Dive Brief:

• Keurig Dr Pepper is tapping Google Cloud to host its "data footprint" as part of a multiyear agreement, Google announced Tuesday. The companies began working on the project in December 2019. 
• The beverage company will shift to virtual machines running on Google Cloud by the end of 2020, retiring two data centers with more than 1,000 servers, according to the announcement. The migration represents the majority, but not all of its data footprint.  
• The move is key for Keurig Dr Pepper's "merger integration and modernization efforts," said John Gigerich, SVP and CIO for Keurig Dr Pepper, in a statement. Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple merged in July 2018, creating a beverage company with $11 billion in annual revenues. 

Dive Insight:

Keurig Dr Pepper was the fastest growing Fortune 500 beverage company in 2019, following the merger. But the company falls behind larger companies in the beverage space, including Coca-Cola, which earned $37 billion in revenue last year. 

Migrating workloads to the cloud creates more data visibility and portability. Companies in the food and beverage space have a wide array of product lines, catering to different consumers. Digital technologies can integrated into their portfolios to help companies better understand what's working — and what's not — across product lines. 

Consumer demands are changing and there's an appetite for transformation in the consumer packaged goods space. Companies are pushed to invest in technologies that address issues across the supply chain, according to a Boston Consulting Group report. 

A number of CPG brands are working to "expedite their digital transformations to really understand their data, deepen relationships with consumers and ultimately drive their business forward," Carrie Tharp, VP of Retail & Consumer, Google Cloud told CIO Dive in an email. Similar to retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, CPG companies want data from direct customer interaction.

In a play for more personalization, The Procter & Gamble Company is using Google's data analytics and AI technology, Google announced earlier this month. The company is working to integrate consumer, brand and media data for deeper insights. 

PepsiCo Inc. is also modernizing its data portfolio, working in Microsoft on infrastructure, ERP and data estate consolidation and modernization, Microsoft announced Monday. It's part of a five-year partnership, making Microsoft "a preferred cloud provider."