Clarios, a gobal leader in energy storage solutions, powers a new beginning

Summary

To separate from its parent company, Clarios needed to design and deliver a new IT infrastructure against an aggressive deadline. As the global leader in low-voltage advanced battery technologies for mobility Clarios chose to work with NTT DATA because the two companies shared a vision for its future technology platform. The initiative saw Clarios implement modernized IT services, including hybrid infrastructure, Microsoft Azure and device-as-a-service deployments. All delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.

In May 2019, Johnson Controls, a 136-year-old multinational conglomerate, sold its Power Solutions business unit to Brookfield Business Partners, a private equity firm — writing a new chapter in the story of a world leader in advanced energy storage solutions. The agreement gave the business unit, to be known as Clarios, 30 months to transition and transform its entire IT infrastructure.

But the COVID-19 lockdown changed everything. Working parents became homeschoolers, meetings moved from the boardroom to the kitchen table and airports became ghost towns. For Clarios, the global leader in low-voltage advanced battery technologies for mobility, the lockdown interrupted a major technology transformation that involved:

• Refactoring more than 200 applications and building over 300 interfaces
• Moving 75% of its enterprise applications to Azure
• Implementing a cloud-based middleware application integration platform
• Replacing on-premises data warehouses with a cloud-based data lake and analytics tools

The transformation, in full stride in March 2020, was forced to adapt when the pandemic sent much of the Clarios staff to work remotely. The company's manufacturing facilities closed and reopened, employees needed remote collaboration tools, and the company still had much to do to complete its transition.

Early on, Clarios Chief Digital and Information Officer Chad Steighner said, "There are two ways this can go. I can either work extremely hard and create a lot of stress and strain doing this ourselves. Or I can put the right team around me. I chose the latter."

After meeting with several potential partners, Clarios chose to work with NTT DATA. The two companies shared a vision for a future technology platform.

Together, Clarios and NTT DATA worked to:

• Deliver modern digital workplace services through a Device as a Service experience for all Clarios employees across the globe
• Deploy NTT DATA's Nucleus Intelligent Enterprise platform and products for employees to order devices and have them shipped to their homes
• Design a U.S. colocation environment to host mission-critical workloads like SAP and other enterprise applications
• Refactor more than 200 applications to accelerate cloud transformation to the Microsoft Azure cloud
• Create an ‘anytime, anywhere’ digital office environment through messaging and collaboration services
• Provide cybersecurity services and bolster security in accordance with NIST framework
• Create a new integration Platform as a Service for over 300 interfaces
• Create the infrastructure backbone to build a secure, cloud-enabled data warehouse and data lake and replace an on-prem data warehouse

Clarios successfully met the challenge of building all new infrastructure and security, migrating more than 800 applications, launching new services and moving thousands of e-mail accounts, PCs and phones.

Clear road ahead

Despite the challenges caused by the pandemic, Clarios completed the transition four months early and 8% under budget—a significant accomplishment for a project of its size.

"I'm proud to say we're operating now at $10 million per year under our planned budget," said Steighner. "These were all great accomplishments that I think most companies would be proud of if they did just one of them in a single year. And for us to do all of it simultaneously was pretty amazing."

• 75% enterprise applications deployed to Microsoft Azure
• 200 applications rehosted and refactored on Azure
• Deploys new IT infrastructure four months early and 8% under budget
• Creates Device as a Service fulfilment for 16,000 global employees
• Develops new hybrid and colocation environments
• Delivers a new application integration Platform as a Service
• Creates a cloud-enabled data warehouse and data lake