Copersucar, a global leader in sugar and ethanol trading,[1] has chosen IBM Cloud to help them increase productivity and efficiency, modernize processes and accelerate its business expansion. Responsible for commercializing 3.7 million tons of sugar and 5 billion liters of ethanol in 2019-2020 Crop-Year, the company recently completed an important step on its digital transformation journey by migrating its main IT infrastructure to IBM Cloud with support from IBM Global Technology Services.
Brazil is now responsible for approximately 20% of the world’s sugar production[2] and is a global leader in the production of sugarcane ethanol,[3] the biofuel with the lowest available carbon footprint. The country ranks second in biofuel production, behind only the United States. As a global leader in both sectors, Copersucar has a unique business model, connecting mills and the customers, at the same time it carries out the logistical operation, integrating all links in the value chain.
To achieve its digital transformation and business goals, Copersucar tapped IBM – its technology partner for of over a decade – to enable the migration of its IT environment from an on-premises architecture to IBM Cloud. The comprehensive technology upgrade addressed Copersucar’s most pressing requirements: gaining more flexibility, security and infrastructure scalability while reducing IT operational costs.
“The decision to migrate our infrastructure to the cloud was based on the search for agility, scalability and adequate costs. IBM Cloud has shown to be the right choice in this regard, as we have been able to experience more agility in the delivery of our services, without losing the quality and security that we had in the previous model, on premises. Surely this will be a vector to further accelerate the delivery of services and new solutions to internal and external customers and to our ecosystem, composed of our 34 partner mills”, says Dalbi Arruda, CIO of Copersucar.
Today, IBM manages Copersucar’s entire IT multicloud environment – including SAP workloads, billing and logistic systems. The services provided have a direct impact on its whole supply chain, from the sugarcane in the field all the way to the final logistical distribution of products, such as the ships used to export products.
“Companies like Copersucar are turning to hybrid cloud capabilities to innovate more quickly. In addition to efficiency and scalability, on IBM Cloud we have cutting edge security technology design, which allows Copersucar to run critical workloads while protecting the integrity of its data and operations”, explains Luis Marcelo Teixeira, IBM Brazil Infrastructure Services Director. “By removing the traditional barriers to cloud adoption, IBM is able to help enterprises embrace the benefits of cloud.”
In addition to the IT environment, IBM also manages Copersucar’s IT Service Desk, powered by the artificial intelligence (AI) of the IBM Workplace Services with Watson solution, leveraged to autonomously respond to IT inquiries – like systems password resets and network folders access – from the company’s more than 500 employees across Brazil, supporting its holistic digital transformation process from the inside out.
[1] By acquiring one of the main ethanol companies in the United States, in 2012, Copersucar became a global leader in the trading of biofuels.
[2] UNICA (União da Indústria da Cana-de-Açúcar) – https://unica.com.br/setor-sucroenergetico/acucar/
[3] UNICA (União da Indústria da Cana-de-Açúcar) – https://unica.com.br/setor-sucroenergetico/etanol/
