Unit4 select Technical ERP for data centre closure and cloud migration programme

We are proud to annul we have partnered with Unit4 working with cognisant and Microsoft.

Unit4 is planning to transfer their NGD cloud customers into Microsoft Azure. This consolidation is initiated by Unit4 for internal efficiency reasons and we are working in collaboration with the Unit4 global cloud team to manage this project on their behalf and acting as customer liaisons keeping all of the existing customers updated with dates, requirements and supporting their testing needs.

Working alongside Cognizant and Microsoft to deliver the strategic relocation of two Data Centres to Microsoft Azure. Working directly with 50+ customers based globally, ranging from Local Government to high profile FTSE 100 companies, on private and shared environments to successfully guide them through the Project from the initial introduction, technical presentations, testing phases and their final migration to Microsoft Azure.

Aligning a further 15 customers Projects to ensure their upgrades, closures or separate relocations were completed in line with the data centre closure timelines, or contingency planning was implemented to ensure neither Project slipped behind schedule.

Careful management of each customer where individual set ups could include differences in Unit4 product, product version and configuration, and third party interfaces. It also required the careful consideration and planning to included VPN’s (each customers different), Citrix environments, ADFS SSO and many more variances.

The project was delivered on time and budget, despite the challenges presented to Unit4, the customers and Microsoft during the Coronavirus pandemic.

• Providing exceptional Customer Service to manage all communication to customers, from the initial engagement, technical presentations and discussions, legal documentation, scheduling and sign off.
• Regularly communicating with over 300 individual points of contacts, ranging from Senior directors, to IT and Finance employees and legal representatives.
• Facilitating engagements and technical discussions with third party product providers and technical specialists.
• Detailed Project planning to ensure UAT and migrations were efficiently scheduled around the availability of technical resources, whilst ensuring convenience and minimal business impact to customers was the number one priority.
• Coordinating with other internal and external Projects to align timelines, manage risks and ensure deadlines were successfully achieved.
• Managing complex ‘shared environment’ migrations with customers using shared infrastructure, requiring meticulous planning and communication to coordinate engagement, legal, UAT and migrations for a range of customers who were required to complete activity simultaneously. This involved a migration of 10 UK based customers, and 7 based globally across 3 time zones. This required a different approach to communication and planning. A sensitive approach to enforcing dates which might not be convenient for all and where if one customer was not aligned and on schedule it would have a knock on cancellation to ALL other customers in that shared environment.
• Providing first line technical support and triage to. Ensuring all incoming technical queries were acknowledged, resolved or escalated quicker than their BAU support SLA’s. Managing the escalated support cases to ensure each was progressed in a timely manner and that the customer was kept regularly informed of progress.
• Coordinating ‘Hypercare’ support issues following each customers Live migration, ensuring any unexpected issues were quickly resolved to ensure minimal impact to operational users.
• Reporting daily/weekly to the Management Team and Project Sponsors, and coordinating with the Technical Project Manager (Cognizant) and Cloud Operations and Cloud Infastucture Management to highlight risks, escalate issues, and ensure transparency of Project progress throughout.