Del Monte Foods enlists Accenture to help guide move to AWS cloud

Del Monte Foods has migrated 200 servers, along with a business-critical SAP ERP system, to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud in under four months with the help of Accenture.

The California-based food producer called upon the Accenture Cloud Factory and the expertise of the Accenture AWS Business Group to guide the migration, which also included hundreds of other business applications.

Together, these entities provided Del Monte Foods with roadmaps, technical support and frameworks to guide them through the move to the AWS public cloud.

The company is also using the Accenture Cloud Platform to automate the management of its off-premise IT resources, which Del Monte claims will free up its technical staff to concentrate on improving its production and distribution processes.

To date, it is claimed the technology tie-up between the two firms has led to a 35% reduction in Del Monte’s IT costs, and cut the time it takes to roll out IT resources to its staff from weeks to under an hour.

Chad Anderson, vice-president and CIO of Del Monte Foods, said the migration is part of a wider push by the company to boost its business agility and speed up the time it takes to get new products to market by modernising its IT infrastructure.

“With Accenture as our partner, our move to AWS means Del Monte Foods now has a more agile operating environment to free up resources for more superior business outcomes, such as ensuring the long-term health of our categories,” he said.

“Just as important, throughout the entire process, Accenture’s expertise – both in technology and in the consumer goods industry – has helped us build better experiences for our customers by delivering against core consumer trends, such as our consumers’ desire to eat healthier foods.”

Not only has this included a move to the cloud, but also greater levels of automation in its back and front office IT environments, while paving the way for the company to ramp up its use of data analytics.

Kishore Durg, Accenture Technology’s cloud and growth and strategy lead, said these technology bets should stand Del Monte Foods in good stead for the future.

“With 132 years of history, Del Monte Foods is a brand that is relentless about adapting and transforming its operations to create relevance at scale to meet tomorrow’s demands,” he said.

“The future belongs to industry-leading organisations like Del Monte Foods, who have the foresight to invest in essentials, like the cloud for its agility, and a data-driven backbone for insight-led decision-making, differentiated customer experiences and breakthrough outcomes.”