Preparing FTSE 100 insurer to deploy and adopt Office 365

Assessment to inform strategy, roadmap and recommendations

Our end-customer, a FTSE 100 Anglo-Bermudan insurance provider specialising in niche markets, was preparing to deploy Microsoft Office 365 and related services (Enterprise Mobility+Security, Dynamics 365, Windows 10) to their workforce of approximately 3,000 users. Office 365 was to be deployed into the customer’s existing Citrix VDI environment.

Working with our technical services partner Comms-care and their partner, a leading UK software reseller, we were engaged to:

• Advise on the implications and considerations (technical, Office 365 capabilities, user experience) of deploying Office 365 into Citrix VDI, including security and mobility considerations;
• Define the deployment strategy and roadmap for Office 365, including ‘who gets what when’ (in terms of user segmentation, Office 365 workload strategy, and deployment phasing) and addressing user requirements, operational priorities and defined use cases.

The specific project objectives were to:

1. Assess the customer’s readiness to deploy Microsoft Office 365 and related services (Enterprise Mobility + Security, Dynamics 365, Windows 10) across the enterprise;
2. Recommend a strategy and roadmap for deploying Office 365;
3. Identify and provide guidance for technical remediation items, strategic decision points, and items requiring further analysis in the pre-deployment phase.

The Office 365 strategy and deployment roadmap needed to align with the customer’s wider IT and EUC strategies which were being developed in parallel.

Three-stage approach

The project followed a structured and sequential approach, as follows:

Stage 1: Assessment

The initial stage focused on assessing our customer’s readiness for Office 365 deployment. This involved capturing both technical and non-technical inputs through onsite workshops, one-to-one consultations, and remote sessions.

Activities included:

• On-Premises Infrastructure Review
• Infrastructure Analysis and Checks
• Workforce & Business Value Assessment
• IT Strategy & Resourcing Assessment

The findings from this stage were presented in a further workshop and documented in a detailed report.

Stage 2: Envisioning

In the envisioning stage, the team developed and refined recommendations based on the assessment findings. This included strategic decision points, technical prerequisites, and non-technical considerations.

A key element of the envision stage was a workshop covering:

• Assessment Findings
• Envisioning Office 365
• From Envisioning to Design & Deployment
• Project delivery and IT resourcing / operating model

The envisioning stage also involved creating a strategy and roadmap for Office 365, based on a phased implementation model.

Stage 3: Implementation Planning

The final stage focused on detailed planning for the implementation of Office 365. This included producing the technical design for Office 365, designing change management activities, and preparing a delivery and resourcing plan.

The team recommended a release-based approach to Office 365 deployment, addressing defined and prioritised requirements through a combination of technology deployment and supporting change management.

Throughout the engagement key technical aspects were addressed, including identity synchronisation, networking capacity, security and compliance, file services, and application delivery.

Evidence-based strategy, roadmap and recommendations

The assessment identified several technical and non-technical items to address prior to commencing detailed technical design and deployment planning for Office 365:

• Technical Prerequisites: Identified requirements for identity synchronisation between Active Directory and Azure Active Directory, and the capacity of the current proxy service;
• Strategic Decision Points: Recommendations on security and compliance, file services, application delivery for desktops and mobile devices, integrations, and timings for planned upgrades;
• Adoption & Business Value Considerations: Further analysis and decisions relating to business value, change management, and project delivery considerations.

Based on the assessment findings, and drawing on Office 365 deployment best practices, a phased implementation strategy was recommended, comprising three high-level phases with a series of sub-phases (described as ‘releases’) in the deployment phase. Recommendations were also provided for prioritisation and sequencing of activities by the customer IT project team.

Follow-on project to support development of EUC strategy

Following the successful delivery of this project, we were further engaged to support the development of the customer’s EUC strategy, which would incorporate the strategies and plans for Office 365 and other Microsoft EUC services (EM+S, Windows 10, Dynamics 365).

This scope of this project was to consult with stakeholders across the business to understand:

• What users want and need from the organisation’s EUC environment and capabilities​;
• The gaps between where this is today and where it needs to be​;
• How these gaps impact on business outcomes​;
• Where to focus to have the most impact on closing these gaps in order to optimise business outcomes, while giving the best return on effort and investment.​

We successfully delivered this project, interviewing key stakeholders in London and Bermuda then developing an analysis and reporting model incorporating user profiles, assessment of EUC capability gaps, prioritisation of issues and focus areas, and evaluation of EUC strategy and investment options.

Our report and recommendations were incorporated as key elements of the customer’s updated EUC strategy and roadmap.