Client story ZF migrates 10,000 users to Microsoft 365 in record time with Insight
Door Insight Editor / 9 Dec 2021 / Onderwerpen: Cloud Microsoft 365
Door Insight Editor / 9 Dec 2021 / Onderwerpen: Cloud Microsoft 365
ZF is a global tech company providing next-generation mobility systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology. They have more than 150,000 employees and 270 locations in 42 countries. Recently, ZF acquired WABCO, a supplier of global braking control systems and other advanced technologies.
WABCO Holdings Inc. was officially acquired by ZF on May 29, 2020. At that moment, WABCO employees were still using Google Workspace – formerly known as Google G Suite – while Microsoft 365 was standard at ZF. Part of the very challenging project included the migration of mailboxes and data of around 10,000 WABCO users.
With a timeframe of just ten weeks, ZF’s management aimed to finish the migration of all users and data by the end of 2020. Initially this was very optimistic, considering the amount of users at WABCO and the volume of data: no less than 83 TB of data had to be transferred to Microsoft 365. The migration included all Gmail accounts to Microsoft Exchange, and all data on Google Drive to SharePoint and OneDrive. The combined experience of ZF, Microsoft and Insight was utilized in this project. Insight was responsible for performing the Gmail migration.
“Insight proved to be a dedicated resource in setting up all the migration requirements in a fast pace. Their quick support and ability to work independently also reduced the operational workload on our own migration team.”
Viktor Pfeifer – Solution Expert Digital Workplace Services at ZF.
ZF compiled a well-oiled team with the right partners to complete this challenging mission. Microsoft was also involved in the project, and Insight was one of several vendors contacted by ZF after a thorough market research.
Prior to the merger, both ZF and WABCO were already working with Insight on separate projects. For workplace services, however, Insight was a new partner for the company. To decide who would be best to conduct the migration, all vendors had to deliver a proposal based on ZF requirements, including tool and migration support. ZF selected Insight as the preferred partner for the G-Mail migration.
ZF first drew up a migration plan that was then validated by Insight from a technical point of view. The workload was spread over the course of multiple weekends. To limit the impact on users, it was necessary to organize the migration in groups with a minimum number of touch points.
Due to the intense work schedule, all partners held daily calls to prepare each step of the migration. During these meetings, all technical dependencies were resolved ahead of the weekend. This also helped to deal with unexpected problems. For example, when Insight noticed that some of the mailboxes contained a huge number of emails, the team immediately started working on innovative solutions.
“Key to the project success was the right constellation of expertise including our ZF and WABCO project team as well as our partners Insight and Microsoft.”
Viktor Pfeifer – Solution Expert Digital Workplace Services at ZF.