
Die Zürcher Oberland Medien AG hat ihre IT-Infrastruktur modernisiert und in die hybride Cloud verlegt – zur Sicherung der Zukunft regionaler Medien.
The media world is under pressure. Print will continue to play an important role in the future, especially for regional media that are close to the people.
Zürcher Oberland Medien AG believes this, but is not closing its eyes to the tougher environment. It therefore wanted to modernise and streamline its ICT infrastructure, which had previously been operated on site, and move its entire office operations to the cloud. This was made possible at Zürcher Oberland Medien AG by the ‘ZOM2CLOUD’ project with Baggenstos, which lasted over a year.
After completion in February 2025, it became clear that the regional media company's new hybrid cloud infrastructure minimised dependencies, clearly defined responsibility for production applications and increased the availability of newspaper production. At the same time, ICT operating costs were reduced. In technical terms, the specialists at Baggenstos solved this by consistently utilising PaaS services and standard cloud services such as Intune, Teams Enterprise Voice, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and OneDrive.
The changes in the organisation are noticeable: collaboration within the media group, which is headquartered in Wetzikon and has sites in Wila and Dübendorf, is now based on the modern work approach. IT risks at the sites have been minimised and high security standards have been introduced.
The project received top marks from the customer, especially as it was complex, involved numerous historically grown systems and processes, business applications had to be migrated and newspaper production could not be impaired. Conclusion: New forces have been released for the further development of the regional daily and weekly media in the Zurich Oberland.
The leading media company in the Zurich Oberland, based in Wetzikon, reaches over one hundred thousand readers in the Zurich Oberland region with its regional print and digital media. The best-known media are the Zürcher Oberländer and the Anzeiger von Uster as well as the news portal zo-online.ch.
Ralph Brechlin, CEO Zürcher Oberland Medien AG
«The analytical skills of the Baggenstos specialists have enabled us to achieve a standardised, simpler and more cost-effective ICT infrastructure - and thus also greater security and resilience in the changing media environment.»
Roman Mordasini, CFO Zürcher Oberland Medien AG
«The ‘ZOM2Cloud’ project shows how a well-planned and executed IT transformation can lead to significant improvements in a company's efficiency and security. Thanks to the very high availability of Baggenstos employees, it was possible to react quickly even in difficult situations and solve problems efficiently and quickly.»
Zürcher Oberland Medien's server platform, which previously ran on-premise, needed to be modernised: The starting point was a detailed assessment by Baggenstos, which led to the definition of a target ICT architecture that was to be set up as a hybrid cloud. The aim was to eliminate historically grown inadequacies such as unclear organisational framework conditions and IT requirements and a mix of different security systems and solutions from various manufacturers. In short: a modern, standardised and highly secure infrastructure for trouble-free newspaper production was to be created.
It all began with a comprehensive ICT assessment from a technical and organisational perspective with a view to the company's business processes. The aim was to jointly develop a mindset for the operation of a modern ICT infrastructure that encompasses sites and the cloud. The Baggenstos team supported ZO-Medien IT throughout the entire transition. The next steps:
M365
Microsoft Exchange, EX Online
Implementation Teams
Client Management
Modernisation of the clients
Implementation of MS Intune
Increasing client security
Azure
Migration of the systems
Refactoring
Streamlining
Operation/Organisation
Managed Services Baggenstos Support
ZO-Medien IT Support
The new, modern and standardised hybrid cloud solution relieves the locations of their own infrastructure and offers further key benefits:
Streamlining
Reduction from 42 to 15 server systems
Replacement of 25 servers with PaaS, SaaS or IaaS
Reduction in complexity from the organisation to the tech stack
No more hardware dependencies at the locations
Security
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Endpoint Server and for Office 365
Modern identity and access management: multi-factor authentication with conditional access
Clear SLAs for partner companies too
Lower costs
Financial added value such as Microsoft AMM Funding
Savings effects through efficient operation
Project completion on time and within budget
More collaboration
Efficient project collaboration between Baggenstos and the ZO Medien IT and management
Functioning IT support with clear service times, including for employees
Modern workplace with mobile workstations
80 users and clients
15 server systems
Operation Care service for IT infrastructure
Zürcher Oberland Medien AG chose Baggenstos because the Microsoft cloud expert was able to offer a modern, standardised cloud solution that reduces complexity and hardware IT infrastructure. In addition, Baggenstos' specialists enjoy a very good reputation for their analysis and project management skills.
References from Baggenstos: Expertise for new and better business processes