Customer

A continental government organization in Africa.

Challenge

Need for Microsoft 365 Modernization and Migration: The customer had initiated a strategic IT modernization program to unify its communication and collaboration platforms while ensuring security, compliance, and device manageability across all member offices.

The key challenges included:

• Fragmented Platforms: Email, file storage, and collaboration tools were spread across multiple systems.
• Limited Mobility: Lack of centralized device management for mobile and Windows devices.
• Security Gaps: Weak enforcement of data protection and DLP policies across endpoints and cloud services.
• Inconsistent User Experience: Different offices had different setups, making cross-team collaboration difficult.
• Migration Complexity: Thousands of mailboxes, OneDrive accounts, SharePoint sites, and Teams had to be migrated with minimal downtime.

The customer selected our company for our proven Microsoft 365 migration expertise and track record in enterprise-scale cloud transformation projects.

Solution

Comprehensive Microsoft 365 Assessment and Roadmap

Our engagement began with a full M365 readiness assessment, covering:

• Current Infrastructure Review: Existing email servers, file storage systems, SharePoint farms, and Teams usage.
• Network & Security Assessment: Bandwidth readiness, identity management, and compliance needs.
• Device Inventory & Management Capabilities: Windows, iOS, and Android devices in use.
• Data Governance Review: Current retention, sensitivity, and compliance practices.

We delivered a Migration Roadmap detailing the sequencing of workloads, security hardening measures, and user adoption strategy.

Phased Migration and Implementation

1. Mailbox & OneDrive Migration

• Migrated thousands of user mailboxes to Exchange Online with minimal downtime.
• Used Microsoft-native tools for OneDrive migration, ensuring data integrity and preserving file/folder structures.

2. SharePoint & Teams Migration

• Leveraged ShareGate to migrate SharePoint sites, document libraries, and Microsoft Teams channels.
• Maintained permissions, metadata, and version history during migration.
• Consolidated legacy file shares for SharePoint Online for centralized collaboration.

3. Device Enrollment and Endpoint Management

• Enrolled and configured Windows, iOS, and Android devices in Microsoft Intune.
• Applied device compliance policies, encryption, and conditional access rules.
• Enabled remote wipe and lost device protection.

4. Security, Information Protection & DLP

• Implemented Azure Information Protection for sensitivity labeling and encryption.
• Configured Data Loss Prevention policies for email, SharePoint, and OneDrive to prevent unauthorized sharing of sensitive information.
• Enabled Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for phishing, malware, and ransomware protection.

5. User Training & Adoption

• Conducted user onboarding sessions for Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint.
• Delivered admin training for Intune, Compliance Center, and Security Center management.

Results

Following the project’s completion, customer achieved:

• Seamless migration of thousands of mailboxes, OneDrive accounts, SharePoint sites, and Teams channels.
• Centralized device management for all mobile and desktop devices across offices.
• Improved security posture, with enforced MFA, sensitivity labels, and DLP policies.
• Unified collaboration platform, enabling secure real-time communication between member states.
• Reduced administrative overhead through automated device compliance and policy enforcement.

Technologies and Tools

• Core Platform: Microsoft 365 E5
• Migration Tools: ShareGate, Microsoft native migration tools
• Security & Compliance: Azure Information Protection, DLP Policies, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Conditional Access
• Device Management: Microsoft Intune, Company Portal, Compliance Policies
• Collaboration: SharePoint Online, Teams, OneDrive, Exchange Online.