- The hotel group has migrated all of its operations, both internal and external, to Microsoft Azure, and has been able to adapt to the high peak demand of the tourism sector in the midst of changing trends.
- The transformation plan also included updating its internal applications, which were deployed as microservices in Kubernetes containers, thus avoiding delays in communications.
- The project, which means a significant development over three years, was developed by Logicalis, a Microsoft partner. It also published a security and governance side project supported by Microsoft Sentinel.
COVID-19 has had a profound impact on tourism activity. As a third world power, the weight of this sector in the Spanish economy was very high until 2020, when it suffered a decline of 69%, according to Statista data. In this complex environment, when more than half of tourism entrepreneurs did not expect to recover their billing levels until 2023, Grupo Piñero launched an ambitious migration project for all its operations – internal and external – from infrastructure in the workplace to the Microsoft Azure cloud.
The group, which has a track record of nearly 50 years, 15,000 employees and a turnover of more than 6,000 million euros, has chosen clouds General Microsoft to adapt to the new scenario with peak demand. In this way, I was able to reduce IT costs by up to 20% in a few months, while at the same time making a huge leap in terms of sustainability, since Microsoft Azure is up to 98% more efficient in terms of carbon emissions than solutions in the workplace conventional, which allows to increase energy efficiency by up to 93%.
Mateo Ramón, Chief Information Officer of the Piñero Group, stated: “We found in our move to the Microsoft cloud an important relief in the face of a very bad situation caused by the pandemic. Having a classic infrastructure, which did not respond to the needs arising from changes in the behavior of our customers, was holding back the development of our business. The cloud was a boost that we took advantage of to take the leap Quality has simplified and made our operations more flexible.”
From adversity to opportunity
Logicalis, a Microsoft partner, analyzed the Grupo Piñero situation, proposed an ambitious transformation plan and orchestrated the entire operation. with infrastructure clouds As an integral part of the pillar and with modernizing the group’s applications at the helm to drive opportunity and results, the organization has upgraded all of its applications – internal and external – based on Red Hat’s OpenShift technology on Microsoft Azure. The transition to a microservices model, based on Kubernetes, helped avoid latency in connections between its various resources and favor economies of scale.
“We’ve made a quantum leap in terms of IT with a direct impact on the business and our results. Microsoft Azure public cloud has given us greater flexibility and adaptability in a sector that has undergone significant changes in trends and continues to adapt to the new landscape. In the same way, we can now adapt between costs and revenues, as well as adjusting IT resources to match business progress and peak demand.” Refers to Enrique Soreda, Head of Systems at Grupo Piñero.
Security and governance to enhance protection
In parallel with the main project, Grupo Piñero has developed another software with Logicalis to enhance its cloud deployment with security and governance solutions. Their goal is to achieve full traceability and visibility of everything that happens in the cloud.
Among the solutions chosen by the group, Microsoft Sentinel stands out, which accelerates response to threats through the use of artificial intelligence mechanisms. The platform includes Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) to collect, store, and analyze security data from multiple sources—such as devices, applications, users, and networks—; In addition to Security Regulation Automated Response (SOAR) mechanisms, to automate and coordinate response actions to threats that may compromise business activity.
About Grupo Pinero
Pinero group is a Spanish multinational company of family origin founded in 1977. With a team currently composed of more than 15,000 professionals, the group has evolved to extend its value proposition beyond the tourism sector, organizing its activity into three business units with the aim of maximizing synergies and ensuring consistency in quality innovation for its products and services. Living Resorts operates hotels, condominiums and golf courses in Spain and the Caribbean under the Bahia Principe brand. Travel includes tour operating activities operated by Soltour Travel Partners, primarily operating under the Soltour own brand, and inbound activities under the Coming2 brand. Finally, the Mobility Division includes other destination mobility services, among which is its commitment to developing sustainable mobility.
The purpose of Grupo Piñero is to create exciting experiences. To achieve this, commitment to responsible management allows us to provide the best experience for customers and employees and contribute effectively to society as a whole, with sustainability as the central focus and sustainable growth and innovation as the main pillars of its strategy.
About Logicales
We are the architects of change. We help organizations succeed in a digital world. At Logicalis, we leverage our collective technical expertise to help our clients build a successful project so they can achieve meaningful sustainable results. For more information visit www.es.logicalis.com