Table of contents
About the client
A UK-based organisation specialising in professional development and certification. With approximately 130 employees, the organisation had been experiencing steady growth, but its ageing IT infrastructure had become a growing concern.
Business challenge
In early 2024, the organisation recognised the need for operational and cost-effective improvements due to high IT costs caused by unstructured and non-standardised procedures for software acquisition and management. The IT environment consisted of legacy, custom-built systems that didn’t always communicate effectively, which had previously led to inefficiencies, manual workarounds, and data silos across the organisation. To address this issue, the client sought a comprehensive analysis aimed at streamlining IT processes, reducing costs, and enhancing operational efficiency.
Identifying key areas for optimisation
Our collaboration began with a series of workshops to understand the client’s current systems and challenges.
During the analysis phase, it became clear that client’s IT systems needed to be unified. We discovered that their systems were scattered across multiple external vendors, managing everything from cloud infrastructure to bespoke software. The client was paying high licensing fees for outdated software, while internal processes like invoicing involved complex workarounds.
Based on our findings, we provided the following key recommendations:
- IT Cost Optimisation: By consolidating external IT partners and replacing multiple bespoke systems with a unified platform – Microsoft Dynamics 365. This shift would not only simplify processes but also reduce maintenance costs.
- Data Management: We recommended implementing a comprehensive data management solution using Microsoft Fabric to centralise data and enable real-time reporting and insights, significantly reducing manual processes and errors.
- Cloud Infrastructure Support: Instead of migrating or creating new cloud infrastructure, we proposed taking over the support and maintenance of client’s existing cloud environment, ensuring efficient management and cost savings.
- System Unification: To address the fragmented IT landscape, we suggested adopting a single vendor solution to simplify system management and lower costs. This included modernising their core systems responsible for finance, CRM, and data management.
Cost optimisation for maximum business value
The financial analysis in our report showed that implementing our recommendations led to substantial savings in IT maintenance costs. For example, a legacy system was replaced with a more efficient solution, reducing expenses by as much as 90%.
Multidisciplinary approach
During the project stage, we created a detailed plan to systematically organise knowledge about the identified challenges and structure them into key areas requiring improvement. This approach enabled us to identify the relevant individuals, departments, and partners to consult and collaborate with in exploring potential solutions.
We leveraged both our technological know-how and experience with similar projects, while also closely collaborating with Data specialists, Microsoft Dynamics experts and other industry professionals to ensure a comprehensive approach to the project.