How Maag Food keeps the Estonian food table crisis-proof

With over 2,000 employees, Maag Food is Estonia's largest food industry and also the country's biggest agricultural enterprise, whose products can be found on almost every Estonian's table – be it Rakvere sausage, Tallegg chicken fillet, Tere yogurt, or Farmi sour cream. The company's product portfolio offers something for nearly every consumer segment, regardless of preferences or restrictions.

But giant food production is more than just sausages and milk. Thanks to its production capacity, Maag Food is also a nationally critical organization that must ensure food supply even in crisis situations if necessary. The food industry also faces challenges such as swine fever, cyberattacks, and a constant era of crises.

With such reach and responsibility, traditional industrial thinking alone is not enough – rapid adaptation and strong IT capabilities are needed to ensure food reaches the table even in turbulent times.

Crisis resilience in an era of constant change

Maag Food is currently facing one of the biggest challenges in its history – due to swine fever, all sows at Ekseko, the largest pig farm in the Baltics, had to be culled. Ekseko has so far provided nearly half of Estonia's pork production, putting future supply reliability and production capacity under significant pressure. This is not just an economic blow, but a strategic issue: how to ensure food security when one company covers such a vital part of the country's supply.

In addition, Maag Food is undergoing an intensive restructuring period. Three years ago, the company acquired all Baltic operations from Finland's HKScan, and since then, there has been ongoing organizational development and integration of management, IT systems, and employees. The goal is to build a technologically capable and crisis-resilient system that connects dozens of farms and production sites across the Baltics.

According to the company's IT manager, this makes everyday work much more exciting than one might expect from a seemingly traditional food industry: “We have a young and bold management team that makes quick and dynamic decisions. We are not a classic corporation where decisions drag on for months. We are agile, fast, and brave.”

NIS2 Directive: not unnecessary bureaucracy but essential measures

As a nationally important service provider, Maag Food must comply with NIS2 cybersecurity requirements. “NIS2 does not seem like excessive bureaucracy to us; these measures are truly necessary. Cybercrime is a major threat, and falling into its trap is very easy. We have already had direct encounters with cyberattacks,” explains Maag Food's IT manager.

Therefore, for Maag Food, NIS2 does not mean unnecessary paperwork, but practical actions that ensure the company's reliability even in crisis situations. Systematic implementation of security measures and data protection have become an integral part of production.

Double protection – network connectivity provided by 2 service providers

Maag Food has dozens of locations across Estonia: production facilities in Rakvere, Põlva, and Viljandi, headquarters in Tallinn, warehouses in Tabasalu and Jüri, the Ekseko farm in Viljandi, and over 15 farms. Additionally, the company operates throughout the Baltics, with units in Latvia and Lithuania. All these must communicate smoothly to ensure food reaches the shelves. The invisible backbone of food production and the logistics chain is the internet connection, and if the connection fails, all production could come to a halt.

Therefore, Maag Food's network is built on the principles of reliability, flexibility, and risk diversification – every major location is equipped with at least two independent internet service providers. Maag Food chose Elisa as one of these strategic service providers.

“If something happens to one network connection, the other automatically takes over. This also ensures that the best possible connection is available throughout Estonia, because if one provider's network is weaker, the other can be used,” describes the company's IT manager.

The server turned out to be 2.5 times cheaper than expected

When Maag Food was looking for a partner to establish a new data center and server solution, the Elisa team surprised them with a truly customer-centric approach. “Together with Elisa specialists, we were able to create a solution that optimally met our needs and was significantly simpler compared to other providers – and, to be honest, several times cheaper. Elisa's specialists honestly said that, figuratively speaking, you don't need golden wheels or a sunroof if you can drive without them,” describes Maag Food's IT manager.

Ultimately, Elisa offered this solution to Maag Food as a rental service, meaning the servers are located in Maag's premises but are rented from Elisa. This means that as needs grow or technology evolves, the equipment can be easily updated. The result is a practical, reliable, and flexible solution.

The future belongs to those who are prepared for it

Maag Food sees that crisis resilience and risk mitigation are here to stay. Modern production is so closely intertwined with IT that it is no longer just an abstract technical issue. If IT systems are down, sausage and milk won't reach the store.

“It is increasingly important to continuously strengthen information security – cyberattacks are not going away. It is also worth considering that data should not be centralized in one location, but accessible from multiple places both in Estonia and, for example, outside Estonia in case of war. This way, damage to one data center won't stop the entire company's operations,” shares the IT manager's tips.

Maag Food OÜ uses Elisa's fixed internet connection, mobile service, and server as a service. Are you also looking for a modern and secure IT partner for your large enterprise? Contact us and we will find solutions that support your business.