Overview
Managing large-scale operations across refining, marketing and transportation requires a flexible and scalable IT foundation. Our client, a leading American petroleum company, faced challenges with outdated systems that hindered growth. These legacy systems led to inefficiencies, increased costs and limited scalability. Their existing IT infrastructure was slow, fragmented and unable to meet the growing demands of the business. To address these issues, the company set a bold goal: retire legacy data centers, move to the cloud with Azure and modernize their applications to improve performance, reduce costs and increase reliability.
The Challenge
Modernize to the Cloud: Simplify, retire, conquer
Due to decades of mergers and acquisitions, the company’s IT systems had become increasingly complex, with outdated technology and high technical debt. The existing infrastructure posed several challenges:
- Operational inefficiencies: The integration of multiple legacy systems created bottlenecks, resulting in frequent downtimes and slower processes
- Aging technology: Over 50% of the company’s operating systems and 40% of its databases were approaching their end-of-life (EOSL), leading to security risks and limited vendor support
- Hardcoded dependencies: Many critical applications relied on static IPs and URLs, making migration to modern systems difficult
- Decision-making limitations: Business-critical models were taking up to three months to build due to infrastructure limitations. The existing systems were slowing down decision-making and lacked operational visibility, making it challenging to efficiently track resources across the company’s supply chain.
The Solution
An agile, scalable and on-demand cloud environment
HCLTech worked closely with the client to design and implement a comprehensive cloud migration strategy. Our CloudSMART framework provided an industrialized approach to cloud migration, ensuring a seamless transition and automation of the process. Key actions included:
- End-to-end cloud transition: We managed the entire cloud migration journey, from setting up the cloud environment to post-migration support
- Real-time monitoring with Power BI: We developed customized Power BI dashboards that enabled real-time insights and monitoring on migration progress and enhanced operational visibility
- Optimized workload migration: Over 500 applications and 3,400+ servers across eight business units were assessed using our HCLTech Fenix framework, which enabled us to identify which applications to retire and which to modernize
- Synchronized migration of critical applications: We modernized key applications, ensuring a smooth transition to the cloud while avoiding latency issues that impacted business operations
The Impact
Scalable IT infrastructure and flexibility to meet future demands
The successful cloud migration had a transformative impact on the company’s operations. With Azure’s scalable and cost-efficient infrastructure in place, the company achieved:
- Scalable and cost-efficient IT infrastructure: Cloud services like Azure App Services and serverless computing allowed for on-demand deployment, streamlining operations and reducing costs
- Agile infrastructure: Automation tools like Infrastructure-as-Code (IAC) accelerated the setup of new environments, cutting deployment timelines by over 60%
- Improved uptime and response times: Scalable cloud resources ensured higher system availability, while disaster recovery capabilities reduced the risk of downtime
- Data-driven decision-making: By integrating data from different regions, the company gained a unified view of operations, enabling more proactive decision-making and streamlining its supply chain
In just 14 months, we migrated 216 applications, 898 database servers and 1,410 application servers—65% of which underwent modernization treatments such as re-platforming and refactoring.
Beyond the Numbers
This migration was more than just a technical upgrade; it laid the foundation for long-term business growth. The new cloud infrastructure, powered by Azure, now supports automated workflows and real-time monitoring, improving operational efficiency and resilience. The shift from rigid, on-premises systems to a cloud-native model has enhanced the company’s ability to adapt quickly, make better decisions and innovate.
Celebrating Success
The success of this cloud transformation highlights the power of strategic technology adoption. The partnership with HCLTech has not only optimized operations but also unlocked new opportunities for future innovation.
With a modernized IT infrastructure in place, the company is positioned to continue their journey of digital transformation. Looking ahead, we are exploring further innovations in automation, AI and cloud-native development, ensuring that the company stays ahead of the competition in the rapidly evolving energy sector.
