Planning to have migrated one of its critical SAP systems within 6 months.
Offers custom machines with corresponding support types
Meets all custom requirements for ABB’s Backup Standard and disaster recovery
Ensures business continuity through high availability with automatic failover in multi-zones and up to 99.99% SLA
Proactively derisks operations
ABB Electrification is migrating one of its business-critical SAP systems to Google Cloud and it is now running with high availability with no impact on time delivery to customers.
ABB Electrification is migrating one of its business-critical SAP systems to Google Cloud and it is now running with high availability with no impact on time delivery to customers.
Many of the world’s largest enterprises run their businesses on SAP and are increasingly looking to the cloud to support their mission-critical workloads. ABB Electrification is one of them. Part of the ABB Group, ABB Electrification aims to electrify the world in a safe, smart, and sustainable way by being a global technology leader in electrical distribution and management. With its range of products, solutions and digital technologies, the company collaborates with customers and partners to enable energy efficiency and power a sustainable future for society.
ABB Electrification employs one of the largest SAP systems across the entire business in the US and it’s used by the company’s factories and warehousing systems. It’s a key revenue-generating system that's critical to ABB Electrification’s business operations. ABB Electrification’s original private cloud provider had been acquired by another company and could no longer legally provide its services. So ABB Electrification had no choice but to change its cloud platform.
The company wanted to balance workloads across different hyperscalers for strategic openness. So it turned to Google Cloud and its Cloud Acceleration Program. This program empowers Google Cloud customers with solutions from Google Cloud and its partners to simplify their cloud migrations, whether it’s shifting SAP workloads from on-premises to Google Cloud or extending SAP solutions with Google Cloud or other leading third-party technologies.
Choosing a cloud provider for the future
There were several key reasons why ABB Electrification made the shift to Google Cloud. These included scalability, security, and compliance, which were all part of their requirements. However, the company also had a more pressing concern: it needed to switch cloud providers on an accelerated timeline due to ABB Electrification’s original provider being acquired. In other words, the company needed to move fast.
“Scalability was really important, and security and compliance were critical elements for us moving forward. These were clearly some of the areas where we needed to make some big advancements,” says Hal Yarbrough, Information Technology, Global Infrastructure Manager, ABB Electrification. “And we wanted a partner who could move quickly and support us on this accelerated timeline.”
Scalability was really important, and security and compliance were critical elements for us moving forward. These were clearly some of the areas where we needed to make some big advancements. And we wanted a partner who could move quickly and support us on this accelerated timeline.
Hal Yarbrough
Information Technology, Global Infrastructure Manager, ABB Electrification
After a data-driven RFP process, SAP on Google Cloud was selected since it offered the company what it needed to evolve one of its critical systems. ABB Electrification now had an innovative deal structured to fulfill all of its commercial requirements, close alignment with procurement, and meet the company’s group standards for disaster recovery and high availability. The implementation also helped ABB Electrification to proactively de-risk operations through joint review of the target SAP architecture, addressing and resolving potential roadblocks as soon as they arose.
What set Google Cloud apart was how incredible they were in supporting us. They've been there at all hours of the day and night, which is very much appreciated. Being incredibly customer-focused and being able to support us provides a strong trust that you knew this timeline could be met.
Hal Yarbrough
Information Technology, Global Infrastructure Manager, ABB Electrification
Beyond the data, the personal support that the company got from Google Cloud was another key factor in making the move. The Cloud Acceleration Program provided ABB Electrification with new architecture templates, accelerators, and SAP-focused support, in addition to partner-led assessment services, prototyping, and centers of excellence dedicated to SAP on Google Cloud.
“What set Google Cloud apart was how incredible the team was in supporting us. They have been there at all hours of the day and night, which is very much appreciated,” says Yarbrough. “Being incredibly customer-focused and being able to support us provides a strong trust and so we knew this timeline could be met. The migration has gone at a very fast pace and some things have been ramped up in order to be able to do that. And I think it’s excellent that we’re able to do some of those things so quickly. This has allowed the plan to stay on track,” says Yarbrough.
Working towards a more effective cloud experience
The company can access its data, including SAP, non-SAP, structured, and unstructured data, at petabyte scale, simply and in real time. It can also instantly access its data, with full data context and no data duplication, and unlock data silos with flexible architectural components and bidirectional data integration.
As a result, ABB Electrification is expecting to see a cost improvement, better system reliability and uptime, and is ready for the future. “The system should run smoothly with the high availability required from business-critical systems, and there should be no impact on time delivery to the customer. And that’s absolutely critical,” says Yarbrough.
The system should run smoothly with the high availability required from business-critical systems, and there should be no impact on time delivery to the customer. And that’s absolutely critical.
Hal Yarbrough
Information Technology, Global Infrastructure Manager, ABB Electrification
ABB Electrification is a global technology leader making efficient and reliable use of electricity from source to socket possible. With more than 50,000 employees across 100 countries, they help businesses, industry and consumers run their facilities and homes. As the energy transition accelerates, they are electrifying the world in a safe, smart and sustainable way.
Industry: Manufacturing
Location: Switzerland, United States
Products: SAP on Google Cloud, Google Cloud
