Ashok Alco – chem Limited (AACL) for decades has been focusing with single minded endeavour to deliver the best they can to their customers. And achieving this has been possible due to the trust instilled by their consumers in their products. Trust invoked through constant innovation and improvement of their products.
Customer Challenge –
Ashok Alco-chem Limited had a lot of clients to cater to. To ensure the clients are happy with their products, they wanted to send out feedback forms after each delivery. The issue was that it was getting tricky for them to send it out manually one at a time and have a consolidated database with the responses which they could then further analyse.
Why AWS ?
Since the objective was to create a serverless application, cloud was the way to go. AACL chose AWS because it is highly scalable. AWS has 200+ service offerings, more than any other cloud provider – from infrastructure technologies like compute, storage, databases, to emerging technologies such as data lakes and
analytics, AI-ML, and IoT.
Why did AACL Choose AeonX?
AeonX Digital ensures faster adoption of the cloud. Additionally, our AWS industry-focused approach leverages industry expertise, experience, purpose-built industry services, and solutions toward a better tomorrow. These advancements are based on the extensive experience successfully implementing numerous AWS Cloud engagements. Looking at these factors, AACL were confident in going with AeonX Digital Solutions.
AeonX Solution –
AeonX developed a solution that sends emails to their customers to collect feedback on product quality & delivery. The customer data is fetched from SAP in the backend, and it sends emails to customers on monthly basis. Once the responses were received, the solution helps them to further analyse the data and take actions accordingly that helps them grow.
AeonX proposed a serverless architecture to host feedback form & Admin Dashboard on S3. We developed a lambda function to get SAP data and send emails to related customers, in an email every customer gets a unique URL for filling the feedback form. Once the customer submits the form it gets stored in DynamoDB. From the admin dashboard, users can generate reports and view analytics on customer feedbacks. All the admin dashboard related requests are handled using lambda and API gateway.
Outcome of Project –
Project was successfully deployed using serverless architecture using lambda, S3, API gateway & DynamoDB. Ashok Alco-chem Limited Sales team sent feedback forms to their customers, once the customers reverted with their feedback, they had access to data which they could use for analytics on the admin dashboard.
TCO –
Using serverless architecture reduced the hustle of managing server resource and also reduced the TCO for the customer.
Leading healthcare group in India, the CK Birla Group of Hospitals includes BMBHRC, CMRI, Kolkata and RBH, Jaipur. CK Birla Hospitals, established in Kolkata and Jaipur, offer over 800 beds with comprehensive outpatient and inpatient services. Aiming to provide quality healthcare to all, the hospitals have performed more than 5.5 lakh surgeries, 1.9 lakh catheterizations, and 22,000 cardiac operations. Featuring the latest technology and a modern infrastructure, these hospitals continue to set new standards in medical care.
Journey towards migration of SAP on AWS
The hospital being in multiple locations, it was necessary for them to have seamless access to the data. The primary reason for choosing AWS solutions for hosting SAP workloads was its low costs, ease of maintenance, high scalability, and functionality.
As they started migrating to cloud, they realised they lacked the architecture expertise to incorporate best practices for delivery of SAP workloads on AWS. They required specific SAP and AWS guidance and architectural diagrams
Since AeonX and CKBH had previously worked together, CKBH trusted AeonX. As a result, they were comforted by the idea that the business was skilled and experienced in SAP and AWS healthcare data. Furthermore, AeonX was ready to start working immediately, and provided comprehensive planning as well as quick consulting assistance. AeonX provided expert oversight for a secure, scalable and easily maintainable AWS environment by leveraging existing CKBH proprietary and cloud-native solutions.
Migration to AWS cloud with AeonX –
Like many healthcare organisations, CKBH hosted SAP environments on-site. However, the performance and dependability of the system were being negatively impacted by this infrastructure’s rapid ageing and rising maintenance costs.
To change this, CKBH engaged technology provider AeonX to build an Amazon Web Services (AWS)-based platform for its new monitoring service. In addition to being an SAP Gold Partner and Advanced Consulting Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN), AeonX is an SAP AMS Provider. When compared to what CKBH was using on-premises, AeonX’s combination of AWS services resulted in a significantly higher degree of efficiency and improved user experience. We were able to reduce licensing, support, and maintenance costs utilising AWS Lambda, Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, Amazon Cloudwatch, and Amazon EBS, which aggregated and imported data from specific sources.
