Standardised shipping containers and tracking systems have revolutionised the way companies transport goods. Ocean Network Express (ONE), an innovator and leader in container shipping, embarked on its own transformation voyage using digital technologies, public cloud and integrated data platforms.
Unified digital platform for a newborn shipping leader
One of the world’s largest container shipping companies, Singapore-based ONE was formed by the merger of three Japanese shipping companies, K-Line, MOL and NYK. Its fleet is the sixth largest in the world with more than 210 vessels, and its service network covers over 120 countries.
DXC Technology has supported ONE’s technology needs since 2018 — when it implemented SAP across accounting offices in 48 countries in time for the go-live of the new company — and has continued to provide managed services to run the system.
Handling transactions with 14,000 customers across 63 countries daily, ONE’s SAP system is integrated with the company’s container terminal operation system, Opus, for management of revenues and payments.
“We wanted to standardise HR processes with one system for everything from recruiting and onboarding to performance management, compensation, learning and development, and succession planning. This is a key initiative for us, as our people are one of our company’s biggest assets.”
Alan Sze,
Deputy general manager of Business Processes and IT, ONE
Integrating SAP workloads on Google Cloud
In 2020, ONE turned to DXC to integrate its SAP workloads and migrate them to Google Cloud. The company had two SAP instances: one for its global headquarters and one for the regional accounting that was hosted locally in each country on a legacy cloud platform.
However, the local accounting system did not easily integrate with the on-premises S/4HANA system in the global headquarters to provide a unified, real-time view of financial data across the company. At the same time, ONE was looking to increase operational efficiency and scalability by moving to public cloud.
Becoming a data-driven enterprise
The migration of the SAP systems to Google Cloud was part of a larger companywide modernisation effort.
“We wanted to move our mission-critical applications to a cloud platform to increase operational efficiency, scale up and down easily for changing market demands, and support our goal of becoming a data-driven enterprise,” says Alan Sze, deputy general manager of Business Processes and IT at ONE.
Google Cloud was a natural choice because ONE had already standardised on Google’s G-Suite for office productivity applications.
“We needed a partner to help us implement SAP for Google Cloud in a way that would meet our goals,” Sze says. “DXC was able to make the business case for cost savings we could achieve with the migration, as well as advise us on the appropriate setup infrastructure, server capacities, migration plans and other details.”
Value delivered
Sze adds that another major advantage of running SAP on Google Cloud is the business continuity of a highly robust platform, with 99.99% availability and failover between sites to keep accounting tasks running even if a disaster occurs. In the background, DXC’s managed services for Google Cloud provide daily operational support by managing system software, infrastructure configurations and service consumption.
With all of its key systems united on Google Cloud, ONE gains integrated data for better analysis and reporting, allowing for speedier, better-informed business decisions based on more complete, up-to-date information.
To this end, DXC is collaborating with a third-party vendor, which is helping ONE modernise legacy data environments and create a data lake based on Google’s BigQuery cloud-based data warehouse. The companies are collaborating to plug in SAP financial data as well as operational data from the Opus system, so ONE can more readily identify data patterns such as emerging market demands or which customers are more likely to pay on time — thus helping ensure that cargo will be released faster from ports.
“We needed a partner to help us implement SAP for Google Cloud in a way that would meet our goals. DXC was able to make the business case for cost savings we could achieve with the migration, as well as advise us on the appropriate setup infrastructure, server capacities, migration plans and other details.”
Alan Sze Deputy general manager of Business Processes and IT, ONE
Rapid migration to cloud
DXC guided ONE through the migration of SAP workloads to Google Cloud, from planning to testing to production, with zero downtime.
The migration took only 12 weeks from creating the development environment to final production. Rather than a “big bang” approach, DXC undertook the project in two phases, first moving the global headquarters’ SAP system from on premises to cloud, then using the lessons learned in that phase to efficiently migrate local SAP accounting systems.
Standardising HR processes
A major goal of ONE’s digital strategy is to transform its human resources processes to improve the employee experience, enable employee self-service, enhance performance and create unified, end-to-end process management.
As DXC is supporting the company’s SuccessFactors HR software, ONE engaged DXC to implement additional modules of SuccessFactors for integrated management of all HR functions. DXC is helping ONE implement better processes for compensation, performance management and goal setting to help employees feel connected, supported and empowered — no matter where they’re based.
“We wanted to standardise HR processes with one system used by everyone in the organisation globally for everything from recruiting and onboarding to performance management, compensation, learning and development, and succession planning,” Sze says. “This is a key initiative for us, as our people are one of our company’s biggest assets.”
Modernising with S/4HANA
DXC is also helping ONE upgrade by moving all of its SAP instances to the latest version of S/4HANA. The company is also considering moving additional functions to SAP, as well as strengthening its risk management and fraud prevention programs.
Whenever ONE introduces new environments or platforms, DXC ensures they are brought on board according to Google Cloud’s defined security framework and guidelines, and they are monitored appropriately on both the application and infrastructure layers — an easier task with the systems integrated on one platform.
“Being a large global service provider, DXC can put resources in place to support us locally where we need it.”
Alan Sze Deputy general manager of Business Processes and IT, ONE
A global partnership
“DXC has become a trusted partner due to their ability to accommodate the needs of our global business and their commitment to resolving any issues that may occur,” Sze says. “From ensuring we could make our Day 1 go-live deadline when ONE was founded to bringing a new subsidiary in North America on board in a matter of 1 to 2 months, they have always found a way to accomplish our goals.”
“Being a large global service provider, DXC can put resources in place to support us locally where we need it, and they also have a good understanding of things like local regulatory requirements and tax laws,” he adds. “DXC is well positioned to help us coordinate with our other partners, with whom they often have existing relationships, or to bring in new partners to help meet our objectives.”