Migration from on-premise servers to Microsoft Azure

Our client is a large organization in the healthcare sector, with numerous users spread across multiple sites, that wanted to migrate its server infrastructure to a virtual environment in the cloud. Its on-premise servers no longer met the needs of the organization or its employees, whether in terms of processing power or access to business applications from outside the office. The applications accessible remotely offered only limited functionality, which prevented teams from working effectively.

Added to this was a major constraint specific to the healthcare sector: the hosting and storage of patient data must comply with Swiss data protection regulations. On this scale, given the volume of data and the number of accesses involved, this challenge determined the entire project: any solution cloud had to be evaluated against this standard before it could even be considered from a technical standpoint.

Our objectives for this client were as follows:

• Resolve issues with access to business applications by enabling all employees to access them securely, no matter where they are
• Enable all teams to access the servers simultaneously, without any decline in performance as the number of users and sites increases
• Ensure the continuity of equipment operation on-premise with the environment Azure
• Ensure regular, centralized monitoring of updates and patches across the entire organization
• Ensure that patient data complies with Swiss regulations at every stage of the project

The transition took place alongside the organization’s day-to-day operations: there was very little service disruption, just enough time to guide the teams through the transition to the new environment. Since then, the client’s day-to-day operations have changed in several ways:

• Time saved every day. Teams can now access the full power of their business applications remotely: their work is more efficient, and they no longer have to return to the office to handle administrative tasks.
• All teams work at the same time. Employees access the servers simultaneously, across all locations, without delays or slowdowns.
• No hardware needs to be replaced. The on-site devices, which are essential to business operations, continue to function within the environment Azure exactly as they did before.
• Delegated security and compliance. Access is secured, maintenance and patching are handled on an ongoing basis, and patient data remains compliant with Swiss regulations—allowing teams to focus on their core business.
• An infrastructure that evolves with the organization. The environment cloud accommodates the addition of users, workstations, or sites without requiring new hardware investments—something that an aging on-premise infrastructure could no longer support.

What this project illustrates

A migration step toward cloud does not depend solely on the creation of resources: it depends on the inventory conducted beforehand and on the compatibility of business applications, which is verified with their vendors before any commitment is made. At the level of a large healthcare organization, two additional requirements—which are non-negotiable—come into play: maintaining service continuity during the migration, and ensuring at every stage that patient data remains compliant with Swiss regulations.

It is this preparation that makes it possible to manage service interruptions effectively, have teams working simultaneously across multiple sites, and entrust security, patching, and compliance to a partner on a long-term basis—so that the organization can focus on its core mission: patient care.