How SUSE & Partners Are Accelerating IT Transformation During The Pandemic

The way we work has changed dramatically over the last 12 months. What’s more, those challenges are likely to stay for much of 2021. But there are organizations who are using this opportunity to double down on their digital transformation.  

I asked two of our Platinum partners – Mark de Groot, CEO of BPSOLUTIONS, based in the Netherlands, and Nicolas Christener, CEO & CTO, Adfinis, based in Switzerland, about how we can and are helping our customers be more agile and innovative in the face of difficult marketing operating conditions.   

Rachel: The pandemic means we are facing some unprecedented conditions. How is it affecting you and your customers? 

Nicolas: As a digital company, Adfinis was already ready for the “home-office life.” We had all the tools in place for remote working and our employees are very well self-organized and agile. Online coffee-breaks and even some occasional beer-nights help to keep the different teams connected. Even though we had to solve a few challenges in the beginning when working with our customers, we’ve been able to mirror our existing processes and ways of working in a digital environment. 

Many of our customers are very far along in their remote working journey as well, and it became clear that working together using collaboration tools is totally doable and the way we’ll probably work in the future. 

Mark: This pandemic is going on for much longer than anyone at first thought. The government support is still masking much of the real financial damage, but I expect CIOs to suffer from this post-pandemic financial stress for the next two years.  

This means choices have to be made. What we see is that IT agility is getting more and more of a key priority and forcing organizations to migrate more quickly to the cloud. We were already seeing this trend, but it’s now accelerating. 

Rachel: Are there any areas where SUSE has enabled you or your customers to do more? 

Mark: Migrating to the cloud means on the one hand that applications must be modernized and, on the other hand, the infrastructure must be adapted accordingly.  

One of the areas is the growth in the so-called “Cloud Native” applications that often use container technology such as Kubernetes. Kubernetes helps boost productivity, reduce costs and risks, and moves organizations closer to achieving their hybrid cloud goals.  

It also significantly increases the agility and efficiency of their software development teams, enabling them to reduce the time and complexity associated with putting differentiated applications into production.  

The acquisition of Rancher Labs by SUSE is something that will help our customers manage Kubernetes platforms well and keep their environments always secure and available.  

In addition, BPSOLUTIONS has deep expertise with regard to SAP HANA infrastructures. SAP users need to migrate to S4/HANA to utilize new innovations that SAP have launched, in their business processes. We are very successful in this together with SUSE. 

 Overall, we see growth in all open source solutions because of the innovation that open source brings. The open source movement is the reason that technology has developed at such a tremendous pace for the past few decades. 

Nicolas: We have been partnering with SUSE for quite a few years now and enjoy pleasant and fruitful cooperation with the SUSE team from marketing to partner managers and engineers. In the dreary everyday life during this pandemic, such moments are always welcome. 

We are also very excited about the Rancher Labs acquisition and can already see how it can help our customers manage their Kubernetes environment so that they can deliver applications more quickly and securely.  

Rachel: What kinds of challenges are your customers facing in 2021 and how do you think we help them address their challenges together? 

Nicolas: Many companies are increasingly becoming software companies – launching applications that deliver better customer experiences.  

Many companies are doing this organically rather than having a process in place. This means fundamental things are often forgotten, such as collaboration between development and operations, security issues or infrastructure environments that do not correspond to the new structure.  

That’s where SUSE and Adfinis can help with our years of experience, the right resources and tools. We take companies by the hand and guide them through the cloud journey and make them ready – from container environments to cloud platforms to DevOps workshops – so they can focus on their core business again. 

Mark: We live in an “always on” world that operates 24/7. A world that is getting smarter and more innovative every day. Success in the future is not about what data you have available, it is about access to those networks where to find this data, about how to use the data and about knowing what you can do with the data. It’s all about knowing how to make data work for you.  

We help organizations organize their Mission Critical IT in a way that makes the organization smarter so it can make progress. Companies can literally stop functioning if something goes wrong with their data! This makes Mission Critical IT perhaps the most valuable asset of a company. Something that must be guaranteed and that must be fully utilized.   

SUSE and BPSOLUTIONS both stand for innovation and we value what open source technology can offer. And together we make the world a little smarter. 

Rachel: Thank you Mark and Nicolas for sharing your thoughts with us. We and our joint customers value your expertise in solving the challenges that businesses face today!   

We work with partners like BPSOLUTIONS and Adfinis all over the world who can help you transform your IT infrastructure so you can focus on delivering the innovation that your business needs. Find a partner near you.