Case Study
National Hotel Chain
A major UK hotel chain requiring urgent extraction from a hostile third-party provider while simultaneously migrating their database infrastructure to Azure. Their platform required maintaining legacy on-site mission-critical SQL systems during transition, managing both operational continuity and a complex cloud migration programme under challenging circumstances.
Engagement Summary
The client engaged us to safely offboard all database systems from a hostile third-party provider, migrate services to Azure, and maintain critical operational systems throughout the transition. Over the course of the engagement, we successfully transferred all systems without disruption, maintained stability of legacy infrastructure, and established modern cloud-based data platforms with automated ingestion processes.
This case study highlights the core workstreams delivered:
- Hostile Third-Party Provider Offboarding & System Transfer
- Azure Cloud Migration Programme
- Legacy System Support & Modern Data Platform Implementation
Workstream 1: Hostile Third-Party Provider Offboarding & System Transfer
Challenge / Scope
The organisation needed to extract their database systems from a hostile third-party provider under difficult circumstances while ensuring zero disruption to hotel operations. With limited cooperation from the provider and incomplete documentation, this required careful planning, rapid knowledge acquisition, and robust transfer processes to prevent service disruption.
What Was Delivered
- Successfully transferred all systems from hostile third-party provider
- Complete system documentation and knowledge capture
- Data and configuration extraction under challenging conditions
- Validation and testing of transferred systems
- Risk mitigation and contingency planning
- Seamless operational continuity throughout transition
The Outcome
- Successfully transferred and documented all systems without operational issues
- Eliminated dependency on hostile third-party provider
- Complete system ownership and control restored
- Comprehensive documentation enabling future management
- Zero disruption to hotel operations during transfer
- Reduced ongoing costs and operational risk
Workstream 2: Azure Cloud Migration Programme
Challenge / Scope
The organisation needed to migrate existing on-site services to Azure while maintaining operational systems and modernising their data platform. This required expertise across both traditional SQL Server infrastructure and modern Azure cloud services, delivered concurrently with the third-party offboarding.
What Was Delivered
- Migration of on-site services to Azure IaaS and PaaS
- Azure Data Factory implementation for modern data pipelines
- PowerShell script development for automated data lake ingestion
- ETL development and migration to cloud-native solutions
- Infrastructure architecture and deployment in Azure
- Hybrid infrastructure management during transition period
The Outcome
- Successful migration to modern Azure cloud infrastructure
- Created automated data ingestion processes reducing manual effort
- Established scalable, cloud-native data platform
- Improved operational flexibility and reduced infrastructure costs
- Modern ETL capabilities supporting business growth
- Foundation for future cloud-based analytics and reporting
Workstream 3: Legacy System Support & Modern Data Platform Implementation
Challenge / Scope
Critical legacy on-site SQL systems needed to remain operational throughout the migration period, requiring careful maintenance and support while simultaneously building new cloud infrastructure. Additionally, the organisation needed modern presentation layers to support business intelligence and reporting requirements.
What Was Delivered
- Maintained operational stability of legacy systems during migration
- SQL Server support across on-premises and Azure environments
- Presentation layer setup including PowerBI, Qlik Sense, and SSRS
- Parallel operation of legacy and new systems during transition
- Performance organisation across both environments
- Knowledge transfer and documentation for ongoing support
The Outcome
- Maintained operational stability of legacy systems throughout transition period
- Zero disruption to hotel operations during complex migration
- Modern presentation layer delivering improved business insights
- Successful transition from legacy to cloud infrastructure
- Empowered internal teams with comprehensive documentation
- Established foundation for modern data-driven decision making
Long-Term Impact
Across all workstreams, the organisation successfully escaped a hostile provider relationship, migrated to modern Azure infrastructure, and established automated, cloud-native data platforms while maintaining continuous operations throughout a complex transition period.
Technologies & Skills Used
- SQL Server (on-premise administration and support)
- Azure IaaS/PaaS (SQL Database, infrastructure)
- Azure Data Factory (cloud ETL, data pipelines)
- PowerShell (automation, data lake ingestion)
- Data Lake implementation and management
- ETL development (on-premise and cloud)
- PowerBI (presentation layer, reporting)
- Qlik Sense (business intelligence)
- SSRS (reporting services)
- Cloud migration strategy and execution
- Hybrid infrastructure management
- Third-party provider transition
- System documentation and knowledge transfer
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