Case Study: Migrating & Running SAP on Azure with Frank Roberts & Sons

Frank Roberts & Sons was looking to realise cost-savings and replace an aged hardware platform by migrating SAP to the cloud, whilst also unlocking other business benefits. 

The Challenge

Inflexible, outdated, on premises SAP systems can not only hinder business growth, cost more time and money to run, but also pose security risks. Having recognised that, the family-run baker, Frank Roberts & Sons embarked on a journey in early 2020 to find a provider who would work with them on a scalable, agile and reliable solution. Following an introduction to Absoft, Frank Roberts’ then IT & Projects Director, Stephen Whitehouse, was immediately struck by the pragmatic and down-to-earth approach of the team. 

Upon engagement with Absoft, Frank Roberts rightly anticipated that the SAP specialist would offer a collaborative partnership and consider their business interests at all times. With integrity, respect and quality playing a vital part of everything they do, Frank Robert recognised similar traits within the Absoft culture. 

Unlike the other offers they had received, Absoft’s SAP on Azure migration approach gave specific consideration to their SAP landscape’s technical details and functional requirements. Absoft’s team highlighted a focus on interfaces and SAP-specific design elements of the solution and project plan, in order to de-risk it.

The Solution

Absoft proposed a technical migration of Frank Roberts’ SAP system to the cloud on Microsoft Azure, followed by a three-year technical managed service to run and support the SAP on Azure solution. Working closely with Frank Roberts’ team of IT specialists, Absoft migrated the SAP ERP 6.0 landscape to a fully supported Azure infrastructure in just two months, with minimum disruption to operations. 

Absoft team’s combined expertise in SAP and Microsoft Azure enabled the creation of an Azure design that was optimal in cost and performance. The project plan considered operational requirements and, most critically, included a strategy for all interfaces and SAP functionality. Viewed by Frank Roberts as a partner at a very early stage, and working on a highly collaborative basis, Absoft has been able to discuss topics such analytics and archiving in tandem with the migration. 

The close, focused working relationship between the two companies yielded positive results in resolution of interface issues, and when it came to the challenge of additional system integration, issues were addressed swiftly and led to a successful go-live. 

“Listening to Absoft’s webinar was a lightbulb moment for us. Further discussion confirmed that in addition to their technical skills, the team really understood our concerns and our pain points as we made the decision to move our SAP system to the cloud,” said Stephen Whitehouse, IT & Projects Director, Frank Roberts & Sons*

The Leap into Innovation

For many SAP customers the main reason to migrate to the cloud is necessity – reaching the limits of scale, age or cost of an existing on-premises landscape. The desire to access the latest innovations in Azure usually comes second. Experimentation and success through innovation, however, has always been fundamental to Frank Roberts & Sons as a company. 

Therefore, just as a standard off-the-shelf migration would not have done it for them, they also opted in for the best ongoing support – through Absoft’s next generation managed service. Aligned with Frank Roberts’ specific processes and with a focus on automated monitoring and self-healing features, the subsequent technical managed service has seen Absoft continue its partner-based relationship with the Frank Roberts team. 

Automation has always been at the core of Absoft’s delivery, and recently it took its commitment to this ethos a step further, partnering with Avantra, the leading AIOps platform for SAP operations automation. 

Absoft has used complete SAP landscape visibility via Avantra to implement automation and self-healing capabilities to improve efficiency, introduce transparency and shed outdated processes within Frank Roberts’ SAP system. This has facilitated an emphasis not only upon the smooth day-to-day running of operations but also the development of the bakery expert’s IT strategy. 

“We are a family-owned business and Absoft has proved itself to be more than a technology provider. They are a trusted partner, with whom we can communicate openly and who we know always has our company’s business interests at heart.”  IT & Projects Director, Frank Roberts & Sons