While the post-pandemic "let's go digital-first" has the business world abuzz, any company that's been around for more than five years can tell you that modernization is easier said than done. Especially concerning cloud migration, the reality's that moving on-premise storage devices to cloud environments can be an uphill journey without the help of a specialist. But when done right, it can assume its rightful place as the front and center of any digital transformation initiative. 

Recently, Aspire Systems was selected by Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. to manage their migration to a cloud-based data center. As a leading operator of department stores and hypermarkets in the Philippines, the client had their eyes on continued expansion. In the wake of their on-premise licenses being on the verge of expiry, they had viewed it as an opportunity to move to the cloud.

Furthermore, the client was paying a 5-year sizing, but the first year saw them use only 10% of their on-premise data centers – leading to it being seen as an unfruitful investment. Hence, cloud migration was essential for their data center to become future-proofed and more ROI-friendly in the present. And while they had switched from on-premises to Amazon's AWS cloud, there was still room for significant improvements.

Breaking down barriers to smooth migration

Even before they had approached Aspire Systems, the client knew it would be a complex journey as their business comprised different store modules (department stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets) and multiple business segments. As the project took off, 23 tightly-coupled applications, covering Oracle Retail, custom applications and third-party applications, were chosen to be migrated to the AWS. It also included the modules of Oracle Finance applications. So, the new migration framework and deployment architecture had to be cloud-agnostic. During the planning stage, there were also data center performance challenges - common in large-scale implementation projects.

Another factor was that this project took place during the height of the pandemic, which brought its own disruptions. However, these were easily overcome thanks to the synergy between Aspire Systems and Metro Retail Stores Group. Both teams had already implemented a hybrid work model that ensured employee safety without compromising project deadlines. And so, the road to better data center scalability, security and flexibility began – with Aspire focused on helping the client simplify AWS workloads.

Architecting a best-fit migration solution suite

Aspire Systems developed a roadmap to precisely indicate the milestones for completing the migration of the Oracle E-business Suite and the updated Oracle EBS. The technical solution suite helped the client achieve huge cost savings without disrupting day-to-day operations or affecting system performance.

Committed to ensuring error-free migration to the AWS cloud, Aspire triple-checked the migration using SIT, UAT and Dry Run environments before migrating to PROD in AWS. Some of the solution highlights were:

• Migration of operating system and EBS applications to the AWS system

• Effective management of traffic-related spikes

• Timely database upgrades – with WebLogic to maintain requirements for future upgrades

• Implementation of an ASM file system to optimize AWS storage performance

In just a few months after going live, Metro Retail Stores Group achieved massive reductions in IT spending.

Need of the hour: A hassle-free cloud migration journey

The fact that there are migration difficulties while shifting from a traditional on-premise data center to a cloud-based one isn't exactly breaking news. But in today's hyper-experiential economy, convenience, scalability and speed are growth catalysts. And as many companies seem to downplay the urgency of making the switch, it could potentially lead to irrevocable issues or undiscovered opportunities. Discover how Aspire Systems' end-to-end digital transformation services, can smoothly enable cloud journeys.