From the cloud-native approach to cloud-agnostic
A mature platform forms the core of customer processes.
Douglas's CRM platform processes all customer transactions from online and in-store business and serves as the foundation for marketing and loyalty campaigns. Architecturally, it is divided into microservices that handle functions such as transaction processing, bonus point calculation, or data provision. In 2024, the strategic decision was made to migrate the existing Microsoft Azure infrastructure to Google Cloud. The goal was to optimize costs, ensure scalability, and increase flexibility for future requirements.
We have a very diverse target audience with different needs.
Marc Rüsing, Director Marketing Performance at the Douglas Group
Starting situation for the CRM platform modernization
Technological limitations of the existing infrastructure necessitated a realignment.
Douglas operates a central CRM platform that processes all customer transactions from online and in-store business. It forms the basis for marketing, loyalty, and sales activities and supplies numerous internal systems with relevant data.
As system complexity and data volume increased, the existing architecture reached its limits. Operating on Microsoft Azure incurred high costs and limited flexibility for further development. To make the platform future-proof and scalable, the decision was made in 2024 to migrate the entire CRM infrastructure to Google Cloud. This was intended to create a modern, cost-effective, and adaptable foundation for the future system landscape.
Challenges in CRM Platform Migration
Live migration: technical complexity and high stability requirements.
The cloud-to-cloud migration at Douglas required close coordination between numerous teams and systems. Ongoing operations could not be impacted at any time while central infrastructure components were being rebuilt.
Cloud-agnostic solution for a scalable future
Central architecture with shared development by Douglas and evia.
Together with Douglas, we developed a cloud-agnostic architecture that allows the CRM platform to operate independently of a single cloud provider. The goal was to bundle all central infrastructure topics – such as logging, monitoring, messaging, and configuration management – into a unified abstraction layer.
As part of the collaboration, a modular solution was developed that allows microservices to be operated flexibly and securely in different cloud environments. For the implementation, a joint development team comprising evia architects and Douglas engineers was assembled, who were responsible for the technical specification, implementation, and integration of the new components.
By building this central layer, all services could be migrated to the new environment with minimal customization. In parallel, a modern observability environment with Instana, Grafana, and Loki was integrated to ensure end-to-end system monitoring. The solution thus created the foundation for a stable, scalable, and future-proof infrastructure.“
Benefits of Cloud-Agnostic Architecture
More flexibility, lower costs, and future-proof infrastructure.
Scalability
Performance
Automation
The unified abstraction layer made it possible to reduce redundant processes and automate deployments. The architecture enables more efficient use of resources while significantly reducing operating costs.
Cloud Flexibility
Vendor independence
Innovation
The solution allows the CRM platform to operate independently of the cloud provider. This enables Douglas to react flexibly to market changes, integrate new technologies, and ensure the long-term development of the platform.
Monitoring
Observable
Reliability
With the introduction of modern monitoring and logging tools, transparency regarding system states has been significantly improved. Error sources can be identified faster, which increases the stability and availability of services.
Team coordination
Standardization
Process clarity
The unified infrastructure promotes collaboration between teams and reduces coordination effort. Standardized processes accelerate future deployments and simplify the scaling of new services.
German 
English