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Background
A business of around 100 employees providing accountancy and related services based in Ascot, was acquiring another smaller accountancy based in Wokingham, taking on their 15 employees and existing customers.
Objective
The goal was to integrate the software, functions and data from the acquired organisation’s infrastructure into the acquiring organisation with minimal downtime.
Challenges
- Data migration - Ensuring the smooth transfer of their data without security risks, loss or corruption was a significant challenge requiring meticulous planning.
- Training - Making sure the incoming employees knew how to use the new systems effectively and productively from day one following the acquisition was incredibly important
- Security - The majority of the incoming data was highly sensitive, so it was critical that the existing access rights were maintained
- Shift in Culture - Changing the way the incoming employees accessed and used applications required effective change management strategies to ensure a smooth transition.
Solution
Software
For each piece of software there were 3 different approaches:
- Where both organisations used the same software - import the application data only
- Where the larger organisation had different software to carry out the same functionality - convert and import the data
- Where the larger organisation didn’t have comparable software - Implement the software and import the data
Microsoft 365
Both organisations used Microsoft 365 for their email, and made use of Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. We would migrate the email, SharePoint and OneDrive content from the acquired organisation into the acquiring organisation. They did not want to import the Teams chats and posts.
Website
We would setup a redirect from the acquired organisation’s website to a blog post on the acquiring organisation’s website about the acquisition.
Integrating the two organisations
- Assessment and planning
- We conducted a thorough assessment of both organisations systems and infrastructure to determine what software and functions were being used and the resource requirements of each
- We audited the access rights on their existing files/folders
- We developed a detailed multi-phase migration plan, including timelines, licensing, resource allocation and risk mitigation strategies
- Both organisations used the same practice management software (CCH Central). Wolters Kluwer (the software vendor) would project manage that migration and we would assist where needed.
- Training
- Prior to each migration we carried out a training session on the changes, how they would work going forward, a few other common scenarios and who to contact if anything didn’t work post-migration
- Data migration
- To satisfy security requirements, we setup an IPSEC VPN between each organisation to encrypt the data being transferred
- To minimise disruption we carried out each migration overnight, or the larger migrations over a weekend
- Validated the migrated data against the source to verify everything had been transferred
- Post-implementation support
- Prior to each migration we briefed our helpdesk team on the changes
- Following each migration we had an engineer on standby just in case there were any issues
Results
- Incoming employees were fully productive throughout the entire migration
- Decreased total costs from removing the now redundant infrastructure in the acquired organisation
I hope this case study helps! If you would like to undertake a similar project please contact us on 01344 567 990 to discuss how we can help.
