Global Network Transformation for Food and Beverage

Transforming global network operations for a leading food and beverage company

Network consulting and automation-driven transformation enhances agility, efficiency and operational visibility

5 min Lesen

Overview

Our customer is a prominent American multinational food and beverage corporation, operating in over 150 countries and boasting a workforce of approximately 80,000 employees. It has a multi-vendor and distributed network infrastructure spanning across approximately 100 countries. As part of its global network operations, it has been managing more 350+ sites, ~3,500 switches and 10,000 access points (APs). To address operational complexity, improve visibility and drive greater efficiency, the client partnered with HCLTech to modernize its network operations through consulting, automation and standardization initiatives.

The Challenge

Legacy network operations creating complexity, inefficiencies and limited visibility

Our client’s primary challenge was its legacy and cost-intensive network management which relied heavily on manual processes to manage a sprawling, multi-vendor network infrastructure across global locations. This created operational complexity, limited agility and impacted overall network performance. Additionally, the client faced complexities in integrating multiple service providers, making it difficult to maintain seamless connectivity and consistent operations across diverse markets. Managing business-critical network infrastructure that demanded low latency, high throughput and round-the-clock availability further added to the operational burden. Additionally, despite investing in market-leading tools, the in-house IT team struggled to derive actionable insights for decision-making. Lastly, managing the network infrastructure with different vendors and operations models resulted in complexity and resource inefficiency.

The Objective

Simplify network operations through automation, standardization and vendor consolidation

Through partnership with us, the client wanted to address the legacy challenges and embrace innovative solutions including automation, standardization and vendor consolidation. The customer wanted significant efficiency gains, reduced costs and enhanced security posture, positioning them for continued success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

The Solution

Consulting-led transformation with automation, standardization and security modernization

We delivered a comprehensive network consulting and transformation program focused on simplifying operations and improving network performance.

Technology advisory and demonstrations: Our consultants offered technology demonstrations to our client, showcasing the latest advancements in the market and illustrating how these innovations can be seamlessly integrated into their infrastructure.
Network standardization: Standardized the network design, technologies and operations model to streamline operations globally.
Automated switching management: Implemented a peer-to-peer switching management solution for automated patching, reducing bandwidth utilization and downtime.
Proprietary management platforms: Developed HCLTech Network Factory and Customer Network Portal for simplified configuration and comprehensive network management.
Infrastructure consolidation: Consolidated non-standardized switching and wireless infrastructure to a Cisco-only environment for uniformity and efficiency.
Security transformation: Facilitated migration from on-prem firewalls to Zscaler ecosystem and WAF firewalls for enhanced security across manned sites and cloud applications.
Automation and orchestration: Implemented network automation and orchestration solutions to enhance agility and performance, enabling frequent network audits and lifecycle automation.

The Impact

Improved operational efficiency, visibility and network agility

Our services transformed our client’s business operations leading to several positive impacts:

The demonstrations, enabled the client to gain valuable insights into the functionalities and benefits of advanced technologies, empowering them to reduce risk, enhance capabilities and stay ahead of the curve while minimizing vulnerabilities.
Standalone tools reduced man-hours per switch from 6-8 hours to just 10-15 minutes, eliminating human errors.
Device upgradation timelines reduced from 18 months to 2 months with state-of-the-art solutions.
Also, the Customer Network Portal offers customized dashboards, infra-auditing capabilities and centralized data correlation, enhancing operational efficiency.