About IJsvogel Retail
IJsvogel Retail, the owner of popular retail chains Pets Place and Boerenbond, is making waves in the pet retail industry in the Netherlands. With a passion for pets and a commitment to providing top-notch products and services, IJsvogel Retail has emerged as one of the largest and most beloved pet stores in the country. Having been in the industry for several years, they have garnered a loyal customer base and have become a household name for pet owners across the nation.
The challenge: a cloud environment in need of transformation
IJsvogel Retail‘s previous cloud environment on Google Cloud Platform had grown organically over time, resulting in a lack of structure and hindering their ability to scale efficiently.
This situation posed several challenges, including security vulnerabilities, difficulties in managing resources, and a lack of proper governance. In the absence of a solid foundation, IJsvogel Retail found it challenging to maintain a secure GCP environment, which raised concerns about data access and potential mistakes:
- Security vulnerabilities: Inadequate governance and infrastructure as code make it challenging to maintain a secure GCP environment.
- Absence of a landing zone: No centralised governance for the GCP environment leads to inconsistency and difficulty in managing resources.
- Limited focus on governance, security, and networking: previous implementation lacked essential GCP governance, security, and networking practices, posing risks such as data access issues and unauthorised permissions.
The goal: building a solid cloud foundation
IJsvogel Retail’s ambitious goal was to build a comprehensive Google Cloud Foundation that encompassed governance, security, and networking, aligning with industry best practices.
To achieve this, they wanted to get assistance in establishing Cloud Foundations, including the management of their GCP environment’s operational tasks.
A particularly appealing aspect of the solution for IJsvogel Retail was the implementation of a self-service system, enabling users to request and manage projects, departments and access within their GCP organisation. This system is designed to empower anyone in the organisation to make such requests efficiently and securely.
The solution & methodology: Devoteam G Cloud’s agile approach
Devoteam G Cloud, a top-tier Google Cloud partner, proved to be the perfect ally in helping IJsvogel Retail overcome its challenges. Devoteam’s experts proposed to build a robust Google Cloud Foundation for IJsvogel Retail. This cloud landing zone focuses on governance, security, networking, operations and automation. Devoteam G Cloud’s expertise and partnership would enable IJsvogel Retail to have a solid foundation, facilitating future expansion, improving time to market, enhancing security, and enabling faster scaling.
Devoteam G Cloud proposed an agile development approach, conducting workshops and design sessions to align with IJsvogel Retail’s cloud governance, security, networking, and operations strategies. Throughout the project, Devoteam followed a well-defined Statement of Work (SOW) for the cloud landing zone, ensuring every aspect of the solution was aligned with IJsvogel Retail’s needs. Additionally, they provided design documents and documentation, outlining the governance structure they created.
At the heart of the solution was Devoteam’s ‘Cloud Foundations’, a Terraform Landing Zone, a Google Cloud Accelerator product developed at Devoteam G Cloud. This cutting-edge technology based on infrastructure as code (IAC), establishes a secure and repeatable environment. Additionally, the adoption of Google Cloud’s IAM, projects, and folders further strengthened the foundation of the transformation.
With meticulous planning, Devoteam made the necessary changes in IJsvogel Retail’s existing GCP environment, creating a centralised folder to manage all assets. Over time, they meticulously imported assets, folders, and IAM into this centralised location, paving the way for smooth operations. Setting up monitoring processes was also part of the solution, allowing IJsvogel Retail to aggregate all system logs into a single dashboard for better insights.
As part of their service, Devoteam also assisted IJsvogel Retail in further enhancing and modernising their networking architecture, ensuring compliance with the best practices of Google Cloud Platform. This solution equipped IJsvogel Retail with a solid cloud foundation, empowering them to face the future with confidence.
The result: empowering success with a structured foundation
The implementation of the Google Cloud Foundation brought IJsvogel Retail these benefits: enhanced security, and a structured environment that enables future expansion to other countries. With a modernised networking setup following industry best practices, IJsvogel Retail’s cloud operations are more efficient and secure than ever before. In the future, IJsvogel Retail will even benefit of a faster time to market when more work loads are deployed to the new environment.
The newfound governance and IAM system, built & managed through Terraform Cloud, ensures the automatic removal of any unauthorised access, making it an ironclad security setup. All communications across applications now remain within their virtual private networks, significantly reducing external threats.
To top it off, IJsvogel Retail was onboarded on managed services, executed by Devoteam G Cloud’s centre of excellence, reducing the operational overhead of maintaining and monitoring their systems
This successful transformation allowed IJsvogel Retail to leverage the full potential of Google Cloud Platform, opening up new opportunities and empowering them to drive their business forward confidently.
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