- Client
- UK food producer
- Sector
- Food Production
- Services
- Cloud Strategy, Managed Networking
- Year
- 2024
- Timeline
- 6 months
- Read time
- 4 min read
60%
Reduction in unplanned production downtime
4 hrs
Recovery time for critical systems, down from days
24/7
Monitoring across production and office systems
01 · The challenge
What we walked into
Production came first, and the infrastructure had to fit around it. Servers had aged past vendor support, recovery plans had never been rehearsed against a real outage, and the sites were connected by consumer-grade links that buckled whenever a line needed to transfer large files. Peak season sharpened the constraint, because the weeks the business needed its systems most were the weeks least available for maintenance.
The business needed a strategy that fitted the budget, minimised downtime, and respected the one rule on the factory floor. The production line never stops for IT, so every change had to be invisible.
02 · Our approach
How we got there
- 01
Assess every workload
A full inventory of production, office, and supply-chain systems, scored by business impact and mapped against what each one genuinely needed from the cloud.
4 weeks
- 02
Build the strategy and business case
A phased cloud strategy with a costed business case, built around cost optimisation and sequenced so the riskiest systems moved only after the foundations were proven.
6 weeks
- 03
Connect the sites properly
Managed networking with resilient links between every site and Azure, so a large transfer no longer meant an outage for everyone else.
7 weeks
- 04
Migrate and modernise
Infrastructure and line-of-business systems moved in planned waves, with Azure Backup behind everything critical and recovery tiered so the budget went where downtime hurt most.
9 weeks
03 · The outcome
What changed
The business now has an estate it can plan around. Unplanned production downtime is down 60%, critical systems recover in under four hours, and the platform absorbs peak season without emergency hardware purchases.
Downtime down 60%
With proper monitoring and resilient connectivity, unplanned outages dropped and issues were caught before they reached the line.
Recovery measured in hours
Critical systems now recover in under four hours, and the recovery plan is rehearsed on a schedule, every time.
A plan that survives contact with reality
The strategy was sequenced around production calendars, so maintenance landed in the weeks the business could absorb it.
Room to grow
The platform now scales for peak season without emergency hardware purchases or unplanned downtime.
“The first thing they asked about was our production calendar, not our servers. Everything since has been planned around the line, and it shows on the floor.”
Technologies
- Microsoft Azure
- Azure Backup
- Azure Monitor
- Managed Networking
- Microsoft 365
- Teams Phone
A note on confidentiality
Much of our work takes place in regulated and security-sensitive sectors, where the details of a client's environment are confidential by default. In line with our commitments to those clients, identifying details in this case study have been anonymised or generalised, while the work, the decisions, and the outcomes are described as delivered.
If you would like to know more about this engagement, we are happy to discuss it further and can share additional information on request.