From 42 to 15 servers. The media house streamlines its IT.

More resilience in the challenging media business with "hybrid cloud"

The media world is under pressure. Especially for regional media that are close to the people, print will continue to play an important role in the future.

The Zürcher Oberland Medien AG believes this, but does not close its eyes to the tougher environment. It therefore wanted to modernise and streamline its previously on-site ICT infrastructure and move its entire office operations to the cloud. At Zürcher Oberland Medien AG, this was made possible by the more than year-long "ZOM2CLOUD" project with Baggenstos.

After completion in February 2025, it became clear that the regional media company's new hybrid cloud infrastructure minimised dependencies, clearly defined responsibility for the production applications and increased the availability of newspaper production. At the same time, ICT operating costs fell. Technically, the Baggenstos specialists solved this by consistently using 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, now follows 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, affected 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 of the Zürcher Oberland.

In the following clip, Ralph Brechlin, CEO of Zürcher Oberland Medien, talks about the requirements, the path to the new solution and the collaboration with Baggenstos.

Zürcher Oberland Medien AG

The leading media house in the Zürcher Oberland, based in Wetzikon, reaches more than one hundred thousand readers in the Zürcher Oberland region with its regional print and digital media. Its best-known media are the Zürcher Oberländer and the Anzeiger von Uster as well as the news portal zueriost.ch.

{{Referenz (/zom) | Ralph Brechlin}}

{{Referenz (/zom) | Roman Mordasini}}

The project at a glance

Initial situation and objective

The previously on-premise server platform of Zürcher Oberland Medien needed to be renewed: the starting point for a detailed assessment by Baggenstos, which led to the definition of a target ICT architecture to be newly set up as a hybrid cloud. This was intended to resolve historically grown shortcomings such as unclear organisational 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.

Solution and implementation

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 operating a modern ICT infrastructure that encompasses both the sites and the cloud. The Baggenstos team supported the ZO Medien IT throughout the entire transition. The further steps:

M365

• Microsoft Exchange, EX Online
• Implementation of Teams

Client Management

• Modernisation of the clients
• Implementation of MS Intune
• Increase in client security

Azure

• Migration of the systems
• Refactoring
• Streamlining

Operation/Organisation

• Managed Services Baggenstos Support
• ZO Medien IT support

Results

The new, modern and standardised hybrid cloud solution relieves the sites of their own infrastructure and offers further core advantages:

Streamlining

• Reduction from 42 to 15 server systems
• Replacement of 25 servers with PaaS, SaaS or IaaS
• Reduction of complexity from the organisation to the tech stack
• No more hardware dependencies at the sites

Security

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Endpoint Server and for Office 365
• Modern identity and access management: multi-factor authentication with Conditional Access
• Clear SLAs, also for partner operations

Lower costs

• Financial added value such as Microsoft AMM Funding
• Savings through efficient operations
• Project completed 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 hours, also for employees
• Modern Workplace with mobile workplaces

Key figures

• 80 users and clients
• 15 server systems
• Operation Care operating service for IT infrastructure

Why Baggenstos

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, the Baggenstos specialists enjoy an excellent reputation for their analytical and project management skills.

Baggenstos anniversary talk with Ralph Brechlin - tradition meets innovation.

In this special conversation series on the occasion of our 100-year company anniversary, we look back together with Ralph Brechlin, CEO of Zürcher Oberland Medien, on a fascinating journey: from the transformation of a classic newspaper house into a digital media company - and on a partnership built on trust and innovation. Experience how IT and publishing come together - between printing presses and digitalisation.