SCAM: all opportunities within reach thanks to the public cloud

A foundation for innovation

“We operate from 48 sites across Wallonia,” says Lionel Van Dongen, interim CIO at SCAM. “It’s important for us to remain very close to our members and customers. We don’t want them to have to travel long distances to deliver their harvest or collect products.” Employees at all 48 sites rely on shared data and applications. “It’s essential that all information is available at every location.” To strengthen its capacity for innovation, SCAM asked Proximus NXT to review the existing set-up and develop a roadmap for the future.

“Our initial objective was to assess to what extent our organization was ready to implement innovative projects,” says Van Dongen. “We also wanted to make a considered decision about where we would build our future: in a private cloud or in the public cloud”. SCAM’s experience at the time was that the private cloud constrained the organization’s ability to launch innovative projects. “AI solutions, for example, were not an option within our private cloud environment.”

Lionel Van Dongen, interim CIO at SCAM

Close collaboration

Proximus NXT conducted a comprehensive IT landscape assessment of SCAM’s existing environment. It first analyzed the current infrastructure and the available documentation. Its experts then engaged in discussions with SCAM employees during workshops. The workshops were an integral component of the analysis. The environment was examined from several perspectives: technical, business, compliance, security, and corporate strategy.

This exercise resulted in several possible scenarios. Each scenario was accompanied by insights into costs, opportunities, and risks, along with a series of concrete recommendations. “Based on that information, it was decided to take the step toward the public cloud.”

SCAM’s decision was based on a combination of factors. Two aspects were decisive. The public cloud enables the organization to invest more, and more quickly, in innovation over the next two to five years, while maintaining strict cost control. “We chose to follow a best-practice approach,” says Van Dongen. “The public cloud allows us to use our IT resources more efficiently and flexibly, without having to invest heavily in infrastructure ourselves.”

Conditions for success

In practical terms, SCAM decided to migrate its existing environment – standardized on VMware and hosted in a private cloud – to Microsoft Azure, under the expert guidance of Proximus NXT. Particular attention was paid to the lift-and-shift of the most business-critical virtual machines, specifically those running SCAM’s ERP and CRM applications. The project also included the migration of the SD-WAN environment, built on Fortinet technology. Proximus NXT oversaw the migration and remained involved afterward to further optimize the new environment.

“There are two essential success factors in a migration project like this,” explains Van Dongen. “It must be completed on time and stay within budget.” Proximus NXT delivered on both counts. “However, because we are a cooperative, there is a third factor that matters to us: the satisfaction of our members.” For that reason, it was important for Proximus NXT and SCAM to maintain open communication throughout the entire project, including giving regular feedback on the progress achieved. “We measured the efficiency gains and shared those results with our members.”

Innovation takes shape

With the new environment in place as a foundation, SCAM is now planning targeted projects. The cooperative relies on Proximus NXT as an IT partner acting as a one-stop shop. “When we move to our new headquarters soon, we will rely on Proximus NXT for a broad range of solutions: access control, video, telephony, workplace services, and more.” In addition, several projects are planned that specifically depend on the public cloud. “Among other initiatives, we will begin working with AI to enhance the efficiency of our sales staff,” says Van Dongen.

SCAM also wants to explore how AI can support its affiliated agricultural businesses. “For example, AI could support smarter sowing, irrigation, and crop treatment.” Other innovative projects may further connect IT and agriculture. Many farmers have installed a significant number of solar panels. “The surplus energy they generate could potentially be used to power edge data centers, housed in containers next to the farm.”

Lionel Van Dongen studied political science at UCL and gained an MBA from the University of Oxford. After holding various roles in consulting and telco companies, he joined SCAM as interim CIO in 2025. Before joining SCAM, Lionel was responsible at AWS for developing partnerships for the FinOps business and for the EMEA region.

Lionel Van Dongen presented SCAM’s cloud migration during Think NXT 2025.

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SCAM (Société Coopérative Agricole de la Meuse)Opens a new window is a Walloon agricultural cooperative that supports agricultural businesses with products and services such as seeds, livestock feed, crop protection products, and fertilizers. It also takes delivery of and markets its members’ agricultural output. A total of 2,400 agricultural businesses are affiliated with SCAM and jointly own the cooperative. Together, they represent approximately 30% of the agricultural sector in Wallonia.