Cloud Technology Helps Drive UPS
UPS' CIO, Juan Perez reveals how cloud technology is driving the company's success.
Petabytes, mainframes, tier-four data, the cloud; it’s not just technological mumbo-jumbo but the science behind getting your packages delivered on time.
For UPS (NYSE:UPS), technology is the backbone of global business. With a reported annual revenue of $48.9 billion and over 4.7 billion packages delivered annually, for UPS, information technology is more than just emails.
FOXBusiness.com got a special look behind the curtain at the UPS Global Computer Operation, inside the company’s Ramapo Ridge Data Center in Mahwah, New Jersey. It’s there that UPS manages all of its technology that reaches across the organization.
“Visibility, shipping systems, and of course internal technologies that support our drivers and operations around the world,” Juan Perez, Chief Information Officer for UPS tells FOXBusiness.com
The company’s technology and use of the digital clouds help drive business as it supports more than 444,000 employees operating in more than 220 countries and territories.
“We use cloud as a mechanism to develop applications faster, to be able to scale more effectively, and manage the cost of development so that we can continue to build additional technologies in the future” Perez said.
Every day, UPS delivers 18.3 million packages and documents, but during peak holiday season, that number more than doubles to 30 million. To accommodate that extra volume, the company will bring on about 95,000 seasonal employees.
“We have to have the ability to scale our systems rapidly, to not only those temporary employees but all other employees across the company,” Perez said.
While it’s the focus of its business, UPS isn’t just delivering packages; it’s coordinating global air traffic, predicting weather patterns, foreseeing and fixing delays as well as handling any daily issues that arise. Thanks to the cloud and exciting new advancements, including on-bard GPS tracking, artificial intelligence and the ability for UPS to operate more efficiently and rectify any situations that may arise quicker.
"[UPS] is no longer just a package delivery company, today UPS is truly a technology company."
"For us to be able to develop applications and solutions faster in the years to come, we will have to take full advantage of cloud technologies," Perez said.
Security, including investments in encryption, security operations and monitoring, is key for Perez and his team.
UPS plans to use the cloud and ever-evolving technology to propel it into the future.
“[UPS] is no longer just a package delivery company, today UPS is truly a technology company” Perez said.
Be sure to watch Juan Perez’s full interview above and a first-look at the data centers inner workings.
This is part of FOXBusiness.com’s Industry Forecast series that deep dives into cloud innovations across global businesses.