International accounting firm migrates to Azure to gain agility

The client is an international accountancy and advisory firm with over 250 offices worldwide that specializes in audit, accountancy, advisory, tax and legal services. With an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to create value at the heart of its DNA, it differentiates itself by the opportunities it offers its people, its approach to working with clients, and its passion for responsible business. The clientele ranges from small and medium-sized enterprises to mid-caps and global players, as well as start-ups and public organizations at every stage of development.

With impressive global growth comes major IT and infrastructure challenges. Its servers were humming from 9am until 5pm but sat unused the rest of the time, drawing on resources and requiring regular maintenance. In addition to its 17 UK offices, it had also acquired an Australian company and struggled with slow Citrix operating speeds between London and Australia.

The client had traditionally run its data center and infrastructure services for its global operations from its London offices. It needed to enable its end-users to work more flexibly and remotely, while using legacy applications, and it wanted to free up its small IT team to focus on business value services, such as its proprietary platforms that service its clients. The client decided that Microsoft Azure best solved those challenges and decided to migrate to the cloud.

With impressive global growth comes major IT and infrastructure challenges. Its servers were humming from 9am until 5pm but sat unused the rest of the time, drawing on resources and requiring regular maintenance. In addition to its 17 UK offices, it had also acquired an Australian company and struggled with slow Citrix operating speeds between London and Australia.

The client had traditionally run its data center and infrastructure services for its global operations from its London offices. It needed to enable its end-users to work more flexibly and remotely, while using legacy applications, and it wanted to free up its small IT team to focus on business value services, such as its proprietary platforms that service its clients. The client decided that Microsoft Azure best solved those challenges and decided to migrate to the cloud.

The client wanted a partner with experience in migrating and deploying on a global scale, because often that’s not as easy as flicking a switch. Ensono and Microsoft both have a deep understanding of modernizing an infrastructure.

Ensono utilized its Cloud Transform framework – specifically the Cloud Activate and Migrate stages. We began with a workshop and then designed a cloud blueprint and assessed application suitability for Azure, modeling IaaS cost structures and presenting options for re-platforming and cost control.

Leveraging the Ensono Cloud Transform framework gets the client to the cloud as quickly as possible and enables them to realize the benefits of cloud with a minimum amount of fuss. It’s all about time-to-value with as little disruption as possible.

The company worked on designing, implementing, and configuring a bespoke migration solution, utilizing Azure IaaS, Operations Management Suite, Citrix Cloud, Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility and Security, among other solutions.

The client states that choosing Ensono’s Managed Azure Service means no longer having to worry about servers, maintenance, or IT support. By mobilizing their apps into the cloud, they’re not so dependent on historic infrastructures.

As a result of the migration, the client experienced improved speed and availability for its 2,000 Citrix users globally, enhanced user experience, cost savings for real estate, and a competitive advantage by delivering client- specific apps from Azure. Ensono Envision – an IT insights platform –identified more than $50,000 in cost-saving opportunities through governance and optimization.