Non-Stop Availability & Improved Data Quality 

Serving high-profile companies across industries, Pega needs to maintain smooth operations at all times. This includes getting the best performance from its SAP applications including SAP HANA, which is deployed for data warehousing and integrated with SAP ERP Central Component (ECC).

Until recently, the business ran its SAP suite in a traditional third-party private cloud model. As the business grew and adapted to changing requirements, this configuration struggled to adapt. Adding capacity resulted in downtime that risked compromising the availability of business data important to running the business and responding to client inquiries.

“We don’t want to be tied down to lengthy failovers or server builds. We just want to be able to extend and expand capacity when required. Those were the main driving factors behind the decision to move our SAP implementation to the cloud,” says David Vidoni, Vice President of Information Technology at Pega.

David and his team considered several public cloud providers with a particular focus on architecture, flexibility, and operating costs before settling on Google Cloud. “SAP on Google Cloud is a repeatable and proven architecture. We were confident that we would be in good hands and have a smooth transition,” says David.

The choice of a migration and managed services partner was also critical. Pega opted for Protera, an SAP on Google Cloud Specialization partner.

The migration of about 30 servers was achieved in only nine weeks. “The migration was fast and furious, but in a controlled way with very few surprises,” says David. “Everything was done on time. Protera was completely transparent every step of the way and was a great partner throughout.”

Protera helped Pega manage changeover, testing, and integration of business data hosted on HANA with the applications that consume it. Protera's role as a partner in the Cloud Acceleration Program (CAP) for SAP, which provides tools that reduce the complexity of migrating SAP to Google Cloud, also played a role in Pega’s decision to work with Protera.

CAP for SAP provides up-front financial incentives to defray infrastructure costs for cloud migration and assistance so duplicate costs are not incurred during migration, enabling Pega to better manage the overall costs of the project.

Since migrating SAP to Google Cloud, Pega has undertaken a major data transformation, standardizing all the feeds coming in from its enterprise systems, combining them in SAP HANA, and exposing them through standard reporting tools and business applications.

This enables Pega to better deliver personalized services. “Data is our lifeblood,” says David. “We are making it easier for stakeholders to find what they're looking for and get actionable insights they can act on.”

Pega has also seen a significant improvement in uptime and scalability. “Google Cloud enables us to provide a higher level of service by minimizing downtime and outages. As we grow, adding capacity to meet our needs is a lot simpler.”

Working with Google Cloud and Protera reduces the overall strain on Pega’s IT resources. “It allows us to make process improvements with our financial processes and not spend as much time on day-to-day operational activities, compliance, or disaster recovery. We have confidence that these are covered by Managecore.”