Moving to the clouds

GEVA, a plant engineering and construction company, needed to move its software applications to a new cloud environment after a change in corporate ownership. MAIT took care of the big move. At the same time, the MAIT team fulfilled other requests from GEVA. At the top of the list: more cybersecurity and comprehensive IT support.

GEVA Gas- und Energieverteilungsanlagen GmbH is an energy plant manufacturer based in Ettlingen, about ten kilometers south of Karlsruhe. The company designs and builds supply, control and measurement systems for conventional and renewable gases. Its customers include energy suppliers, industrial companies, municipal utilities, research institutes and the public sector. In October 2021, GEVA was acquired by another parent company and became part of the family-owned RMA Group, which consists of 19 companies and has more than 900 employees. As a result, the plant manufacturer also needed a new 'home' in terms of software and IT. This meant moving the entire ERP enterprise management and other components from the old to a new, secure and reliable cloud. The MAIT team took care of this and much more.

Software applications find a new home in the MAIT.Cloud

First, MAIT integrated the existing EasyTec ERP environment into the highly secure and reliable MAIT.Cloud. In doing so, MAIT created the basis for the ever-increasing performance requirements of the ERP software, which at the same time received a major update from EasyTec. Several key business processes also found their way into MAIT's own data center, including access systems, print management, time and attendance and the ability to manage endpoints, i.e. laptops and the like.

At the same time, the specification included the development of a new Microsoft 365 environment and the migration of all existing Microsoft Office systems. In particular, MAIT had to ensure a seamless transition of email functionality. The migration of data storage to OneDrive and Sharepoint and the establishment of Microsoft Teams as the central collaboration platform were also high on the to-do list. Marc Busse, Expert PreSales Architect, recalls: "From a technical point of view, the new cloud environment was not a hurdle for us, despite the amount of work involved. However, we always had to carefully monitor the sometimes strict corporate guidelines of the new GEVA parent company," he says.

In addition: Enhanced security and comprehensive IT support

But the cloud was just the beginning. GEVA wanted to use the fresh start at RMA to develop the company's software and IT as a whole. For example, once the migration project was complete, the company planned to replace its anti-virus software with Sophos's Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cybersecurity solution. MAIT worked with Sophos to deploy the solution partly in the cloud and partly on local instances, or endpoints, on site. MAIT took into account the enhanced functionality and transferred the existing security settings to the new product. And because GEVA wanted to continue to operate without its own IT department, MAIT also took over the company's on-site IT support from the start of the project. Working closely with the MAIT.Cloud team, a MAIT colleague has been visiting the company's offices in Ettlingen on a regular basis ever since. He regularly installs, services and repairs workstations and printers, maintains the Wi-Fi network and creates employee profiles.

Equipped for the future thanks to a strong partnership

Thanks to MAIT.Cloud, the new MS 365 environment and Sophos MDR, GEVA will never again experience growing pains when it comes to IT or software. Stefan Leng, Senior Sales Manager at MAIT, explains: "In the future, GEVA will be able to move almost any process it wants to the cloud. With each process, the company saves more space and resources for on-site computing capacity." In short, all systems are fully scalable, making the company fit for the future. Ultimately, however, it is not just the hard, measurable facts that make GEVA enthusiastic about MAIT and its services: "We simply have a very good relationship with MAIT. We particularly appreciate the cooperation, the speed and the high level of commitment of the MAIT specialists," says Sebastian Wilmes, who was responsible for the project at GEVA. MAIT advised us very competently right from the start and worked with us on an equal footing,' says Managing Director Andreas Schneider. For him, there was another decisive factor in choosing MAIT: "Whether it's IT support, cloud services or cyber security, with MAIT we now have a single point of contact for all services. There is no better or more efficient way to work with a business partner," says Schneider. It's no wonder that GEVA will continue to rely on MAIT's services in the future. The next project ideas? They're already in the pipeline. Keywords: new on-site IT infrastructure, purchase of client hardware from MAIT and extended use of MS Teams and Sharepoint.