Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company Fujitsu has deployed the IT infrastructure of Valio, Finland’s largest dairy, by transferring its existing systems onto a SAP HANA platform, in one of the largest migrations to SAP HANA conducted in Finland to date.

This deployment will enable Valio to transform digitally while improving the availability and reliability of the company’s services by taking advantage of digital services and fast data analytics. This latest project involved migrating Valio’s multiple databases, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), supplier relationship management and access portal systems to the SAP HANA environment.

To be able to respond effectively to changing demands, Valio adopted an agile technology infrastructure. Its migration to SAP HANA is the latest step in a broader digital transformation project that has seen Fujitsu update and streamline Valio’s infrastructure and systems to support Valio in keeping pace with the company’s ambition.

In addition to that, Fujitsu also optimized key Valio applications to be compatible with the SAP HANA database. The new, combined SAP HANA system represents a highly business-critical system for Valio serving as a central repository for the dairy’s sales, logistics and enterprise resource planning data.

Fujitsu will also be implementing additional capacity services for the dairy to manage, store and back up its SAP applications. Service maintenance agreements will see the two companies work together until at least 2022.

Highlighting future plans Kimmo Poikela, IT Manager at Valio, stated, “We need a technology infrastructure that is agile enough to keep pace. Also, as a busy dairy, we operate 24/7, so it is crucial that we have a solid foundation for all the business critical applications we rely on, around the clock.”

By working closely together with Fujitsu, we have been able to “streamline our systems, improving efficiency and freeing us up to deliver innovative dairy products to our customers,” he added.

Focusing on benefits of deployement for Valio, Irma Jousranta, Head of Enterprise Applications, Application Transformation and Integration at Fujitsu in Finland, commented, “Switching to the SAP HANA platform is bringing Valio immediate benefits in terms of enhancing system performance while also reducing costs.”

“But above all, the project is a significant step towards embracing digitalization in the enterprise, to provide new digital services. Valio has already seen great benefits from streamlining its infrastructure. This latest step will deliver not only cost benefits, but also access to a wealth of new information through the use of real-time data analytics,” he adds.