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Rakuten Cloud Migration Case Study

The journey From Self Hosted Version To Atlassian Cloud

How Empyra helped Rakuten migrate to the Atlassian Cloud and enforce 2FA while saving on infrastructure costs.

About Rakuten
e-commerce company

Rakuten Group, Inc. is Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997.

Rakuten, is business-to-many e-commerce platforms and one of the largest e-commerce sites in Japan, its businesses include financial services utilizing fintech, as well as digital content and communications services such as messaging apps Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan’s fourth largest mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten has 14,826 employees worldwide, operating in 29 countries and regions, and is often referred to as the “Amazon of Japan”.

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Problem Statement

Self-hosted Version

Rakuten Rewards was using the self-hosted version of the Atlassian products and wanted to shift to the Cloud to enforce Single Sign-On for their users.

Unable To Access

Rakuten wanted to take advantage of the various security features offered with the Atlassian Cloud and Atlassian Access.

Enforcing Policies Was Difficult

Rakuten Rewards was owned multiple domains associated with Rakuten so enforcing stringent security policies was a challenge for them.

Environment Upgrade Requirement

Rakuten planned to upgrade its environment to the latest self-hosted version to stay updated and aligned with evolving system requirements.

Increased On-Premises User Tier Due to Duplicate Accounts

The upgrade required moving to the next on-premises user tier, primarily driven by a growing number of duplicate user accounts, which increased overall user count.

Solution Delivered By Empyra

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Zero-Downtime Cloud Migration

Successfully migrated from Server to Cloud without business disruption, ensuring zero downtime during the transition.

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Complete Migration of Atlassian Assets

Seamlessly migrated all Atlassian assets along with critical data to maintain continuity and integrity.

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Centralized Identity & Security with Okta & Atlassian Access

Implemented Single Sign-On (SSO) across all Atlassian products using Okta and deployed Atlassian Access for enhanced security, including 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication).

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App Optimization & Cost Consolidation

Optimized third-party app usage by consolidating similar apps, eliminating duplicate functionality, and reducing unnecessary costs.

The Challenges

Rakuten has more than 14,826 employees worldwide, operating in 29 countries and regions – one of the biggest challenges was to ensure their system is protected from security breaches.

Fast-growing businesses such as Rakuten with a worldwide customer base cannot afford to have downtime. They use multiple domains (Rakuten.com, ebates.com, 3rd. party domains, etc.), and implementing Single sign-on along with 2FA (two-factor authentication) was a major challenge.

Migrating to the cloud with potentially zero data risk was of utmost priority. They needed an expert partner to help to plan, execute and support the strategic transition of their business/operations environment to the Atlassian cloud.

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Delivering The Solution - Requirements gathering

Empyra’s consultants spent a substantial amount of time finding the right solution to suit the needs and maintain transparency with stakeholders of Rakuten.

Our experts followed the standard process from initial requirements and then examined the more complex elements, including the need to consolidate 3rd party apps that were in use.

Requirement gathering involved:

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Usability of Plugins to Enhance Cloud Features

Assessing the usability of plugins to effectively enhance and extend cloud features during the migration process.

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Identifying Required Plugin/App Availability in Cloud

Verifying the availability of all required plugins/apps in the Cloud version to ensure functional continuity.

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Migration Pathway vs. Manual Reconfiguration for Plugins

Identifying which plugins/apps have a defined migration pathway and which require manual reconfiguration post-migration.
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Appropriate Licensing for Required Products

Considering and finalizing the appropriate licensing for all required products to ensure compliance and optimized usage.
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Defining the Migration Timeline

Establishing a clear and structured timeline to execute the migration efficiently and without disruption.
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User Consolidation Across Domains for Atlassian Access

Consolidating users across different domains in Rakuten and aligning them across domains for the successful implementation of Atlassian Access.

Implementing the Solution

The Atlassian Access was a major roadblock for Rakuten as they were using multiple domains. Due to this, enforcing security policies and 2FA was a nightmare.

