C U S TO M E R C A S E S T U DY

H E I D E L B E R G C E M E N T | 1

CUSTOMERHEIDELBERGCEMENT AG

WEBSITEWWW.HEIDELBERGCEMENT.COM

INDUSTRYBUILDING MATERIALS

LOCATIONHEIDELBERG, GERMANY

CHALLENGES

• Increasing the value of the group while ensuring resource-orientated and sustainable growth

• Pursuing the goal of cost leadership

• Increasing complexity in IT

SOLUTION

Owing to the ever growing complexity of IT, di� culties in collaboration with other vendors and, at the same time, strict international targets, HeidelbergCement decided to engage a Technical Account Manager from VMware, who supports the company with a wide range of projects and decisions.

BENEFITS

• Retention of a huge pool of resources and expertise

• Savings in resources

• Overriding corporate goals can be pursued

Increasing digitalisation and the growing complexity this brings to IT are posing major challenges for companies. This is why personal advice on a par will become increasingly important in the future. HeidelbergCement AG brought in support from outside back in 2011. VMware’s Technical Account Manager has now been involved with HeidelbergCement AG for fi ve years, advising and supporting the group personally with upcoming decisions and new IT projects.

HeidelbergCement became one of the world’s largest building materials groups when it acquired the Italian cement producer Italcementi. The group’s portfolio is made up of a large range of high-quality construction resources including traditional building materials as well as special products for specifi c areas of application. HeidelbergCement’s core activities include the production and distribution of cement and aggregates, the two essential raw materials for concrete. The company, which is headquartered in Heidelberg, today employs around 62,000 people at more than 3,000 production sites in around 60 countries. The group pursues a goal of sustainable growth focused on earnings.

The challenge HeidelbergCement’s IT activities are divided into two areas: Group IT is responsible for global IT standards and services for the group, while so-called Country IT is responsible for and manages IT activities at each location and in each country. “At Group IT, we take care of demand management, applications, infrastructure for global services as well as general support. We also answer questions concerning operations, and create the basis for global standards and for IT at the country level”, explains David Roberts, Application Hosting Lead Architect at HeidelbergCement AG in Heidelberg. Besides the task of meeting IT requirements, the department must also support the group’s overall goals: increasing the value of the group while ensuring resource-orientated and sustainable growth. “Owing to these predefi ned goals, the IT department always strives to obtain the greatest value from every cent spent, whether on IT or on the company as a whole”, says David. At the same time, the group’s plan to maintain cost leadership must be kept in mind – internal costs must therefore be reduced to a minimum. David Roberts adds: “The infrastructure that we chose not only had to meet the various targets set, but at the same time also had to be secure, stable and scalable – this was a challenge for everyone involved.”

HeidelbergCement chose VMware back in 2010 when it launched its policy of virtualisation. The company today deploys the server virtualisation software VMware vSphere and vCenter as well as VMware’s Site Recovery Manager and vRealize Operations Manager. All the solutions have been implemented at a

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: HEIDELBERGCEMENT AG RELIES ON PERSONAL ADVICE FROM VMWARE

C U S TO M E R C A S E S T U DY | 2

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: HEIDELBERGCEMENT AG RELIES ON PERSONAL ADVICE FROM VMWARE

global level. Group IT took the corresponding decisions in this connection and was responsible for infrastructure design.

The solution “The solutions from VMware that we used convinced us from the start. Nevertheless, IT became ever more complex, especially in our collaboration with other manufacturers. At the same time, we could not risk losing sight of our internal targets. After some refl ection, we therefore decided to engage a VMware Technical Account Manager to support us with advice and assistance for a range of projects on a regular basis”, David Roberts says.

The Technical Account Manager (TAM) at VMware, provides the connection between VMware and HeidelbergCement. The TAM is a fi xed and trusted member of the team who is involved in all discussions and decisions. The TAM'S current area of responsibility at HeidelbergCement includes, for example, the virtualisation of traditional business-critical applications such as SAP. “Virtualising business-critical applications in particular is sometimes very di� cult and needs special expertise. Our TAM ensures that these applications are migrated correctly and to VMware standards. He works closely together with our SAP applications team on the virtualisation of SAP”, David states.

The Technical Account Manager spends at least one day a month on site at HeidelbergCement in Heidelberg. In addition to this, there is not only day-to-day contact by e-mail but also weekly telephone and video conferences. Apart from the contact in David Robert’s team, there are fi ve additional employees in other teams who constitute a single point of contact and work with the TAM on a regular basis. The TAM also maintains contacts with the company's strategic partners like the storage, network and server vendors, since HeidelbergCement works with complex solutions from several di� erent suppliers. If problems arise, the TAM assumes responsibility for communication. “The benefi t for us is that the TAM can bring his entire knowledge into play in such situations and deal with contacts from other companies on a par. He always brings about a solution when problems arise with other vendors”, David explains. In these cases, our TAM acts on behalf of HeidelbergCement, sparing the resources of the company’s own employees.

David Roberts continues, “We know that we can rely on Lars as our TAM, which is why we involve him in all our decision-making processes. He is for us a trusted adviser and partner who always gives honest answers and excellent advice about the products we use. Of course, he hasn’t got a ready solution for every product, but we have always received an answer from him by the next day at the latest. Thanks to this huge pool of resources, we not only have a great deal of expert knowledge available to us, but as a business, we are able to avoid a lot of common mistakes and to ambitiously pursue our long-term goals.”

The result The TAM has now been working with HeidelbergCement for fi ve years. Enormous mutual trust has developed between him and the other employees in this time, which is something that benefi ts both sides. The group’s employees know that they can depend on the TAM, and that he will achieve the best for HeidelbergCement from existing – and new – systems and solutions.

“Besides the products used, what helps us is the fact that we can collaborate closely with the Technical Account Manager as a partner. The TAM knows our company and its special requirements with regard to IT. He therefore supports us with advice and shows what the right solution is for a particular business case”, says David Roberts.

“We know that we can rely on Lars as our TAM, which is why we involve him in all our decision-making processes. He is for us a trusted adviser and partner who always gives honest answers and excellent advice about the products we use.”

DAVID ROBERTSAPPLICATION HOSTING LEAD ARCHITECTHEIDELBERGCEMENT AG

VMWARE USED

• VMware Technical Account Manager Service

• VMware vSphere

• VMware vCenter

• VMware Site Recovery Manager

• VMware vRealize Operations Manager

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www.vmware.comCopyright © 2017 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item No: 17Q1 HeidelbergCement UK

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: HEIDELBERGCEMENT AG RELIES ON PERSONAL ADVICE FROM VMWARE

“The decision in favour of a TAM like Lars from VMware has more than paid off for itself, meaning that we will continue to rely on this service. It allows our company to benefit from a constant growth in added value and business advantages.”

DAVID ROBERTSAPPLICATION HOSTING LEAD ARCHITECTHEIDELBERGCEMENT AG

Looking to the future HeidelbergCement wishes to continue to benefi t from the VMware Technical Account Manager in future, too. “The decision in favour of a TAM like Lars from VMware has more than paid o� for itself, meaning that we will continue to rely on this service. It allows our company to benefi t from a constant growth in added value and business advantages”, David explains. Over the coming months, HeidelbergCement wishes to continue its integration plans, implement solutions in the areas of storage, computing and networks, and drive further cost savings.