Comprehensive integration solution built on Microsoft Azure for Hedengren
CLIENT OVERVIEW
Hedengren is an expert in security and building technology, representing and manufacturing leading brands in the industry. The company helps its customers design and implement sustainable, secure and comfortable operating environments. Hedengren is a Finnish family-owned company established over 100 years ago. It has revenues of EUR 63 million and employs more than 200 people in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Estonia.
CHALLENGE
Warehouse transfer and future development required new integration solution
- Hedengren needed a comprehensive integration solution for its IT systems.
- The imminent transfer of product warehouse added urgency.
- The solution was also needed to support future development.
- The goal was to find an agile and cost-effective integral solution.
Hedengren had been developing its IT systems for decades as point-to-point solutions without a comprehensive integration architecture. The IT environment was therefore fragmented, and changes were difficult to implement. The company needed an integration solution that would support the development of its IT architecture in the coming years.
– In terms of technology, our goal was to find a suitable, agile solution that would enable new integrations, facilitate change management, and operate transparently so that potential errors would be revealed. We wanted a cost-effective solution, with costs determined by usage instead of licenses, says Tommy Kankkonen, IT Architect at Hedengren.
SOLUTION
Modern integration platform created with Azure, enhanced with Epical’s framework
- Integration solution was built from scratch with Microsoft Azure services.
- Epical’s Integration Platform for Azure framework accelerated the development.
- The solution is built on modern event-driven architecture.
- Azure Event Grid is the centre of the message flows.
- Azure Function Apps provides low latency in message transformations.
- The platform is easy to modify and extend thanks to event-driven architecture.
- Azure API Manager provides robust authentication and access management.
- All the Azure resources are managed by Infrastructure as a Code solution and automated via Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines running at Azure DevOps.
- Identical staging and production environments provide good disaster recovery capabilities.
Hedengren and Epical decided to build the integration solution with Microsoft Azure services. Epical used its own Integration Platform for Azure framework to accelerate the development. This enabled the rapid implementation of the project: development began in late 2025 and the solution was in production in February 2026.
– Building an integration platform from scratch was challenging, but with our framework we were able to complete the project on schedule with our small team. We also utilized AI to generate conversion codes, says Integration Solution Architect Marko Ikäheimo from Epical.
OUTCOMES AND BUSINESS IMPACT
Fast and broad implementation – failure was not an option
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- Hedengren’s new comprehensive integration solution enabled a major change in business.
- Business-critical integrations enabled transfer of warehouse operations.
- Sustainable and cost-effective solution: costs only incur for running integrations.
- Application development library speeds up development and modifying integrations
- Implementation faster and broader than original plan – 11 integrations already carried out instead of 6-7 integrations as planned for the first phase.
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The integration platform was immediately put to test with a major change in Hedengren’s business. Hedengren had decided to transfer its product warehouse to its partner Barona, which required seamless data exchange between Hedengren’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and Barona’s Warehouse Management System (WMS).
– The transfer of warehouse operations was critical from the perspectives of business and cash flow: if the warehouse doesn’t work, nothing works. Thus, failure was not an option, says Kankkonen.
The integration concept was validated together with Barona, considering the needs of both companies. The specification work began after this.
– First we reviewed the integration messages, their logic and business logic. Then we moved on to the technical definition, looking at the message content and field types. The design and modelling were completed in a few weeks, which was a top performance from all parties. The implementation phase began quickly after this, Kankkonen says.
PARTNERSHIP – WHY EPICAL?
Strong technical expertise, deep competence and agile approach
- Epical provided strong technical expertise meeting Hedengren’s needs.
- Deep competence in Azure Integration Services assured high quality.
- Excellent cooperation enabled meeting tight schedules.
- All parties agreed on agile, quick and high-quality implementation.
- Strong communication and openness were keys to success.
For partner in this project, Hedengren wanted a company of suitable size and agility that would provide capable experts to complement Hedengren’s own IT expertise. Epical met these needs. They designed the solution and implemented the critical integrations fast and with high quality.
The project was challenged by a tight schedule, which also meant that the specifications needed to be changed along the way. Success required good cooperation between several partners. In addition to Hedengren, Barona and Epical, the product warehouse transfer involved Hedengren’s EPC supplier and Barona’s WMS supplier.
– All parties had to be on the same page and agree on agile, quick and high-quality implementation. Strong communication and openness from day one helped us find a common way, says Kankkonen.
Hedengren had an external project manager in charge of the project. The project model was an agile approach, which included short workshops and daily follow-up meetings. Teams was used as the main communication channel and for storing the documentation and specifications.