Empyra saw it as an opportunity and after assessing all the requirements we agreed on the approach to be followed.

  • Migrated Jira Software using site-level migration.

  • Conducted two dry run migrations to ensure desired results can be achieved.
  • After the final Data Migration, the environment was turned over to the customer for a formal UAT.
  • After customer review, we fixed the outstanding issues.
  • Trained users in the Cloud environment on the new UI.

Benefits Delivered

The Success criteria for this migration project were unique. Empyra integrated Atlassian Access across multiple domains and migrated the Rakuten Rewards division to the Cloud.

We followed the standard process to make a quick transition as efficiently as possible with no downtime to the organization. Prior to this engagement, Rakuten has been operating on the sole data center/ Self-hosted shop and none of the Rakuten companies had ever used the SaaS model.

Empyra provided Rakuten with a customized solution within a 4 month timeframe, because of this Rakuten Rewards division gained a lot of attention from businesses as well as from their customers.

Near-zero downtime without business disruption.

Enhanced security & Cost Saving by optimization of license usage.

Eliminated redundant third-party apps.

Customized solution to suit the exact feature requirements

How Empyra Made The Difference?

Rakuten is now able to enforce 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) security policies across the board without issue. Also, Empyra helped Rakuten to have successfully reduced the load on their infrastructure team since they no longer need to host the products themselves. Rakuten also enjoys the benefit of receiving the latest patches and fixes to the software without manual upgrades, leaving little to no vulnerabilities in their business operations.

* Rakuten is a trademark of Rakuten Group, Inc.

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What Our Customers Have to Say

"Empyra has been extremely helpful in getting Cohen & Company’s Atlassian environments up and running. They have been able to provide great guidance in the options available and also have been able to execute on implementation of those options in a timely and effective manner. They have helped us bring in other departments outside of IT to utilize the service desk options to manage requests and workflows with great reviews from those teams."

Chief Technology Officer

Cohen and Company

"The Empyra consultant has allowed us to take the use of Atlassian's Jira product to new levels across the organization, providing significant improvements in workflows in IT as well as many Finance and Operations teams. There have been some complex requests that Empyra have dealt with, and all have been completed professionally, collaboratively, and efficiently. Empyra have always been super responsive, and are keen to work with the various OTC teams to solve their individual business needs."

Roger Abrahams, Senior Vice President - IT

OTC Industrial Technologies

"As our exclusive Atlassian partner, we brought Empyra in to plan, execute and manage our Atlassian migration to the cloud. From pre to post migration activities and support, Empyra was there to support our project team every step of the way. The migration went as smoothly as possible, and there was no major impact to our business operations."

Sr. Manager, Portfolio Management

"I was very pleased with the consistent can-do attitude the Empyra team brought to each meeting, they quickly came up with solutions, suggestions, recommendations on our various challenges and pitfalls during the migration. My team and I really appreciated that the Empyra team made themselves available 24/7 to troubleshoot with us or answered any questions raised in a timely manner."

Sr. Manager, Portfolio Management

"I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Empyra team for their exceptional support during our migration of Confluence and Jira from server to cloud including 14 managed apps. Their expertise and dedication were instrumental in navigating this complex transition smoothly. We truly couldn't have achieved this milestone without their guidance and hard work. Their efforts were a crucial factor in the success of our migration project, and we are deeply appreciative of their partnership. Thank you, Empyra, for being such a reliable and effective ally in our journey to the cloud!"

Gavi Ornelas-Morales, Tools Support, Supervisor

University of California Office of the President

"monday.com and Empyra provided us with a scalable solution that allows my team to respond quickly to client requests. Additionally, the user-friendly UI with improved workflows helped our underwriting team manage the business in one platform alongside business development. Empyra has done a wonderful job and I envision a long-term relationship on a go-forward basis."

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Daniel Cottrel

Managing Partner, VasarcaRx

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