CLOUD MIGRATION

Solomon Taylor & Shaw (STS) is a firm of solicitors based in Hampstead, London NW3. STS is a boutique practice which specialises in commercial property, commercial and property litigation, corporate advice and private client work. Founded in Hampstead, nearly 40 years ago, STS enjoys a well-earned reputation for the quality of the services which it provides. 

Challenge

STS were looking for a highly available solution that would not only improve productivity, but also have business benefits, such as a reduction in hosting fees. T-Tech recommended a full upgrade of their core systems, to keep their technology aligned to the growing needs of the business.

Business challenges which led them to take on the project:

• Business continuously growing which meant they needed a more sustainable storage solution
• Maintenance of hosting fees not cost effective 
• Not enough time to take on the project without help or expertise

Solution

The main requirements:

• Move to a more cloud centric solution, Microsoft Azure, to give them better scalability, reliability, and better value for money
• Upgrade of their PC software in office to Windows 10
• Upgrade to a full Office 365 solution
• Laptop encryption to increase security

Once the project was signed off by senior management, the project started. Project communications between the account manager and STS before and during implementation, ensured a smooth running of the project.

The project was carried out after working hours at the end of the week, meaning the T-Tech team would work over the weekend to ensure minimum downtime and business as usual on Monday morning. During the works, all user PC’s were upgraded to Windows 10, all core business applications were migrated from a dated datacentre into a brand-new Azure IaaS solution, and all users were equipped with Office 365. Prior to go-live, all users took part in a full User Acceptance Testing (UAT) workshop, making users aware of the changes and giving them training in how to use the new applications.

After the work was successfully carried out, a Technical Service Consultant and Service Desk Engineer from T-Tech were on site at STS on launch day, to give training and support to users for their new systems.

Outcome

Inevitably, there were a couple of challenges during this project, but nothing that wasn’t remediated quickly or had any effect on users. There were some concerns with connectivity to deliver a new line during the Azure migration, prior to the go-live date. After looking at a few different solutions, T-Tech decided to replace the existing firewall with an Express Route, to get connectivity into Azure and resolve the connectivity issue.

Overall, considering the level of work required to carry out this project, it was a huge success. STS are delighted that the project was carried out with no downtime and that the transition was seamless.