
Migrating to Office 365


Rob Franch, CTO, Cushman & Wakefield
My first experience with Microsoft Office 365 came back in 2009 when the product was known by another name and sold exclusively to large Fortune 500 enterprises. At the time “The Cloud” and “SaaS” services were still relatively new and somewhat scary to firms that had traditionally done their IT in house. Also, Microsoft was still primarily a packaged software company with little to no experience as a provider of services. To say moving over 40,000 seats to what was then Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) was a somewhat risky proposition is an understatement, however we saw the long-term value of moving towards SaaS based productivity and collaboration platform and moved forward with the conversion as one of the early adopters of the platform.
Eight years and over 100,000 seats migrated later, I am amazed at the transformation of both the technology as well as the service model within the modern Office 365 platform. The feature gaps of on premise and online are long gone, the stability of the service exceeds even the most robust internal deployments. Microsoft has truly transformed into a world class service provider with a customer centric outlook on the client relationship. The technology has evolved well past the traditional email, instant messaging and basic collaboration solution to a cutting-edge communications and analytics platform with the introduction of the E5 SKU. Additions such as of Skype for Business Cloud PBX, Power BI, Delve and OneDrive the suite have provided organizations a robust cloud based solution that can keep up with the rapidly changing world we do business in.
The Microsoft Office 365 cloud provided scalability, security and a platform to bring a fragmented environment together into a single experience
For new customers, the sheer amount of capability can be overwhelming and with Microsoft continually adding tools like Flow and Teams it continues to grow. When I made the decision to move my current organization to Office 365 the decision was based on very different objectives than when I made the decision back in 2009. At that time the shift was based on moving away from legacy technology and achieving a more predictable and lower operating cost. Today the value equation is much different, yes savings are expected, however the expectation is that a productivity suite should not only promote internal collaboration but also enhance the way which we interact with our clients.
When I stated my role at Cushman & Wakefield the firm was positioning itself for rapid growth and expansion through an aggressive acquisition strategy. In addition, our leadership wanted to retain the entrepreneurial culture that defined us, but also create a workplace environment that promoted collaboration and knowledge sharing to position us to compete as a leader in the commercial real estate industry. In order to achieve this we all agreed that the technology had to quickly scale to meet rapid growth and needed to deliver a unique workplace experience for our colleagues. Based on this guidance, we adopted three key requirements the solution needed to deliver. First the solution needed to scale with our aggressive growth targets and deliver a single, predictable experience across the enterprise. The technology had to enhance our new Workplace Strategy changing our offices spaces from closed off cubicles and private offices to more open space, collaborative and client centric experiences. This required a solution that could promote a desk free experience that allowed colleagues to be productive anywhere. Finally, the platform had to not only improved productivity and collaboration but also enabled colleagues to enhance client interaction with deeper insights through analytics and interactive dashboards.
We quickly determined that existing solutions deployed were either too fragmented and could not adequately scale or the capabilities were not robust enough to meet our need. This ultimately led to the decision to deploy Office 365 E5 across the enterprise. The Microsoft Office 365 cloud provided scalability, security and a platform to bring a fragmented environment together into a single experience that could grow at the pace of the organization required. The capabilities within the E5 bundle not only provided the collaboration experience we needed to share knowledge and expertise quickly and easily, it also provided a simple and integrated communications platform that could change the way we interacted with clients and colleagues. Finally, with technologies such as SharePoint and Power BI we could present data and insights to both stakeholders and client faster and easier than ever before.
Now, 18 months later, the benefits of the investment in Office 365 have come firmly into focus. Having lived through the excitement and challenges of large-scale integration and transformation, the aggressive objectives we set for ourselves are being realized. The new capabilities have changed the way many in the organization work, collaborate and interact. In addition, operational efficiencies have exceeded initial projections providing more value than originally forecast. The focus has now shifted to looking for more innovative ways we can use this investment to solve business challenges and find opportunities to enhance revenue within the firm. Microsoft gave us the platform to build a robust foundation for growth with an evolving set of capabilities that will provide Cushman & Wakefield a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
ON THE DECK
Featured Vendors
TEERHUB TECHNOLOGY PRIVATE LIMITED (TTPL): "Collaboration to Cognitive" a Microsoft Services Providers Journey
Integrated Business Systems: Solutions for Accessing and Leveraging Data in a Mobile and Interconnected World
StratusLIVE: Advancing Nonprofit Success with Relationship-Focused Enterprise CRM Software & Business Intelligence Solutions
Data Systems Analysts: Providing Comprehensive Secure Collaboration Solutions to the Federal Government
Kollective Technology: Software Defined Enterprise Content Delivery Network for Scalable, High Quality Video
Highpoint Technology Group: Crafting Business Enabling Solutions through the Power of Microsoft Technologies
IntelliPoint Technologies, LLC: Enabling Efficient Operations through Dynamics GP and Network Automation
Imaginet: Developing InnovativeSolutions, Gaining Productivity and Visibility of the Microsoft Lands
Strategic CRM: Providing CRM Insights, Enhancing Customer Experience, and Promoting Channel Optimiza
Time Saver Technologies: Enabling Construction Companies to perk-up their Business and Planning Proc
EDITOR'S PICK
Essential Technology Elements Necessary To Enable...
By Leni Kaufman, VP & CIO, Newport News Shipbuilding
Comparative Data Among Physician Peers
By George Evans, CIO, Singing River Health System
Monitoring Technologies Without Human Intervention
By John Kamin, EVP and CIO, Old National Bancorp
Unlocking the Value of Connected Cars
By Elliot Garbus, VP-IoT Solutions Group & GM-Automotive...
Digital Innovation Giving Rise to New Capabilities
By Gregory Morrison, SVP & CIO, Cox Enterprises
Staying Connected to Organizational Priorities is Vital...
By Alberto Ruocco, CIO, American Electric Power
Comprehensible Distribution of Training and Information...
By Sam Lamonica, CIO & VP Information Systems, Rosendin...
The Current Focus is On Comprehensive Solutions
By Sergey Cherkasov, CIO, PhosAgro
Big Data Analytics and Its Impact on the Supply Chain
By Pascal Becotte, MD-Global Supply Chain Practice for the...
Technology's Impact on Field Services
By Stephen Caulfield, Executive Director, Global Field...
Carmax, the Automobile Business with IT at the Core
By Shamim Mohammad, SVP & CIO, CarMax
The CIO's role in rethinking the scope of EPM for...
By Ronald Seymore, Managing Director, Enterprise Performance...
Driving Insurance Agent Productivity with Mobile and Big...
By Brad Bodell, SVP and CIO, CNO Financial Group, Inc.
Transformative Impact On The IT Landscape
By Jim Whitehurst, CEO, Red Hat
Get Ready for an IT Renaissance: Brought to You by Big...
By Clark Golestani, EVP and CIO, Merck
Four Initiatives Driving ECM Innovation
By Scott Craig, Vice President of Product Marketing, Lexmark...
Technology to Leverage and Enable
By Dave Kipe, SVP, Global Operations, Scholastic Inc.
By Meerah Rajavel, CIO, Forcepoint
AI is the New UI-AI + UX + DesignOps
By Amit Bahree, Executive, Global Technology and Innovation,...
Evolving Role of the CIO - Enabling Business Execution...
By Greg Tacchetti, CIO, State Auto Insurance
Read Also
Ingredients for success in transformation
Ensuring Diligence In The Technology Era
Telecom & Grid Modernization
Unlocking The Power Of Your Asset’s Data
Enterprise Agility In The Face Of Rising Cyber Threats
Digitalizing Energy Asset Management– Not A Walk In The Park
