Elly Yates-Roberts |
URC Vietnam – part of Universal Robina Corporation – is using Microsoft Azure to improve its security posture and deliver better food and beverage services to its customers.
The organisation wanted to enhance the safety of its partner and customer data by moving its virtual wide-area network (VWAN) and distributor management system (DMS) to the Microsoft Azure cloud and implementing a zero-trust architecture for its security operations centre.
“Every five years we update our systems, but we decided to do more this time,” said Hoang Tuan Quynh, IT director at URC Vietnam. “As we have worked with Microsoft for a while now, we trust its technologies. We asked them for help in introducing zero-trust architecture into our system.”
URC Vietnam worked with Microsoft partners DMSPro, which applies cloud computing technology to sales and DMSs, and VWAN expert NTT Global to implement a solution that would fit its needs.
Since URC Vietnam is also responsible for URC Indochina (which includes Laos and Cambodia), the project first needed to transfer the on-premises WAN to VWAN through a virtual private network, to connect resources from all locations, including all offices and people working from home.
“All our components needed to talk to each other and share data,” said Karen Salgado, chief information officer at URC Group. “A fundamental building block of digital transformation is ensuring that transactions are secure. Our customers need to be able to navigate in a safe and secure environment.”
After this, URC moved its DMS to the Azure Data Centre in Singapore, which improved speed, performance and responsiveness. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and global lockdowns, the whole project was completed within six months.
"Our aim wasn’t cost savings,” said Quynh. “We intended to use the same amount of money but gain more value. With Azure, everything moves faster and smoother and is more secure, so what we’re really saving is time.”
Moving forward, URC Vietnam plans to continue using the Microsoft cloud platform for innovation. “Next is human capital management, followed by the warehouse system. We, at URC Vietnam, are very forward-thinking in terms of digital innovation and, with help from our very supportive management team, we will continue on this journey.”