By migrating their SAP workloads on cloud, CKBH was able to scale more quickly and at a much-reduced cost, which resulted in significant cost avoidance. CKBH was able to repurpose funds for the development and adoption of novel, cutting-edge data analytics technologies because of this large cost savings. By giving its user base faster access to data and insights, these analytics capabilities assist the company’s greater aim of enhancing quality of life and long-term results for patients.
Other benefits they saw in migrating SAP workloads to cloud were:
Simplified IT Landscape: Streamlined CKBH’s IT landscapes, reducing complexity and increasing efficiency.
Improved User Experience: Enhanced the user experience with cloud-based, mobile-enabled SAP applications.
Increased Innovation: provides CKBH with access to the latest SAP technologies and services, enabling them to stay ahead of the curve and drive innovation.
Better Business Insights: provides real-time insights into CKBH operations, enabling organizations to make informed decisions and respond quickly to changing market conditions.
Scalability: allows CKBH to easily scale up or down their SAP environment to meet changing business needs.
Using Amazon Web Services Cloud to host SAP workloads: Impacts:
Migrating to AWS cloud reduced total TCO, increased flexibility and agility, and improved scalability. By avoiding redundancy, durable storage and in-elastic scalable storage, capital expenditures in IT were reduced. CKBH wants to be prepared to pivot, introduce new feature sets, and optimise where necessary as their customers’ needs evolve. The upgrading of its applications and the shift to offering them via a software-as-a-service model are the next stages of CKBH’s digital transformation that AeonX intends to assist with. According to CKBH, its newfound business agility and attempts to make its software more modular are strategic and will help it stand out as it deals with future expansion.
CKBH has experienced 40% year-over-year growth and a 17% expense reduction since moving to AWS.
Since CKBH adopted SAP on AWS, there have been noticeable enhancements in productivity as a result of the seamless integration of multiple systems. This is achieved through constant automatic monitoring and real-time access to transactional data.
Along with their SAP Workloads, we have also hosted their SAP DR and HA on AWS. By hosting SAP disaster recovery (DR) and high availability (HA) on Amazon Web Services (AWS), CKBH can experience several benefits, such as:
Improved reliability: SAP DR and HA on AWS provide enhanced disaster recovery capabilities and minimize downtime in case of an outage.
Scalability: The elasticity of the AWS cloud makes it possible to scale SAP DR and HA resources up or down depending on business needs.
Cost savings: By leveraging AWS’s pay-as-you-go model, organizations can reduce the upfront costs associated with deploying and maintaining an on-premise SAP DR and HA solution.
Enhanced security: AWS provides robust security controls and compliance certifications to help protect sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance.
AWS provides a highly available and scalable infrastructure, reducing the effort required to maintain and upgrade the SAP DR and HA environment.
Overall, hosting SAP DR and HA on AWS can help organizations improve the availability, security, and cost-effectiveness of their SAP systems.
SAP DR Architecture:
SAP HA Architecture:
Automation reduced the occurrence of manual tasks, increases efficiency, and provides a consistent and dependable experience for enterprises when working with SAP systems. To effectively manage SAP workloads in the cloud, AeonX provided a tried and tested solution that is secure, quick, and cost-effective, with minimal risk and maximum dependability.
With its first manufacturing unit established in 1972, Konark Group have multiple business verticals and is one of India’s leading manufacturers of LED and Solar Lighting and Herbal Extracts.
As a leading manufacturer with multiple units located across various states in India, Konark Group understands the importance of leveraging advanced technologies to streamline operations and improve efficiency. That’s why the group has decided to implement SAP on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform.
In this blog post, we will outline the scope of work for Konark Group’s SAP on AWS implementation, as well as the key benefits and considerations for adopting this solution.
Scope of Work –
The scope of work for Konark Group’s SAP on AWS implementation includes a range of tasks to ensure the smooth and effective deployment of the SAP solution on the cloud. These tasks include setting up the necessary AWS accounts and providing access to Konark Group’s teams, configuring the SAP landscape including development, test, and production environments, and conducting quarterly reviews to assess the performance of the solution.
