers complemented with arrays. The Client’s infrastructure was secured with a comprehensive UTM (Unified Threat Management) solution. 

The crucial part of the implementation was the migration of the enterprise data and applications to the new environment, and – before that – proper planning of the process. Due to the intercontinental nature of the business of Change of Scandinavia (the systems are used by users in different time zones), the company’s systems had to be transferred without interrupting their work.

Dariusz Zalewski, Group IT Infrastructure Manager, Change of Scandinavia
“The biggest challenge during this migration was that we had to move the production system, and we had to do it so that the overvoltage would not last more than a second, so that business wasn’t really affected.”

The inability to indicate the service window meant that this task required extremely precise determination of the stages and establishing a detailed migration schedule.

Tomasz Ciepliński, Presales Manager, Atman
“We have extensive experience in transferring data and applications to the solutions provided by Atman. Over the years, we have completed many complex migration projects for clients from Poland and abroad. Verification tests are a key element of such venture. The project is divided into stages with checkpoints, so that – after completing each of them – we can check if we are in the place where we would like to be. Although every migration carries a risk, if we plan it well, we will be able to provide the solution that the client expected.”

In addition, one of Atman’s partners was involved in the process of migration of the data and applications of Change of Scandinavia: Vayana Technologie Informatyczne. It also supports the Client in maintaining the environment during the post-implementation period.

Over time, the originally assumed classical division of data centers functions into active and backup ones (active-passive mode) disappeared in the course of operation. Due to the dynamically developing business of the Client, the second location is increasingly used to provide services equally with the so-called primary location – then both work in the production mode (active-active).

An efficient tool that you can always rely on above all saves time and money. Migration of IT resources to a dedicated cloud in Atman DC allowed Change of Scandinavia to achieve all its goals:

• The new, efficient environment provides the Client with operational stability of the implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX system and IT services provided to branches operating on several continents.
• All areas of the company, including production, warehouse, logistics and sales, use one shared database without problems, which improves the management of orders, distribution and settlements.
• The choice of a professional operator of data centers that meet the TIER III+ standards as a private cloud provider, along with the creation of the second center at a separate location redundantly connected to the primary one, guarantee uninterrupted availability of infrastructure and reliability of the systems working in it.
• The chosen architecture of private cloud computing, as well as huge technical base and 24/7 availability of Atman engineers ensure fast and trouble-free scalability of the environment along with the growing needs of the Client.
• The IT team freely administers resources and has access to all necessary levels of the infrastructure.

Moreover, the Client has gained a proven and tested technology partner in Atman, and the constantly developed Shared Services Center can count on the support of Atman’s consultants.

Dariusz Zalewski, Group IT Infrastructure Manager, Change of Scandinavia
“At Change of Scandinavia we can boast of a great technological base – both as regards people and technologies that we use. It enough to just mention that we started with a few members of support staff. Today we have a separate infrastructure department responsible for maintaining and developing our private cloud.”

Successfully completed migration to the private cloud significantly contributed to increasing the efficiency and reliability of Change of Scandinavia’s IT systems. The redundancy and scalability of cloud elements give administrators a good night’s sleep, while the company can operate 24/7 regardless of where in the world its customers reach for the underwear from the latest CHANGE Lingerie collection – or click “order”.

The implementation of an up-to-date IT environment allows Change of Scandinavia to discover new needs in the area of digitization of business processes. Today – thanks to the open architecture of the entire solution – the IT team can respond quickly to changes in the company’s business environment, especially with Atman’s support. Along with the dynamic development of the company, ideas for further joint IT ventures are born, not necessarily related to private cloud or server hosting.