Amway Taiwan

(Harrison Kuo, Technology Director of Technology Division of Amway Taiwan)

“Leveraging the Overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and the Flexibility of Hybrid Cloud, Allowing the IT Team to Focus on Core Business Innovation and Service Development”

Amway has been deeply rooted in Taiwan for 41 years, consistently maintaining a leadership in technological innovation. As early as in 2013, Amway launched its first mobile app, followed by its first e-business app in 2014. The year 2022 was a pivotal year for Amway’s digital transformation. In addition to a brand new cloud-based Amway e-commerce platform, Amway also got kicked off a big project to relocate its self-built data centers to Chief Telecom’s IDC. This data center migration included replacing outdated infrastructure and IT application systems.

According to Harrison Kuo, Technology Director of Technology Division of Amway Taiwan, “Amway is primarily a company focused on direct sales and products. By adopting Chief’s IDC services, our IT team can now concentrate on creating services that meet the needs of customers and business partners. Additionally, our on-premises data center now enjoys the same level of operational efficiency, security, and availability as public cloud services, providing better flexibility and benefits for our hybrid cloud applications.”

Professional data centers that offers a wide diversity of ISPs and public cloud platforms

Amway, known for its diverse product portfolio in nutrition, beauty, lifestyle technology, personal care, and home products, aims to provide comprehensive health and happiness for everyone.

In addition to technological digital transformation, Amway’s business promotion and sales models are also undergoing transformation. Online shopping now accounts for 84% of the overall revenue. Therefore, apart from the existing B2B2C system, Amway is deepening its community-based business model. This approach allows direct selling partners to form tighter-knit communities based on shared interests or common health and lifestyle goals. Conversely, Amway aims to support its direct selling partners in running their businesses in the simplest, most convenient way possible, free from time and location constraints. The focus is on achieving mobility and agility.

The advent of mobility comes a heightened demand for services, and 24/7 availability has become a basic requirement. However, for self-built data centers located in commercial office buildings, this poses a challenging situation. Office spaces are primarily designed for people, not machinery or equipment. Regular maintenance and operations, such as maintenance for air conditioning and M&E, often necessitate downtime, and this further leads to service interruptions.
In addition, Amway is actively implementing ESG practices. From production processes to packaging materials, sustainability is a core goal. However, the energy-intensive nature of self-built data centers creates a gap in achieving these sustainability objectives.

After evaluating major domestic IDC service providers, Chief Telecom emerged as top choice for Amway Taiwan. Harrison Kuo, Technology Director of Technology Division of Amway Taiwan, mentioned that in addition to SLA guarantees and Chief Telecom’s expertise, Chief IDC’s neutral positioning is a unique advantage. Not only does Chief have comprehensive network connectivity with all telecom operators, but it also provides a direct connection to global public cloud providers. Thus, leveraging Chief’s partnership with Amazon, where our e-commerce operations thrive, we aim to enhance customer experiences.

Consistent SLA, Security, and Operational levels across Cloud and On-Premises Environments

In August 2023, Amway completed the migration from its self-built data center to Chief Telecom’s IDC and built an SD-WAN network. Compared to the costs associated with self-built data centers, including labor and environmental investments such as air conditioning, electricity, and space leasing, Amway’s estimated Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Chief Telecom’s IDC is lower. Additionally, Chief Telecom’s data center holds ESG certification, aligning with Amway’s commitment to sustainable business practices.

Chief Telecom has obtained ISO 27001, ISO 27011, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 certifications and became the first telecom providers in Taiwan to pass Data Centre Operations Standard-4 (DCOS-4). This certification is crucial for Amway’s evaluation, as the data center stores substantial personal information and company confidential Information. Chief’s IDC can ensure operations and maintenance are compliant with international standards. Furthermore, Chief offers 24/7 service, allowing Amway to seek timely support and consultation whenever needed.

“From planning to verification of the relocation, Chief Telecom has provided ample assistance. The entire deployment process was a wonderful experience. Hybrid cloud is the most suitable model for our business. In the past, our self-built data centers couldn’t keep up with public clouds, resulting in many services migrating to the cloud, which in turn increased investment costs. Now, both on-premises and cloud environments adhere to consistent SLAs, security, and operational standards, allowing us to consider moving some services to the cloud and optimizing our use of cloud resources.” Said Harrison Kuo.

Take the retail industry for example. There are typically traffic peaks during promotions or new product launches. However, for direct selling, in addition to promotional activities such as marketing, new products or festivals, the end of each month is also a routine traffic peak period. This is due to the performance settlement of direct sales partners and more complex purchasing behavior. Often, there are repeated jumps between shopping and performance systems because direct sales partners inquire about their own team’s purchase data. In 2022, Amway revamped its shopping app using microservices and containerization. The objective was to further deploy cloud and microservices on premise. This involved either using public cloud as a service entry point or having backend systems located on-premises. They gradually deconstructed processes and data to identify the best application scenarios suitable for cloud or on-premises deployment.

Focus on core business innovation and collaboration, unburdened by low-level operational tasks.

Amway Taiwan has experienced only one incident since relocating its data center to Chief IDC. However, Chief Telecom has exceeded Amway’s expectations based on their SLA in terms of response time and resolution. During that time, there was a network service disruption. Thanks to Chief’s 24/7 monitoring and dedicated support, Amway learned that the issue was unrelated to the data center. The root cause was traced back to the firewall firmware update process, which inadvertently led to the network service disconnection.

Harrison Kuo emphasized that this experience highlights the importance of external professional partners. Identifying the root cause of issues rapidly and taking action has always been an intricate process, especially given the extensive API integrations and complex network configurations resulting from security considerations in today’s digital infrastructure. Pursuing the root of a problem is usually time-consuming and labor-intensive. As a professional service provider, not only can Chief quickly and clearly update the status, but will also promptly report any situations to co-located customers.

Leveraging Chief Telecom’s advantages in network services is also a key focus for Amway. For instance, the investment in hyper-converged infrastructure two years ago struggled to deliver its full potential due to insufficient network infrastructure in the self-built data center. However, after migrating to Chief IDC, it can now operate at its best. Additionally, Amway currently adopted MPLS solution to connect Amazon Tokyo data center. When the IEPL service is about to expire, Amway will evaluate how to utilize Chief’s network services to enhance the efficiency of network deployment and maintenance.

For the Digital Technology Department, the data center relocation has also catalyzed a transformation within the team. The manpower previously dedicated to daily operation had been upgraded, allowing them to focus on the creation of business scenarios and new business models. Harrison Kuo indicated that in addition to leveraging Chief’s services, Amway will continue to deepen our cooperation with sales teams and proactively prepare in the technology landscape as the environmental, timing, and expectations mature.

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