Enhancing Operations and Reducing Costs by 30% Through Azure Cloud Migration for Steinhafels
Steinhafels is an employee-owned business that has been providing quality furniture and mattresses to customers in Wisconsin and northern Illinois since 1934. They have 18 locations across Wisconsin and Illinois, as well as an online store.
The Challenge
Steinhafels, an employee-owned business that has been serving Wisconsin and northern Illinois since 1934, faced multiple challenges in their IT environment. With 18 physical locations and an online store, they were dealing with:
- High maintenance and operational costs for their on-prem servers and network infrastructure.
- Limited scalability and flexibility for critical business applications and data storage.
- A strong dependency on third-party vendors for troubleshooting and support.
Additionally, Steinhafels was facing an impending deadline to migrate their on-prem software before renewing contracts for another year.
The Goal
Steinhafels sought to modernize their aging infrastructure by moving to the cloud, with the objective of increasing scalability, enhancing operational efficiency, and strengthening security. They needed a reliable partner to assess their application and data center landscape, design an Azure cloud architecture, and seamlessly migrate their applications with minimal business disruption.
The Solution
CEI led a comprehensive cloud assessment and migration initiative for Steinhafels, delivering the following phases:
Discovery and Assessment
CEI used Azure Migrate to inventory Steinhafels’ on-prem servers, applications, and databases, performing a detailed analysis of performance and dependencies. Each workload was assessed for migration readiness, complexity, and costs, and prioritized based on business value.
Cloud Architecture and Design
CEI designed a scalable, secure Azure landing zone based on the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework. A detailed migration plan and roadmap were developed, outlining strategies, tools, and processes tailored to each workload. .
Cloud Migration and Validation
Using a mix of Azure-native and third-party tools like Azure Site Recovery and Azure Database Migration Service, CEI executed the migration plan. Extensive testing was performed to ensure performance and security. Post-migration support and training were provided to the Steinhafels team.
Cloud Optimization and Governance
Post-migration, CEI implemented Azure Cost Management, Azure Monitor, and Azure Policy to optimize Steinhafels’ cloud environment. A governance framework was established to ensure ongoing compliance, security, and operational efficiency. CEI also took on the role of Steinhafels’ Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) to optimize Microsoft 365 licensing and support.
The Stack
Azure Security
Service
vMX for Azure
Azure Key Vault
Azure Monitor
Azure VM
Azure Migrate
Azure Site Recovery
Azure Database
Migration Service
Azure DevOps
Azure Cost
Management
Azure SQL VM
The Results
Steinhafels successfully migrated their IT environment to Azure, meeting the project deadline and avoiding the renewal of costly on-prem contracts. This migration transformed their IT landscape, delivering the following key business outcomes:
Enhanced security & compliance
by using Azure’s built-in and integrated security solutions, such as Azure Security Center, Cisco vMX for Azure, and Azure Key Vault.
Increased scalability & agility
by leveraging Azure’s elastic and on-demand resources and services.
Improved availability & resiliency
by using Azure’s geo-redundant and fault-tolerant features and services increasing server up-time to 99.9%.
Reduced total cost of ownership by 30%
eliminating the need for unnecessary on-prem hardware, software, and maintenance.
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