To assist Konark Group in tracking and optimizing its SAP and AWS infrastructure, the implementation team also assisted with security audits to ensure compliance with industry standards. The team also assisted with any issues that arose during the billing cycle and provided recommendations for optimizing the SAP and AWS infrastructure. Finally, budgets were created and attached to notifications to help Konark Group monitor its AWS costs and identify any potential areas for optimization.
Security
Ensuring the security of Konark Group’s SAP on AWS landscape was a top priority. To this end, the implementation team took the following measures:
Disabled Inactive Users: Any inactive users are disabled to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
MFA Defined and Implemented: Multi Factor authentication (MFA) is defined and implemented to provide an additional layer of security for user access.
Security Group Reviewed: The security group reviewed to ensure that it was configured correctly and in line with best practices.
IAM Reviewed: The Identity and Access Management (IAM) system reviewed to ensure that it was properly configured and secure.
Cost Review
To help Konark Group optimize its costs on AWS, the implementation team took the following actions:
Tagging Completed for Various Endpoints: Tagging is completed for various endpoints, such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances, to help Konark Group track and optimize its costs.
Invalid AMI Removed: Any invalid Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) are removed to avoid unnecessary costs.
Unattached EBS Volumes Removed: Unattached Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes are removed to avoid unnecessary costs.
Cost Saving due to seamless migration
AeonX’s Proof of Concept (POC) for Konark Group was a resounding success! Not only did it give the organization the confidence to migrate their SAP workloads to the AWS Cloud, but the actual migration was completed in just 4 hours. And to ensure everything was running smoothly, AeonX dedicated an additional 3 hours to performance testing.
But that’s not all – the entire process, from the POC to the final migration, took a total of 60 days to complete. And the benefits have been enormous. The migration has saved Konark Group a whopping 20% on hardware replacement costs, like server racks and storage. These replacements used to take up to a month to procure and install, and required 8 hours of maintenance every month. Now, thanks to AeonX’s expertise and efficiency, Konark Group is enjoying significant cost savings and reduced downtime.
Here are some benefits gained by Konark by using SAP on Cloud:
Some Benefits of RISE with SAP are:
Simplification: Simplified IT landscapes by consolidating and harmonizing multiple SAP solutions into a single, unified platform.
Innovation: Enabled Konark to adopt new SAP solutions that incorporate the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things.
Improved user experience: Simplified and intuitive user experience, making it easier for employees to adopt and use new SAP solutions.
Future-proofing: Helped Konark to prepare for the future by enabling them to adopt new technologies and trends, such as digital transformation.
Business acceleration: Accelerated their digital transformation journey, enabling them to quickly and effectively adopt new solutions and technologies to drive business growth and competitiveness.
Gaining a competitive edge through digital transformation
Konark Group has redirected these operational and time savings towards other areas of digital innovation. For example, the organization is currently experimenting with Internet of Things technologies to predict hardware failures and facilitate maintenance.
With SAP and AWS services in place, Konark Group has gained a lot of automation, including automatic hardware recovery, and automatic starting and stopping of servers using AWS Lambda functions. As a consequence, the IT team is developing analytical capabilities that take advantage of the data that the company now has at its fingertips. In addition, utilizing online tutorials to enhance their knowledge of SAP and AWS, they are also striving to broaden their comprehension of the complete scope of features offered by SAP workloads that are hosted on the AWS cloud.
Not only that, in order to completely future proof their business, Konark also hosted their SAP DR and HA on AWS cloud.
The benefits gained by Konark of SAP Disaster Recovery (DR) and High Availability (HA) on the cloud are:
Increased reliability: Cloud-based DR and HA solutions ensures that their SAP systems are protected against outages and data loss, providing a highly available and resilient environment for critical business operations.
Improved disaster recovery times: Cloud-based DR solutions are quickly activated in the event of a disaster, reducing downtime and ensuring Konark’s business continuity.
Flexibility: Offered greater flexibility and scalability, enabling Konark to adjust their DR and HA strategies as their needs change over time.
Reduced costs: reduced costs compared to traditional on-premise solutions, as they eliminated the need for costly hardware, software, and maintenance expenses.
Enhanced security: provided robust security and data protection, ensuring that Konark’s sensitive information is kept safe and secure.
Ease of use: Hosting SAP workloads on cloud made it easier for Konark to adopt and implement DR and HA solutions, as the cloud provider manages the underlying infrastructure, freeing up IT resources for other projects.
