A smooth way to make business even smoother
The Picanol Group made the right decision! By outsourcing its mainframe environment to Volvo IT, it has not simply maintained its focus on its core business. It has also made its business more profitable.
Picanol Group
The Picanol Group is located in Ypres (Belgium). It produces and develops high-tech weaving machines. It also produces parts and accessories for the textile and other industries. Worldwide, it has a headcount of 2,430 people and is located in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Why outsourcing?
There were several reasons why Picanol outsourced its mainframe environment. To start with, the present mainframe was becoming outdated. In addition, there was a lack of skill and expertise
internally. And, finally, the company had to reduce its costs.
Why did Picanol choose Volvo IT?
There were three main reasons why Picanol chose Volvo IT. Firstly, the relationship was open, professional and transparent from the start. Secondly, Volvo IT had in-depth experience of demanding industrial environments. And, thirdly, it was the most cost-effective company compared with other providers.
The mainframe project
The letter of intent was signed on 15 April 2006, followed by the contract on 30 May. The target was very clear: the successful migration of a complete production environment had to be implemented within the space of six months!
Despite this clearly defined target, the way to achieve it was not completely obvious. Especially when dealing with a very complex environment with thousands of business applications, the purpose of which was not always clear to either customer or provider.
Moreover, a change had to be prepared from a dedicated operating environment to the Volvo IT standard operating environment.
In spite of this, the migration began on 1 June. Thanks to a well-composed project team with generalists, specialists in all the relevant areas, engineers from the customer’s organisation and a project leader keeping a tight grip on every aspect, the project was very successful.
The mainframe environment was operational on 31 December!
Jurgen Couvreur, CFO, Picanol Group
"Volvo IT was our first choice, as it was able to take advantage of its experience of being a provider for a demanding industrial environment."
