How Albertsons Companies is using Azure Kubernetes Service?
Due to the Covid-19 situation, many companies have faced the problem of a drastic increase of customers online. It is good for business but, the amount of spike was not predicted, due to which the online reputation and presence of the company standards were failing. So, this was best of the companies that, they have foresighted this and have migrated from the small data center to the cloud. One such example is Albertsons companies.
Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-largest supermarket chain in North America after Kroger, which has 2,750 stores.
The Albertsons Companies family of brands engaged Microsoft Consulting Services to help migrate Albertsons’s on-premises datacenter to Microsoft Azure. As COVID-19 began spreading across the country, online orders skyrocketed 240 percent in a matter of months, accelerating Albertsons’s modernization plans. To squelch competitive pressures, the need to operate and innovate faster was clear. Reducing costs while leveraging inherent Azure capabilities such as scalability, flexibility, resiliency, and agility will enable Albertsons to quickly pivot based on market demand. In the third quarter of Fiscal 2020 alone, Albertsons reported an increase of 12.3 percent in Identical Sales Growth and an astounding 225 percent rise in digital sales.
Innovation is why we’re going with a cloud-specific architecture. Having on-demand capabilities has been helpful. Azure Kubernetes Service, security, and best-in-cloud capabilities to modernize our business are key to our success. I’ve seen our relationship with Microsoft Consulting Services strengthen overall. Microsoft takes great care to understand our core objectives and brings the technical skills we need. We thank them for all they do to make us successful.
Jim Saber: Group Vice President of Cloud IT and Operations
Albertsons Companies
The Microsoft Consulting Services engagement paves the way for Albertsons to accelerate its migration to Azure, which will save costs, time, and other valuable resources when all the infrastructure building blocks and security enhancements are in place.
Additionally, Albertsons plans to significantly leverage Azure and Microsoft technology like containerization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep analytics to foster near real-time decision-making, enhance customer communications, and improve the in-store and online shopping experience. The Cloud Foundation Albertsons built will also help enable future business scenarios and innovative ways of meeting customer needs.
The Microsoft Modern Service Management (MSM) team also did their part to ensure the right processes were in place for Albertsons to operationally monitor and support the technologies and digital e-commerce platform. They also provided training for the same.
