As part of a global Australian manufacturing firm’s journey toward digital transformation, improving operational efficiency, enhancing internal collaboration, and ensuring document accessibility, all while maintaining data security and proper data management, are key objectives.
With these goals in mind, NSN Infotech successfully led a SharePoint Online Migration Project involving 18TB of data. This migration project not only enhanced the firm’s operational efficiency but also contributed to a 60% reduction in the firm’s total cost of ownership.
With customers and sites across the globe, the firm wants a secure method for internal and external collaboration and file sharing with their customers and on-sit employees.
The firm recognizes that having a backup and recovery strategy in place is a critical aspect of their business. Consequently, employees sought to have backed-up versions of files, while management desired an off-site backup of their files and system to mitigate downtime in the event of an IT disaster.
The firm currently hosts 18TB of data on Azure servers. With such a large amount of data, monthly expenses for server maintenance have skyrocketed to AUD $20,000. The firm seeks a cost-effective solution while considering other needs.
Data Security
With 400-500 employees accessing files online across the globe, the firm aims to enhance security over its data and restrict employee access to only the data necessary for their job functions.
Data Management
With over 18TB of data and multiple ongoing projects, employees seek a more efficient method to search through a myriad of files and a suitable solution to better categorize each file.
“18TB of Data on our Azure Servers is costing us AUD$20,000 already.”
The team not only assessed their environment and file servers but also observed the volume of data accumulated over time and how employees access, use, and share these files.
Since the company is already using Microsoft 365 Business Premium, the best option for the firm was to leverage Microsoft SharePoint Online instead of purchasing cloud storage from elsewhere, as it is already included in their licenses. To craft the right solution for the firm, NSN Infotech conducted workshops, engaged in discussions with employees, and distributed surveys to better understand their workflows and current challenges.
Before the migration began, we held meetings & workshops to introduce SharePoint Online, explain its functionality, and ensure employees understood how secure the environment would be.
Before the migration began, we formed small teams who will test the new environment. This allowed us to assess what improvements needed and what adjustments were necessary to ensure a seamless transition for users once they migrated to the new system.
Achieving a seamless migration to SharePoint involves conducting the migration in phases, organized by department. We notified each department scheduled for migration well in advance, allowing ample time for them to adjust to the new environment while ensuring the secure migration of their files. The entire migration process was completed in a month and a half.
After the migration, as employees continued to adjust to the new system, the team conducted multiple workshops over the course of several months to address their queries and provide guidance on how to use the system properly.
To address the needs of the employees while maintaining security, the team segrigated the sharepoint online in to two sperated segments for file sharing: one for internal and one for external use.
For employees who want to share files externally, they must submit a ticket to the IT department. IT then creates a space in the external portion of the sharepoint online where employees can drag files from the internal folder and share them with the intended external recipient. With this new system in place on SharePoint online, management can ensure that data access is properly regulated, and external access is monitored.
With SharePoint Online, employees can now access previous versions of files, minimizing data loss and increasing efficiency, as accessing backup versions of files is now easier.
As part of the data backup and recovery strategy, our team utilized Avepoint for M365 for an off-site data backup of the entire system. This ensures that in the event of an IT disaster within Microsoft SharePoint online or Microsoft 365, company files will be secured.
Upon migrating 18TB of data to SharePoint Online from an Microsoft Azure based VM servers, the total cost of ownership decreased by 60%. Previously, the firm spent around AUD $20,000 monthly to maintain the servers, but with the migration the cost has been cut down to roughly AUD $12,000 monthly.
With 400-500 employees accessing files online across the globe, the firm aims to enhance security over its data and restrict employee access to only the data necessary for their job functions.
SharePoint’s Target Audience feature facilitates this goal. The new system’s structure involves segregating files by department and further dividing them into sub-folders. Access to files outside their department is granted on a per-need basis, ensuring that employees only have access to files relevant to their job functions. This approach enables management to exert control over sensitive data and reduces the likelihood of data breaches and insider threats.
With over 18TB of data, proper categorization is essential for the new system. Using SharePoint online, metadata can be assigned to each file, making it easier for people to search for a specific file and increasing worker efficiency.
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NSN Infotech PTY LTD
Office Address: 226/14 Lexington Drive Bella Vista NSW 2153
Phone: +61 2 9189 1820
Email: info@nsninfotech.com