SAP DR and HA Architecture:
In conclusion, the implementation of SAP workloads on AWS has proven to be a successful solution for Konark who were looking to modernize their IT infrastructure and improve their overall business operations. The cloud-based deployment of SAP provided them with scalability, reliability, and security benefits, while also reducing costs associated with on-premises systems. By leveraging the power of hosting SAP workloads on AWS, Konark can now efficiently run their critical business processes, access real-time data, and make informed decisions that drive growth and innovation.
With a history spanning more than 60 years, Ashapura is a top provider of multi-mineral solutions with a global presence, operating throughout a vast network of states in India and in seven other nations. Ashapura is a preferred supplier to multinational corporations in more than 70 countries on four continents due to its consistent quality and capacity to customize mineral solutions. However, their methods of operation were not efficient, putting their growth prospects at risk.
Business Challenges
All types of data in the business were maintained using Excel, including data pertaining to manufacturing, logistics, and maintenance. Upon examining the mining activities in different regions of Guinea, it was readily apparent that they were completely dependent on the information provided in Excel. Consequently, disparate data sets were generated, inaccurate records were kept, and control and profitability analysis were flawed.
Their multi-country structure required the management of numerous accounting systems, different currencies, and currency consolidation,which they could not accomplish with their current setup. The company reached a point in its expansion where its legacy systems could not provide the visibility it needed to effectively manage its operations.
Furthermore, Ashapura operates out of Guinea, where French is the official language. A majority of the client’s personnel only speak French. They do not speak English. In addition, a significant number of shipments are moved to a port for sales, where the skilled crew is unavailable due to the port’s remote location. For clients, this stage is an important part of the process since they are receiving actual weight details on their materials.
Business solutions achieved through AeonX
Ashapura sought the help of AeonX after evaluating all the available options. AeonX helped to redesign its business completely and include its fundamental tools and procedures as well. AeonX recommended SAP S/4HANA 1909 for a mining and manufacturing operation, too simplify the processing of sales papers in sales and distribution. This new feature boosts the efficiency of the sales process by building a funnel for requests for credit memos, sales quotations, and orders.
Finance & Controlling (FI/CO) now allows them to accept multiple currencies, including the transaction currency. Using this function, reports can be taken in multiple currencies as required.
Further, AeonX proposed the SAP GUI language pack for French support to overcome the language barrier and kept all configuration and master data in both English and French. AeonX suggested utilizing the work centre to identify the performance and productivity of owned or hired resources.
There is now a system in place for tracking activities in the work centre to identify the machines own or contractual and also created storage locations for vendors so that the quantity of inventory can be determined.
A Standard Operating Procedure was created to maintain track of vendor invoices where everything depends on approximation. To record weight in SAP, the weighbridge integration was completed.In order to reduce entry errors and attempts due to a lack of skilled staff, RFID sensors and AI technology are used.
Vehicles are now fitted with RFID tags that are used as unique identifiers while doing transactions. The system automatically captures all the information by scanning an RFID tag when the vehicle arrives at the specified spot for loading or unloading material.
In order to store the information, the system additionally records the vehicle’s weight and creates a gate pass entry in SAP. By taking into account the information that was gathered, the system will automatically post SAP standard transactions in the background when the journey is over.
Value Delivered
By collaborating with a team of knowledgeable consultants with multiple modules of experience, the AeonX team was able to deliver a high-quality implementation in a short amount of time. Because of the extensive interconnection, it’s crucial to have SAP consultants who are aware of both their individual modules and how they work together with other SAP modules.
Within two weeks of going live, the client teams established a new routine in their business procedures and experienced minimal downtime. AeonX’s role quickly changed from implementation to assistance. Following a successful implementation, AeonX was chosen to provide SAP system support for the next three years.
Through our 7 years of expertise, we ensure businesses continue to outperform while technology changes, allowing them to focus on their core competencies.
In one of our recent projects, we worked with a major global provider of multi-mineral solutions with operations around the globe. Their IT infrastructure analysis showed significant inconsistencies and several issues with their SAP deployment.
To complete the life cycle management of IT applications and create a 360-degree model for daily operations, we advised implementing SAP AMS. This enhanced the efficiency of their departments and enabled them to adapt to the needs of their clients while at the same time concentrating on their business procedures.
