Case Are: Challenging System Integration Completed in just a Few Weeks

Picture:Sigge Arkkitehdit Oy, Vesa Loikas

Are is Finland's largest building technology company, offers comprehensive building technology contracting and property maintenance services that ensure energy efficiency and comfortable indoor conditions for their clients. Are focuses particularly on intelligent technical maintenance and its self-developed Are Sensus low-energy system. The over 100-year-old Are Group employs approximately 2,800 people and serves customers in 25 locations in Finland, as well as in Russia, St. Petersburg.

Are was planning a challenging interface architecture change, which required special expertise. Integrating the modern production control system needed for business operations with other systems used by the company had proven to be complex when implemented using traditional methods. Are contacted Cloud1 to seek assistance with technology selection and finding the most effective integration solution.

In the Supplier Selection, The Deciding Factors were Agility and Expertise

Cloud1 was a natural choice for implementing the project, as Cloud1 as a business partner helps companies solve challenges of digitalization. Cloud1 specializes in demanding data and integration projects, executed agilely using Microsoft's integration solutions.

In this case, agility was of paramount importance. Are was about to start implementing a new cloud-based service for business needs. However, a suitable integration technology to swiftly transfer information from the cloud service to Are's other systems and back had not yet been selected.

The adoption of the new cloud service required controlled integration of new processes and data flows with the SAP system. If the integration remained incomplete or unstable, the company would not have reaped the full benefits of the new system. Instability in integration and poor management capabilities would also have posed a significant business risk and hindered process transparency.

The Suitability of the Solution for Practical use was Swiftly Tested in a Workshop

The search for a solution began with workshop activities. Are was introduced to Azure's Logic Apps, OMS, and Power BI monitoring solutions. During the workshop, the solution's suitability for practical implementation was confirmed by building a light connection with the new cloud service.

Several criteria were predetermined for the solution model to be selected. Key decision criteria included:

• Costs based on actual usage
• Scalability of the solution
• Server independence of the solution
• The selected tool had to offer a good user experience for both light and more challenging integrations
• Freedom to develop their own integration platform, with the company retaining full ownership rights

Support from Microsoft's Resources

Cloud1 is a Microsoft partner, and the pilot project also received support from Microsoft's FastTrack team. FastTrack for Azure works hand in hand with partners and helps customers build Azure solutions quickly and reliably. It also provides direct assistance to Azure experts.

In addition to technological expertise, Are emphasized the ability to act swiftly and agilely in the supplier selection, as well as the ability to assist and advise on other issues related to Azure and the overall architecture. Agility was indeed present in the project: the entire new cloud service integration was able to be taken from the first customer contact to production in just a few weeks.

“In our customer discussions, the most common theme is the business need for IT speed and agility in an increasingly fast-paced market. The timeline of this project is a good example of what a skilled partner and Azure's PaaS solutions can bring to this need,” outlines Microsoft’s Business Solutions Manager Perttu Ojala.

 

How was it Done?

From Cloud1, architects Markku Hartikainen and Otso Lonka were involved in the project.

A good starting point for the project was a shared understanding of its objectives. This was followed by workshop activities, where both definition challenges as well as testing and iteration rounds were addressed. Thanks to the agile working model, the time spent on the planning phase was significantly reduced.

”Particularly interesting in the project, was that it involved a relatively complex hybrid solution. In the implementation, both on-premises and cloud-based systems needed to be integrated to communicate seamlessly with each other,” Cloud1’s IT architect explains.

The solution that was arrived at is implemented entirely on a serverless model. The cost benefits of this implementation method for the customer are clear: there are no fixed costs associated with the model, and billing is based on usage.

At the architectural level, the simplified solution looks like this: