Omni Logistics Cuts Costs by 35% While Driving Innovation and Scalability Through AWS Migration

Omni Logistics, a global third-party logistics (3PL) provider, wanted to break barriers and create new opportunities for businesses worldwide. However, they encountered significant challenges in enhancing their legacy applications' agility, performance, scalability, and real-time insights to meet their customers' customized supply chain demands. Maintaining these existing on-premise infrastructures increased operational burden and drained IT budgets. They also faced hurdles of aging equipment in two colocation data centers, migrating and integrating multiple disparate Transportation Management System (TMS) and Warehouse Management System (WMS) applications from recent acquisitions, and leveraging data science for cost optimization.

The pandemic further complicated matters, making engineer availability scarce. To compound these issues, Omni Logistics faced costly colocation space lease extensions and end-of-life equipment, requiring substantial investments. These factors converged, necessitating a strategic solution.

Omni Logistics turned to AWS and BizCloud Experts, an AWS Advanced Partner, to help migrate their critical systems into a central warehouse that would integrate their data and simplify their ability to review, execute, and evaluate that data to support their customers in real time.

Omni Logistics faced several critical challenges that required a comprehensive solution. Further complicating migration logistics, the mass migration of the servers began at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020 and moved into production by mid-2021. International travel was restricted, and lockdowns were in place for their two existing colocation facilities in Singapore and Hong Kong. Alternative methods for eliminating a data center during this time required extraordinary adaptability and determination. Their partnership with BizCloud Experts and strategic migration to AWS was pivotal in addressing these issues effectively.

Prior to the migration, Omni Logistics performed an Optimization and Licensing Assessment (OLA) to determine how they could maximize the value of their licensing. The OLA was a key factor in their decision to migrate to AWS, reducing their Microsoft licensing cost by 30-35%. During the planning phase, BizCloud Experts thoroughly assessed the hardware and software stack for compatibility with AWS services to ensure a smooth transition. Applications were categorized based on dependencies to minimize risks and ensure a systematic and organized migration process. The BizCloud team also helped secure AWS funding programs for Omni Logistics to offset the cost of the migration.

The project involved migrating over 75 servers and 50 applications running Windows workloads to AWS. The migration followed a well-structured plan developed by BizCloud Experts, encompassing all aspects of hardware, software, and the IT landscape, ensuring a seamless transition to AWS. The planned implementation timeline was an ambitious 90 days per colocation data center site, a goal achieved through constant communication and expertise.

In order to facilitate communication during the pandemic, BizCloud Experts implemented a Virtual Contact Center on Amazon Connect to handle escalation and support calls during the migration implementation for the on-site and remote teams. This approach minimized disruptions caused by migration activities and demonstrated the organization's ability to leverage technology creatively in response to the lockdown, allowing BizCloud Experts to work remotely and seamlessly collaborate with minimal on-site assistance.

To migrate Omni Logistics' infrastructure to AWS, BizCloud Experts implemented a "Lift and Shift" strategy using the AWS Application Migration Service to allow for continuous data replication to AWS and ensure minimal downtime during the migration. CloudEndure and Cloudamize helped assess and categorize applications, mitigate risks, ensure data integrity, and optimize networking configurations. Some legacy systems necessitated upgrades or replacements to align with cloud-native standards, and the software stack was also scrutinized, ensuring compatibility with AWS offerings. Additionally, BizCloud Experts reevaluated the networking configurations to optimize performance, scalability, and security in the AWS Cloud environment, including implementing Amazon Virtual Private Clouds (Amazon VPC), subnets, and security groups to align with best practices.

"Through the help of BizCloud Experts, our strategic migration to AWS was nothing short of transformational. By eliminating colocation data centers, seamlessly migrating critical applications, and optimizing costs, we achieved a remarkable 35% reduction in operational expenses,” said Michael Conroy, VP of Infrastructure & Operations, Omni Logistics.

Training the Omni Logistics IT team on AWS-specific services, security best practices, and management tools facilitated a seamless transition. Post-migration, monitoring, and optimization of resources become paramount to helping the company control costs and enhance performance. In all, the migration not only resolved Omni Logistics' immediate challenges but also positioned the company for growth through a cost-effective, scalable, and flexible infrastructure.

The migration to AWS delivered significant benefits to Omni Logistics, impacting various aspects of their operations and technology landscape.

Elimination of Colocation Data Centers: Omni Logistics successfully eliminated two colocation data centers, which previously housed over 75 servers, reducing the operational burden and eliminating the need for significant capital investment in refreshing aging equipment and extending colocation space leases.

Migration of Critical Applications: Over 50 applications running Windows workloads were seamlessly switched to and integrated with AWS, ensuring critical business functions remained operational throughout the migration process.

Cost Optimization/Savings: Omni Logistics experienced a 35% reduction in operational costs post-migration, which was achieved by transitioning to a pay-as-you-go model, eliminating the need for capital investments, and reducing reliance on on-site engineers.

Enhanced Reliability and Scalability: The migration resulted in improved server reliability and scalability, with an impressive 99.9% uptime achieved post-migration. This enhanced infrastructure availability and contributed to the overall business resilience.

Innovation: Beyond the migration, the project facilitated innovation through the enterprise-level data warehouse built on AWS, which empowered innovation through real-time, data-driven decision-making and optimization of their supply chain operations.

“As a partner, we are dedicated to enabling success for the customer in terms of the adoption of cloud services, driving growth while getting deeply integrated/aligned with their business process,” said Rupesh Kothapalli, Partner Solutions Architect (PSA), BizCloud Experts. “The success of our efforts can be seen in the 100% ARR increase of Omni Logistics’ AWS cloud and services adoption over the past two years and their commitment to enter into a three-year Enterprise Agreement with AWS and BizCloud Experts.”

Overall, the partnership between Omni Logistics and BizCloud Experts not only addressed the immediate challenges posed by aging equipment, colocation data centers, and the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also transformed Omni Logistics into a more agile, cost-effective, and innovative organization. The migration to AWS was not just a technical shift but a strategic move that allowed Omni Logistics to thrive in a rapidly evolving industry while reducing technical debt and enhancing overall efficiency.