From IBM Power to Google Cloud With CDW’s Expertise

Jim’s Formal Wear (JFW) is a prominent tuxedo and formalwear rental and sales company. They collaborate with a vast network of retailers who manage direct customer interactions, while JFW oversees inventory through a robust network of nationwide service centers and distribution hubs to meet the needs of their partners and customers.

Faced with evolving business requirements, JFW partnered with CDW's Cloud Engagement Team to refine their cloud migration strategy. Recognizing the need for modernization, JFW sought expert guidance to address their pain points and chart a streamlined path to leveraging Google Cloud.

A dedicated CDW Google Cloud Architect Consultant engaged with JFW stakeholders to understand their unique challenges, explore future business drivers and align cloud capabilities with their organizational goals.

Jim’s Formal Wear relied on numerous applications hosted on the IBM Power platform, primarily for sales and financial reporting. These applications had built up a legacy of dependency, creating several migration roadblocks:

• Historical data stored in existing IBM Power applications needed to transition to BigQuery for enhanced reporting capabilities.
• Legacy applications required continued access to the same datasets during the migration process.
• New applications, meanwhile, demanded additional data sourced from new tables and Firestore, adding complexity to data organization.
• The intricate nature of the data's location and its associated dependencies extended potential cloud migration roadmaps to well over three years.

The CDW Engagement Team identified the location of key datasets as a primary reason for the migration challenges and delays. To address this, CDW proposed a simplified and practical solution designed for immediate implementation.

• Provided a utility to transfer data seamlessly from JFW's on-premises database to BigQuery.
• Built this solution as a Cloud Run job capable of running daily to keep operational datasets fresh and updated.
• Created a scalable pathway for JFW to transition their IBM Power-based reporting to Google Cloud without disrupting their existing workflows.
• By implementing this approach, JFW was able to sidestep the highly complex, multi-year migration roadmap initially outlined, achieving faster results with reduced risk.

CDW's tailored approach successfully delivered measurable outcomes for JFW, transforming their cloud migration experience:

• Streamlined Implementation: A simplified migration process was introduced, avoiding years of drawn-out roadmaps.
• Fresh, daily data: Key tables — ten in total — are now transferred daily to BigQuery using the program developed by CDW, ensuring JFW has access to up-to-date data for their reporting needs.
• Empowered decision-making: With enhanced access to critical sales and financial data in BigQuery, JFW is better equipped to drive decisions using modern reporting and analysis tools.

The success of this engagement has led Jim’s Formal Wear to explore further opportunities with CDW’s Managed Services Team, signifying strengthened collaboration and trust.