Cloud Transformation Case Study

How we led a multi-state retirement living and aged care provider with more than 1,000 staff from on-premise systems to Microsoft Azure, from tender to handover

Core business systems moved from on-premise servers to Microsoft Azure

The Project

A retirement living and aged care provider operating across several states was running its core systems on on-premise infrastructure. With more than 1,000 staff across many sites, any change had to be carefully planned: resident services, finance, payroll and day-to-day operations all depended on those systems.

Kenomont acted as the client’s chief consultant from start to finish: defining the problem, writing the proposal, running the tender and vendor selection, then directing the chosen IT provider’s engineering team as the client’s technical authority through implementation, cutover and handover.

We also designed and built two business applications the organisation still uses every day: BuildBetter, for raising and approving purchase orders across the business, and SellBetter, for managing its home sales process.

The Starting Point

What the organisation needed to solve.

  • Core systems running on on-premise infrastructure across a multi-state business
  • More than 1,000 staff relying on those systems every day
  • Nobody inside the business with the time and experience to lead a project of this size
  • A large technical vendor to select, brief and hold to account
  • Statutory requirements around telecommunications services for residents
  • A need to hand everything over to a permanent in-house team at the end

What We Did

Leading the client side of a company-wide move to the cloud.

Defined the problem

Worked with executives and business units to set out what needed to change and why, and wrote the proposal for the move.

Ran the tender

Prepared the Expression of Interest and tender documents with the client and a tender and contract lawyer, then shortlisted and evaluated vendors on technical merit and delivery capability.

Client-side technical authority

Directed the selected IT provider’s engineering team as product owner: setting requirements, approving design documents and pushing back where designs didn’t meet the brief.

Managed delivery in the open

Regular delivery meetings and Kanban boards, with work streams adjusted with the client as priorities moved.

Hands-on through cutover

Worked alongside the technical team through the move to Microsoft Azure, resolving issues for staff across business units as they surfaced.

Handed over to a permanent team

Recruited the permanent IT Manager and handed over the system, documentation and the forward project pipeline.

The Result

A business that runs on modern systems and owns them.

1

Core systems in Microsoft Azure

The organisation’s core systems moved from on-premise infrastructure to Microsoft Azure, company-wide.

2

Lower running costs

Typical savings can be around 30% when moving from on-premises to the cloud, depending on the starting point.

3

Owned in-house

A permanent IT Manager in place, with documentation and a forward project pipeline, so the business isn’t dependent on outsiders.

4

Business applications that keep running

BuildBetter and SellBetter remain in daily use, enhanced over more than a decade as the business changed.

Planning a move of your own business systems? See digital transformation and fractional CTO.

Common Questions

Working out which systems and data move, in what order and to what platform; choosing and briefing the provider; moving and checking the data; reconnecting the systems that talk to each other; and running old and new side by side until the business is confident. The technology is only part of it; planning, people and handover matter as much.

For a large change, it helps to have someone on your side of the table: setting the requirements, checking designs and quotes, and holding the provider to the brief. That is the role we played here, as the client’s technical authority.

A clear statement of what you need, a structured tender, and evaluation on technical merit and delivery capability rather than price alone. We prepared the tender documents with a tender and contract lawyer and advised the client through selection.

Each one is assessed: moved as it is, connected to the new platform, or replaced. Business applications that work well, like the purchase order and home sales systems in this project, can keep running and keep improving.

No. We lead the business systems side of a move to the cloud: requirements, vendors, data and integration. Day-to-day IT support stays with your IT provider or in-house team, and we work alongside them.

Each project is scoped and given a fixed quote after a free initial chat. For ongoing leadership of a larger programme, a fractional CTO arrangement on a fixed monthly fee is often the better fit.

Related: digital transformation consultant, fractional CTO, legacy system migration and more of our work.

Planning a Move to the Cloud?

Tell us where your systems run today and what you want to change. We’ll tell you honestly what a move involves and where we’d start.

Free initial chat. No sales pressure - if we're not the right fit, we'll say so.

Prefer to talk? Call 1300 470 091

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See also