Successfully transitioning to the cloud with middle-sized pragmatism and professional support

With the introduction of M365, Lehmann&Voss has taken the first step in its integrative IT strategy and has begun its digital journey into the cloud. Central to the successful implementation was a Change & Adoption concept that engaged employees with user-centric use cases on the journey and empowered them sustainably.

Tools for chat, telephony, and conferencing only minimally integrated into the Office environment  

Window of opportunity due to end of life and necessary replacement of Office 2016 

Positive business case due to elimination of separate chat and conferencing solutions 

Support for the strategic Cloud First approach 

Identification of necessary architecture changes in IT; structure considering Cloud Design Principles 

Development of skill sets and operating models for the new architectural and solution approach 

Conceptualization and strategic consulting based on a proof of concept 

Transition to M365 and migration of the collaboration platform from onprem to the cloud, followed by gradual international introduction of M365 for all locations on all continents except China 

Comprehensive change & adoption concept with identification and implementation of department-based use cases within the project scope 

Deliberate single-vendor strategy on Microsoft ensures better integration of all tools and functionalities 

High acceptance through user-focused change & adoption strategy 

Relief of internal IT through development and empowerment of selected employees (multipliers) in the departments 

Centralized and strengthened communication/collaboration with Microsoft Team 

For its digital transformation, Lehmann&Voss selected novaCapta as an experienced partner for migration to Microsoft 365 and the accompanying change communication. The goal was to replace existing, standalone tools, implement a comprehensive solution, and thus create a modern and digital workplace for all employees. It was important to consider not only the technical aspects in the project, but especially to introduce the right way of working and the significantly expanded capabilities of the new tools in the departments. A simple training of individual employees on M365 was deliberately avoided. 

The project was conducted in two phases: In the first step, the focus was on conceptualization and strategic consulting to gradually carry out the migration and roll-out of the M365 platform for the global company in a planned and targeted manner. "Lehmann&Voss pursues the approach of maximum integration depth of the solutions used. We see the advantage for our employees to work with tools that interact with each other and significantly facilitate their daily work," explains Karl-Hermann Peters, Overall Project Manager for M365 Introduction and Head of Infrastructure. 

The collaboration solution used before switching to M365 in the areas of chat, conferencing, and telephony consisted of a hybrid solution with solution components partly onprem and partly obtained as a SaaS service from the cloud. A proof-of-concept validated the platform, its functionalities, the feasibility of desired added values, the feasibility of planned migration paths, and the business case. 

Once the decision for the project was made, it moved to project planning and then to the migration of users to the M365 environment. In addition to chat and internal telephony, the entire mail environment with mailboxes and public folders was migrated to the cloud. As a quick win, further services from third-party solutions were shifted to the M365 cloud, and through extensive use of the functionalities included in the E3 license, the business case was further optimized by reducing license costs. 

novaCapta accompanied the customer in the cloud-centric services both in the conception and migration in areas such as security, architecture, migration path, backup, and provided helpful support in the hypercare phase at the end of the introduction. It is worth mentioning according to Lehmann&Voss the good and efficient cooperation including an extremely professional project management. All of these were significant reasons why the project could be completed on time, budget, quality, and scope. 

For successful knowledge transfer, a dedicated landing page was created in SharePoint, filled with tips and explanations of the new M365 tools. In addition to the existing self-learning material, department-specific use cases were developed for successful adoption. More than 70 of these were developed in the use case workshops by the departments, subsequently evaluated by the project team, and a selection of 30 was implemented to best engage employees in their own work environment.

Lehmann&Voss also introduced an editor role in the departments. These are selected employees who serve as knowledge multipliers in the department. In addition, an internal community for knowledge exchange was established for this group of people.

The editors were intensively trained and supported in building their community. They now contribute knowledge to the departments and also promote the establishment of the internal knowledge pool. This has a lever effect, as many departments have identical use cases for the application of M365 functionalities. Within the community, which meets monthly, the editors exchange ideas with each other. This also relieves the internal IT, as many requests are already resolved among themselves. 

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