Success story Ontex

Transforming fragmented IT systems into a unified, high-performance cloud environment

Ontex Transforms Its IT Landscape with a High-Performance Cloud

Published : Mon, 08/11/2025 - 5 minutes read

Since its founding in Belgium in 1979, Ontex has established itself as a major player in personal hygiene internationally. Listed on the stock exchange since 2014, the group now distributes its products in more than 100 countries. Until recently, this success story was underpinned by a major IT challenge: an obsolete IT landscape with local IT silos. To sustain its growth, Ontex needed to streamline and modernize its infrastructure.

The solution? A six-year strategic partnership with Inetum. On June 30, 2025, with the completion of the first stage of this massive migration to the private cloud and integration into Inetum Belgium's rCloud architecture, this transformation perfectly illustrates the challenges of Industry 4.0.

Understanding the challenges behind Ontex’s outdated and siloed IT environment

An IT landscape in need of reinvention

The initial situation was fraught with risk: Ontex was made up of powerful local “IT kingdoms,” some of which had global impact. For CIO Stijn Raemdonck, the solution was clear: IT needed to be streamlined to create a more agile operating model capable of adapting quickly to market developments such as acquisitions or divestitures. The challenge was twofold: dynamically adjusting costs while building a solid business case to convince internal stakeholders. Ontex was looking for a strategic partner, not just a technical service provider.

How shifting to the cloud became essential for resilience, agility, and cost control

Cloud migration at the heart of the strategy

Constrained by a central infrastructure that was reaching the end of its life — “the hardware was approaching the end of its lifecycle, and due to its age, existing maintenance contracts could no longer be extended,” explains Peter Hamerlinck, project manager at Inetum who led the operation — Ontex had to make a decision: invest heavily in a new data center or migrate to a cloud solution. “We were entrusted with a real transformation mission: to take care of what was holding them back, so they could focus on their core business,” summarizes Peter Hamerlinck.

Ensuring business continuity while moving to a new cloud architecture

A technical migration... but without interruption

The core of the partnership is based on the migration of Ontex's central data center to Inetum's private cloud, rCloud, while the data centers at remote sites have remained in their original locations.

“We took over the management of all the data centers around the world, but only the main data center, which ran the critical applications, was physically migrated to our rCloud,” explains Peter Hamerlinck.

The operation took place in two stages: taking over global operations in January 2025, followed by the complete migration of the central data center by June 30. “They had to vacate their old data center on July 1, so the time constraint was extremely tight,” he says.

The entire operation, which was technically very complex, involved nearly 80 Inetum employees. It took place without significant service disruptions, with only two maintenance windows scheduled on two Saturdays. “We couldn't afford to improvise. Everything was thoroughly tested beforehand,” explains Peter Hamerlinck.

This pilot is part of a broader initiative to modernize training practices in public transportation, where the AI agent may soon become an essential training partner for all front-line customer roles.

Seamless collaboration across countries and teams

A cross-border operational model

The project's originality also lies in its organizational model. The rollout relies on a combination of local teams in Belgium and experts in Portugal. This hybrid approach ensures 24/7 service continuity while optimizing costs and maintaining cultural alignment.

“The intensive collaboration between our teams in Belgium and Portugal and Ontex employees demonstrates how cross-border collaboration can amplify strengths,” emphasizes Peter Hamerlinck. This is a human aspect that goes beyond simple technical service.

The results speak for themselves. Ontex now benefits from a flexible IT operating model that evolves with the company. “Previously, scaling was a challenge and deployments were limited. Today, they are launching new projects thanks to the flexibility offered by the cloud architecture,” observes Peter Hamerlinck.

By taking over the full management for these critical IT functions, Inetum empowers Ontex to focus on its core priorities: growth, competitiveness, and sustainable innovation in personal hygiene.