The IFI Techsolutions team undertook a complete assessment of the customer’s IT Infrastructure, then designed a unique, two-part solution that addressed the company’s needs. They determined that the best way to implement the solution would be to tap into the specific expertise of two fellow Microsoft partners. They brought in a partner with Business Central expertise to fulfill the customer’s accounting needs, and then another partner with expertise in Microsoft 365, the solution IFI Techsolutions chose to improve operations. IFI Techsolutions would oversee each step of the implementation process and serve as a point of contact between all involved organizations.
“The initial task was to bring the customer solely under the Microsoft playbook,” said Pushkar Apte, Business Administrator at IFI Techsolutions. IFI Techsolutions’s unique, collaborative solution was designed to bring its customer’s information under a single tenant so it could make full use of the Microsoft ecosystem’s vast capabilities—all on the Microsoft Cloud.
“Collaboration, not competition”
Business Central is a comprehensive business management platform designed to connect sales, service, finance, and operations so organizations can work smarter, adapt faster, and perform better. Knowing there were partners with both the expertise and staff to best bring Business Central to the customer, IFI Techsolutions reached out to the International Association of Microsoft Partners—or IAMCP—to find a partner with expertise in Business Central.
IAMCP is an international organization that enables collaboration and networking among Microsoft partners, fostering growth, knowledge-sharing, and business development within the Microsoft community locally and worldwide.
“IAMCP has brought in different partners with the mindset of collaboration, not competition,” said Garg.
IFI Techsolutions quickly determined that Microsoft 365, a software suite that offers a range of tools for businesses to create, collaborate, and communicate, was the solution the customer needed to manage its data on one unified platform. Although IFI Techsolutions had the knowledge and capabilities to meet the customer’s needs, it brought in another partner to help execute on the large scope of the project.
The culture of collaboration and communication between Microsoft partners also brought some unexpected benefits to the IFI Techsolutions team—like the learnings they acquired from working with another partner.
According to Garg, “We used their experiences and their ways of doing work to learn and grow technically while we helped the customer onboard through our partner to Microsoft 365.”
The process of radically overhauling the customer’s systems had its challenges, however.
“One of the main challenges was a number of parties were involved,” said Garg. Between IFI Techsolutions, the customer, two partners, and the POS vendor, there were several opportunities for communication to fall by the wayside. But as a trusted advisor empowered by Microsoft technology, IFI Techsolutions had the tools and skills needed to serve as a point of contact for everyone involved.
IFI Techsolutions also recognized that although it could execute this transition quickly, a quick pace was not always what the customer needed.
“We ensured that we took the customer’s feedback on a regular basis, and we paused the projects whenever required,” said Garg. To IFI Techsolutions, the top priority was accommodating its customer’s business needs. Sometimes this meant stepping back, like when an increased demand for food and beverages around New Year’s required a pause in cloud transition work.
“These were the types of small challenges we had to accommodate apart from regular project management,” said Garg. The capabilities of Cloud Solution Providers like IFI Techsolutions go beyond transacting solutions or licenses; these trusted advisors work with customers to ensure they get the solutions they need—at a pace and with a method that works for them.
An ongoing partnership
Today, the customer’s new, integrated internal systems are unrecognizable compared to its old, antiquated method of handling important business information.
“It’s a dramatic shift,” said Garg. With a streamlined accounting system thanks to Business Central, productivity has increased drastically across the board. Information no longer exists in silos, and headquarters has access to real-time, accurate data—all in one place.
“Microsoft 365 migration solutions from IFI Techsolutions have considerably enhanced our business operations by increasing efficiency, improving procedures, and increasing production,” said the customer’s chief technology officer. “The entirety of this experience has resulted in significant positive outcomes, propelling development and generating remarkable results.”
The customer’s business also underwent significant security improvements by migrating to Microsoft. IFI Techsolutions’s engagement facilitated positive changes across its customer’s whole ecosystem, positioning the food and beverage company to focus on what it does best: serving customers.
“Their core business is not IT; their core business is selling food,” said Garg. Having IFI Techsolutions as its trusted advisor helped the customer make shifts that were critical to its long-term business success, but that it did not have the expertise or time to address itself.
“This transformation was not a high priority for them,” said Garg. “Now, they say this should have been done earlier.”
As cloud technology continues to evolve, IFI Techsolutions serves as an ongoing partner prepared to facilitate its customer’s ability to make the most of the cloud. And as a result, the customer is positioned to stay at the forefront of cloud innovation with IFI Techsolutions as its guide.
“This is not the end state; it’s a work in progress,” said Garg. “The engagement actively continues through different channels with the customer, and we look forward to resolving more of their critical business challenges.”