Following a successful migration, the renowned Norwegian pharmacy chain is now running its business-critical applications on a secure cloud platform
Apotek 1, a prominent pharmacy chain in Norway with approximately 400 pharmacies, has steadily expanded its network over the years. This growth, coupled with a commitment to increased efficiency, drove Apotek 1 to align its business-critical systems with the demands of the modern business landscape.
Recognizing the urgent need for transformation, Apotek 1 turned to its longstanding IT partner, Innofactor, renowned for its expertise in both cloud infrastructure and application development. The primary objective of the collaboration was clear: to ensure the high level of customer service for which Apotek 1 is widely known.
To enhance Apotek 1's operational efficiency, Innofactor proposed a shift in cloud architecture by running business-critical apps on microservices instead of Azure Services. This approach makes applications faster, scalable, and easier to deploy and manage. The transition to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) also offered substantial cost benefits, as the whole AKS cluster could operate much more economically than several Azure app services.
Apotek 1's technical experts embraced the plan. From the outset, they had a clear vision of their goals and now had a roadmap to achieve them.
The modernization initiative began with a proof-of-concept, during which Innofactor's experts assisted in transitioning from a monolithic to a microservices architecture.
Once the application base was in place, Apotek 1's end-users could immediately start testing, proposing new features, and reporting errors. Crucially, the microservices approach ensured no downtime in Apotek 1's business operations, as the old applications remained operational throughout the testing process.
Overall, this approach streamlined testing and facilitated the rapid development of new features, ensuring the swift implementation of improvements.
Following a successful migration, Apotek 1's business-critical applications now operate on a secure and resilient cloud architecture, enabling faster updates, improved uptime, and more efficient troubleshooting mechanisms. Additionally, the newfound ability to identify and address issues before they impact production helps Apotek 1 to provide its customers new services and improved features without compromising on service reliability.
Regarding Apotek 1's objective of continuously providing secure and reliable services for their customers, the versatile capabilities of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform have proven invaluable. Combined with the expertise of the renowned Microsoft partner, the pharmacy chain is highly satisfied with the new architectural design.
As Apotek 1 progresses in onboarding additional pharmacies onto the new solution, the unfolding success stands as a testament to the positive impact of strategic cloud migration. The partnership with Innofactor exemplifies a comprehensive transformation, contributing significantly to Apotek 1's ongoing digital evolution.
"Innofactor's consultants have combined expertise in both software development and modern cloud infrastructure and have been instrumental in enabling our team to create better solutions for our customers," says Wilhelm Marius Castberg, Team Lead Cloud Platform from Apotek 1.
"Innofactor's consultants have combined expertise in both software development and modern cloud infrastructure and have been instrumental in enabling our team to create better solutions for our customers."
Wilhelm Marius Castberg
Team Lead Cloud Platform
Apotek 1
The following solutions and technologies, among others, are a part of of the overall solution delivered to Apotek 1:
