Moving from an on-premises environment to the cloud can be a daunting process for any organisation, particularly for a Build Environment organisation that needs to ensure secure access across teams and external parties.

By not being in the cloud, organisations can face a number of challenges including a lack of security,  limited scalability, maintenance and upgrade issues, limited accessibility, and the need for extensive hardware and infrastructure investments. All these challenges can result in slower development cycles, reduced agility, and limited collaboration across teams and external partners. In addition, on-premise infrastructure can be difficult and expensive to maintain, which can lead to a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) over time. Another challenge is the lack of flexibility and resilience to handle unexpected spikes in demand or traffic, which can result in downtime, reduced productivity, and lost revenue. Finally, on-premise infrastructure may not be able to keep up with the latest advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), which can limit innovation and competitive advantage.

These challenges can have a significant impact on business operations and productivity, particularly when it comes to large scale projects. In addition, not being in the cloud can also result in increased costs and reduced flexibility, which can impact an organisation’s ability to remain competitive in the market.

risual’s successful completion of the on-prem to Microsoft Azure migration project for the Build Environment client ensured that the organisation had a secure environment that could easily scale and support its business needs. The move to the cloud also ensured that the client had the latest technology and features at their fingertips, which improved overall productivity and collaboration across teams.

By moving to the cloud, the client could also take advantage of Microsoft’s Azure services, including Azure DevOps and Azure Machine Learning, which helped the client to further streamline its operations and increase efficiency. Overall, the successful migration to Azure ensured that the client could remain competitive in the market and achieve its business goals without the need for extensive hardware investments and maintenance costs.

Collaborative and secure work environment for thousands of employees

In collaboration with the client, risual identified the next steps in the organisation’s security journey. With over 5,000 employees and numerous third-party engagements, the client needed a way to create highly secure and confined environments for specific aspects of their operations. To address this challenge, the cloud migration project team worked on designing a secure and repeatable environment.

The team successfully created and implemented a secure Microsoft 365 environment for internal staff, which facilitated high collaboration across teams while providing a secure space for work, document saving, and sharing. The environment configuration by risual ensures that the client can quickly request for additional environments to be implemented by raising a ticket with the Managed Services team. These requests can be completed in a matter of hours using the original environment template.

Secure Microsoft 365 Implementation

In summary, here are the benefits:

  • Simple and time efficient to raise a request for a new environment and implement
  • Significant levels of automation during this M365 environment process
  • No additional cost or loss of human time during any future M365 environment implementations
  • Entirely secure environment for all internal staff
  • End users able to securely save, share and collaborate across all documents and devices
  • No down time and no loss of data during the cloud migration

The environment is entirely secure for all internal staff, providing a safe space to save, share, and collaborate on documents and devices. Furthermore, the cloud migration process was carried out with no downtime and no loss of data, ensuring a smooth transition to the new environment.

The successful implementation of the Secure Microsoft 365 Cloud has further strengthened the entire environment’s security, safeguarding it from potential cyber-threats. To validate the high level of security standards, the client underwent rigorous security audits, including an external PEN Test and the DART Test. The DART Test is a recognised industry-wide audit that showcases the organisation’s commitment to meeting high security standards.

If you liked this story please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Whether you want to discuss an idea or get a quote for a project – we can help and there is no obligation to purchase through us.

However, if you do wish to work with us. Across the wider Node4 Group we have extensive skills and capabilities to help your organisation along your transformation journey.

Alternatively, you can check out some of our latest content and resources available:

Transformation Clinic: Book a FREE 30 minute call with one of our Transformation Directors.

Cloud-Powered Sustainability Whitepaper. 

Cloud Transformation: More information.

CIO’s Blueprint for Cloud Whitepaper.

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