Enhanching Operations and Reducing Costs by 30% Through Azure Cloud Migration
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 had several challenges with their existing IT environment, such as:
- High maintenance and operational costs for their on-prem servers and network equipment
- Limited scalability and flexbility for their critical applications and data
- Dependency on third-party vendors for support and troubleshooting
In addition, Steinhafels was under a strict deadline to migrate their on-prem software before they would need to re-sign their on-prem contracts for an additional year.
The Goal
With aging on-prem infrastructure, Steinhafels was looking to move to the cloud to increase scalability, enhance operations automation, and improve security. Steinhafels needed a partner to help them assess their current application and data center landscape, architect an Azure landing zone, and seamlessly migrate their applications with minimal downtime.
The Solution
CEI conducted a comprehensive cloud assessment and migration project for Steinhafels, which involved the following steps:
Discovery and Assessment
CEI used Azure Migrate to discover and inventory the on-prem servers, applications, and databases, allowing for thorough analysis of Steinhafels’ dependencies, performance, and resource utilization. CEI also identified the migration readiness, complexity, and cost of each workload, and prioritized them based on their business value and technical feasibility.
Cloud Architecture and Design
CEI designed a secure and scalable Azure landing zone for Steinhafels following the best practices and principles of the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework. CEI also defined the migration strategy, tools, and processes for each workload and created a detailed migration plan and roadmap.
Cloud Migration and Validation
CEI executed the migration plan using a combination of Azure native and third-party tools, such as Azure Site Recovery, Azure Database Migration Service, and Azure DevOps. In addition, extensive testing and validation were performed to ensure the functionality, performance, and security of the migrated workloads. Ongoing post-migration support and training was also provided.
Cloud Optimization and Governance
CEI helped Steinhafels optimize their cloud environment by implementing Azure Cost Management, Azure Monitor, and Azure Policy into their processes. A cloud governance framework was established, including policies, roles, and processes to ensure compliance, security, and quality of their cloud services. CEI was also brought on as Steinhafels CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) to optimize and provide Microsoft 365 licensing procurement 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 environment to Azure before they had to re-sign their on-prem contracts, allowing them to realize their full potential of the cloud, while transforming their IT environment from a cost center to a value driver. Because of this, Steinhafels delivered better customer experiences and business outcomes, such as:
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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