QNET started in the Philippines in 1998 as an e-commerce platform offering two products. Twenty-three years later, the direct selling company spans Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, offering a broad range of health, wellness, travel, and educational products. “QNET relies on technology for its business,” says Ked Mardemootoo, QNET’s cloud infrastructure manager. To keep up with the ever-evolving demands of the e-commerce industry and consumer protection, QNET utilizes the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.
QNET’s been a long-time Microsoft customer. In April 2021, the company migrated from an on-site IT infrastructure to the Azure cloud to support new market expansion. Employees embraced the update. “At QNET, we believe strongly in enabling and developing our own people. So, we invested in Azure and in training our own staff to achieve remarkable results. As a result, the morale and the energy of the team are now completely transformed. They are motivated and raring to try new things!” explains Ivan Woo, chief information officer at QNET. “Young talent drove this transformation. Our teams in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand also played a key role, and I couldn’t be prouder of how well they all worked together seamlessly, transforming, and growing themselves in the process.”
Accelerating business agility
QNET benefited immediately because their IT was able to respond to business changes quickly. “In a month, we completed an entire database upgrade, which would have taken longer and been a lot more stressful before,” says Mardemootoo. “In the cloud, the migration needed fewer resources, and the global teams from Germany to India were able to test through multiple scenarios rapidly to identify the best path.”
In the past, procuring servers to build a new application would have taken months; now, they are procured and provisioned in the cloud in days. As a result, scaling up to enter new markets or launching new features is faster than before, and customers benefit. Being on the cloud also means QNET can tap Azure’s other cloud-based solutions, such as Sentinel, a security and incident event management solution that uses advanced artificial intelligence and security analytics to catch security breaches swiftly.
Azure’s been an asset throughout the pandemic. During lockdowns, QNET shifted more than 1,000 employees across eight countries to work from home within 72 hours. In addition, the direct selling company enabled secure remote work where needed via scalable Azure Virtual Desktop. In comparison, QNET could have handled only 100 people working remotely with the previous infrastructure, negatively impacting business operations.
Limitless potential to economize
Azure helps QNET reduce operating expenses. In the past, the company relied on two outsourced operations centers, which monitored only 20% of its network and security accesses. Today, costs are reduced by 65%, while Azure monitors all infrastructure and collects logs, and the Azure Logic apps have automated the workflow. Also, the Azure Security Centre lets the firm measure its security via a Secure Score. The company has used these Microsoft tools to enhance efficiency and analyze customer behavior on the website.
Communication networking costs decreased by 96% after switching from a virtual private network (VPN) to Azure Virtual WAN. These changes encourage collaboration across international teams in a more cost-effective way. More importantly, QNET has the ability to onboard a new country in only 10 minutes, instead of 1-2 months.
“Azure provides us with the flexibility, scalability, and agility to try out new ideas without worrying about breaking IT systems or disrupting business operations,” says Mardemootoo. “Our energies can then focus on supporting and developing business and anticipating the trends.”
Learn more about QNET: https://www.qnetindia.in/
