Embedded Files
The Challenge
Creating an environment they could manage internally
The company had relied on RightWorks as its managed IT provider for several years, with its technology environment hosted and managed externally. As the company's three-year contract approached its end, leadership decided it was time to take greater control of its technology infrastructure.
The cost of the RightWorks environment had become difficult to justify, and the company wanted more control over its own data, settings, security, and Microsoft environment. They also wanted to reduce their dependence on outside providers and build a technology foundation that could support continued growth.
The existing environment also created challenges for employees. Staff had to log into a RightWorks website and then launch their applications from a remote desktop-style environment. Employees had spent years being confused about whether they were "in the cloud" or working on their local computer, and the remote environment could be slow to operate.
The goal was to move to a modern, internally controlled Microsoft environment where employees could work directly from their local devices while the company managed its own users, devices, data, security, and applications.
The challenge? We had six weeks to make it happen.
They wanted to reduce their dependence on outside providers and build a technology foundation that could support continued growth.
The Project
Coordinating a complete infrastructure build in just six weeks
I made sure dependencies were understood, questions were answered, roadblocks were addressed, and the project continued moving forward.
This was a full infrastructure build involving more than 40 users, 50+ computers, conference rooms, a new server, four wireless access points, a new firewall and security environment, and a complete Microsoft environment.
I served as the project manager, coordinating the business, technical, and vendor sides of the project. A full-time IT employee built the Microsoft environment, while a security-focused contractor handled the firewall, server environment, internet, and wireless infrastructure.
My role was to make sure all of those pieces came together as one functioning environment.
I coordinated the project timeline and meeting cadence, managed communication between leadership, our technical team, the contractor, and RightWorks, tracked issues and roadblocks, obtained budget approvals, coordinated hardware and data migrations, and prioritized work based on business impact.
The technical project outline was created by our IT employee, who understood the components required to build the Microsoft environment from scratch. From there, I managed the execution of the plan—making sure dependencies were understood, questions were answered, roadblocks were addressed, and the project continued moving forward.
I also managed many of the details that could easily be overlooked during a technology transition, including DNS, Microsoft groups, shared mailboxes, aliases, data retention policies, software data stored on servers, password manager information, browser bookmarks, and other employee-specific considerations.
The project required technical expertise, but it also required someone to continuously look at the bigger picture: What does this decision affect? Who needs to know? What could prevent us from meeting the deadline? What does the business need to keep operating?
Preparing for the Transition
Reducing risk before the switch
With only six weeks available, we couldn't wait until cutover to start preparing employees or migrating technology.
Computers were reimaged before the cutover so employees wouldn't lose an entire workday waiting for their devices to be prepared. One of the larger challenges involved backing up and restoring client files for more than 6,000 clients. We worked with the software vendor to research the appropriate process and make sure the data could be restored without corruption post-migration.
We also discovered that Microsoft's native migration tools would not move everything we needed between the environments. I helped coordinate the selection of an additional migration tool and obtained the necessary budget approval so the technical team could continue the work.
The employee experience was another major focus.
Rather than reorganizing the company's existing file structure at the same time we changed the technology behind it, we kept the familiar folder structure intact. Employees would still recognize where their files belonged; the difference was that those files were now being managed through SharePoint and OneDrive rather than the RightWorks server environment.
I led multiple in-person training sessions to help employees understand the change. We walked through how OneDrive and SharePoint worked, how files would appear in File Explorer, what should be saved to OneDrive, and how the new environment differed from what they had used for years. I also communicated with staff throughout the preparation process, including reminders about information that could be lost during computer reimaging, such as bookmarks, password manager information, and Outlook settings.
The goal was to make the transition feel manageable for employees, even though a significant amount of work was happening behind the scenes.
Cutover & Change Management
Keeping the business running through a major technology change
The actual cutover took place after business hours on a Wednesday.
That night, we received the defederated Microsoft tenant from RightWorks and merged it with the Microsoft environment our team had been building over the previous six weeks. We migrated mail and OneDrive data, configured licenses and aliases, completed the remaining infrastructure changes, and tested the environment.
The next morning, we used a triage approach rather than trying to solve every issue simultaneously. We prioritized employees whose work was most critical to the business, starting with the front desk, followed by sales and then operations and service delivery. Once business-critical functions were working, we worked through smaller helpdesk issues. I was onsite alongside the IT personnel and several tech-savvy employees who helped troubleshoot smaller issues throughout the office.
As with any major infrastructure change, we encountered unexpected problems. Wireless firewall restrictions initially prevented Zoom Phone from connecting to our backup internet provider. We also discovered that the User Principal Name (UPN) needed to change to restore the connection to our CRM. Some integrations, including Zoom and Outlook, needed to be reconnected, and some applications needed to be reinstalled.
We also worked through permissions issues over the following days as we completed the transition between the Microsoft environments and made sure employees retained the access they needed.
The result was that the most critical employees were up and working within approximately 30 minutes of arriving that morning, and the entire staff was operational within three hours.
We prioritized employees whose work was most critical to the business.
The most critical employees were up and working within approximately 30 minutes and the entire staff was operational within 3 hours.
The transition was completed on an extremely aggressive timeline without creating significant disruption for employees.
The Result
Creating a foundation for what’s next
In six weeks, the company transitioned from a managed RightWorks environment to an internally controlled Microsoft infrastructure. Employees moved from working inside a remote cloud environment to working directly from their local devices, while SharePoint and OneDrive provided a modern foundation for managing company files.
The company now has greater control and visibility over its technology environment, including Microsoft administration, device management through Intune, security policies, user access, data, network infrastructure, and its own server environment. The new environment also provides a stronger foundation for continued modernization. Centralized device management makes it easier to deploy applications and manage computers, while Microsoft-based systems provide consistency as the company grows and expands its hybrid and remote workforce.
Most importantly, the transition was completed on an extremely aggressive timeline without creating significant disruption for employees. The technical team carried the pressure of building an entirely new environment, while my role was to coordinate the people, decisions, dependencies, vendors, communication, and business priorities that allowed them to do it successfully.
I didn't personally build the Microsoft environment, firewall, or server. I didn't need to. My job was to lead a project involving technology I hadn't personally built before, ask the right questions, understand the implications of technical decisions, identify what the business needed, remove roadblocks, and keep everyone moving toward the same deadline.
And in six weeks, we turned the company's decision to bring its technology infrastructure in-house into a functioning environment that the company could control and manage.
Need help?
Complex technology projects rarely involve just one piece of technology. They involve vendors, employees, technical teams, budgets, deadlines, data, business processes, and dozens of decisions that can affect one another.
You don't necessarily need one person who knows how to configure every system. You need someone who can see the entire project, coordinate the right experts, anticipate what could go wrong, communicate with stakeholders, and keep the work moving.
If you're planning a major technology transition and need someone to take ownership of the project from planning through implementation, I can help you turn a complicated technology initiative into a project your team can actually execute.
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