Oracle Cloud delivers flexible, scalable and cost-effective infrastructure for JLL

Extending their IT estate to the cloud

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated – better known as JLL – helps clients buy, build, occupy, manage and invest in a variety of commercial, industrial, hotel, residential and retail properties around the world. It all adds up. They manage 4.6 billion square feet of property and facilities. And their IT infrastructure has to connect their own offices, the buildings they manage and the properties they lease.

At the time, their IT estate was hosted on-premises across two data centers in the U.S. This proved to be expensive, as it involved a combination of load balancers and firewalls to share and protect confidential information. It was also a complex undertaking to share information between corporate offices spread across 80 countries. Some locations had poor connectivity, which was problematic for applications that were already sensitive to latency and caused frustration for employees and customers.

JLL is a global company that does everything from leasing properties to banks in America to creating upmarket retail property in South Africa. The IT estate supporting their internal operations and interactions with customers had to be just as flexible.

As an international business, being able to adapt quickly is a fundamental part of JLL’s business strategy. As part of this they need to comply with multiple and laws and regulations – and adapt fast when these change. For example, personal information captured in India has to be stored in India. The European Union has similar limitations on processing and moving personal data.

Technology supports their drive to meet the needs of today and opportunities of tomorrow and with this in mind they made the decision to take advantage of the innovations that a cloud-based infrastructure could offer.

Business conversations became IT solutions

The relationship between NTT DATA and JLL is built on business conversations. We don’t start with a technology discussion – we talk about business aspirations and challenges, then look at these from an IT perspective and work together to find the best way forward. Our insights into the real-estate industry and a deep understanding of JLL’s needs put us in a position to support JLL as a strategic adviser.

To create a better customer and employee experience, they decided to migrate their business applications to the cloud. We started by mapping out JLL’s extensive on-premises IT environment. Next, we searched for and settled on the right cloud location for their applications: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Using best practices from Oracle, we designed a cloud-native environment that could support existing operations and provide opportunities for modernization. This provides them with access to a zero trust security architecture and access to the latest advancements in data analytics and AI.

The real-estate firm’s global presence was not built in a day, and neither was their cloud environment. Different systems were migrated at different times to minimize the impact to business operations. We first migrated their internal enterprise resource planning to cloud, then their Oracle JD Edwards environment, which is how their global customers interact with them. With managed cloud, their customers can always request – and receive – the real-estate services they need. The cloud architecture allows JLL to deliver new and improved services faster than ever before.

Everything has moved from their on-premises environment to OCI, but that’s not where this story ends. We’re continuing to modernize their applications as the industry – and the real-estate needs of JLL’s customers – change. From security to compliance to new applications, business conversations allow us to keep looking for ways to improve.

Instant customer connections and $500,000 saved over four years

JLL’s optimized cloud environment gives them the flexibility to respond quickly to industry changes and new opportunities. Customers can reach them anytime and anywhere without delay or interruption.

Meeting local and global requirements

With our global reach and in-depth industry and regional knowledge, we help JLL follow changing (and sometimes contradictory) IT and data regulations everywhere they do business.

Expert advice on demand

We do more than manage JLL’s Oracle cloud environment. They can consult our subject-matter experts, who can assist with all aspects of the environment and create solutions to business problems.

Cost savings

We continuously optimize JLL’s OCI architecture, including managing licensing models. Changing the model saved them half a million dollars over four years. We also suggest software solutions that reduce the overall cost of ownership.

Personalized solutions

As a trusted partner, we offer a personal touch backed by global resources. JLL’s teams can raise issues directly with us and then we collaborate to resolve any issues.