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Northern Brewer

Northern Brewer reached out to Valtira to perform an assessment of their current IT and eCommerce infrastructure in preparation for their next stage of growth after being acquired by ZX Ventures, Anheuser-Busch’s disruptive growth unit.

DevOps Ecommerce

Need

Northern Brewer faced many technological challenges including a series of custom-built systems that ran the warehouse and connected different software systems together. As some of the systems were built and maintained internally, it was important to have a thoroughly documented IT infrastructure to allow for knowledge transfer as they moved to their next stage of growth.

Valtira was selected to lead the IT team through this technological and leadership transition.

Northern Brewer is the leading online retailer of homebrewing and winemaking kits and equipment in the country.

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Project Highlights

Infrastructure and eCommerce transition of disparate systems
Detailed analysis, documented designs, and formalized processes of the Magento eCommerce system, ERP, and Order/Warehouse Management Systems.

Enter Valtira

Via a series of stakeholder interviews and detailed reviews, Valtira analyzed Northern Brewer’s IT infrastructure and processes including the interaction between different departments and the current IT infrastructure. Valtira then delivered a detailed analysis, documented designs, and formalized processes to prepare for the migration. Components included the Magento-based eCommerce system as well as their NetSuite-based ERP and Order/Warehouse Management Systems.

In addition, Valtira provided maintenance and support services for their IT infrastructure that allowed Northern Brewer to rationalize their systems and move to a new eCommerce platform.

Streamline and Prepare for Scale

Valtira led the strategy and worked with Northern Brewer leadership to simplify their systems and prioritize IT work during the transition. During the same time, Valtira led some key initiatives including selecting and onboarding a Managed Service Provider and supporting their platforms from a DevOps / IT Director perspective.

In preparation for Black Friday, Valtira load tested and optimized their marketing and eCommerce systems in Amazon Web Services, removing historical pain points.

Northern Brewer VP of Marketing and eCommerce

“Valtira was instrumental in researching, documenting, and testing the complete technology infrastructure enabling a successful transition for Northern Brewer.”

Magento to Shopify Migration

During the planning process, Valtira and Northern Brewer worked together to migrate to Shopify as a better platform that would meet their growing needs. Valtira completed a high-level feasibility study to determine the best path forward including any roadblocks in their internal systems or deployed solutions.

Through the process of working with Valtira, Northern Brewer gained valuable insight on how to improve the management of their IT infrastructure and eCommerce platform — enabling them to plan the future needs of their growing business.