Well positioned to support M&A

Market consolidation and the growth of M&A, particularly in the technology sector, are increasing the pressure on in-house IT teams to keep up with the speed of business development. As IT systems and technologies become more sophisticated, so does the challenge of conducting larger and more complex cloud migrations and consolidations.

Headquartered in Quebec City, Canada, Previan (previously known as Eddyfi/NDT) is a fast-growing, innovative, and private industrial technology group focused on advanced diagnostic technologies to enhance the monitoring of the world’s infrastructure health. The company works with large engineering firms and global asset owners to test the physical integrity of complex systems such as pipelines and jet engine components. They have been actively pursuing an international M&A strategy, acquiring small to medium sized companies that operate in the advanced diagnostic testing and technology sector. With a growing portfolio, they looked to CGI for help integrating these new assets into their corporate Microsoft cloud infrastructure.

Before working with CGI, Previan faced the challenge of integrating the Microsoft modern workplace solutions and cloud infrastructure components of the companies they had purchased which put a strain on the operations-based IT resources that keep their business running. Consequently, the process of integrating the new acquisitions stalled and it took longer than expected to generate value from the businesses they had just acquired.

Given the complexity of the M&A process, IT integration is not always a priority. CGI’s technical expertise helped Previan move forward with the integration of acquired companies into their cloud ecosystem.

Our M&A playbook

The scope and scale of each migration is different, depending on the size of the acquisition and the type of IT infrastructure already in place. Our process begins with a current state assessment (CSA), where our team evaluates the acquired company’s Microsoft IT assets and capabilities. A roadmap is then produced and presented to the corporate IT department for approval. The roadmap defines the best way to move forward to consolidate the two IT systems. Once the roadmap is accepted, the CGI delivery team proceeds with the migrations – including user change management tasks that are paramount to any IT migration.

As Jean-Philippe Guillot, Vice-President, Consulting Delivery and leader of the Global Delivery Center at our Quebec City office noted, “We were able to save the Previan internal IT team hours of effort. They were able to concentrate on day-to-day operations, while our Microsoft Cloud Center of Excellence focused on ensuring a seamless migration to the Previan cloud ecosystem.”

CGI’s engagements included moving modern workplace solutions and migrating cloud infrastructure components to Previan’s corporate Microsoft cloud environment. We supported the transition of Active Directory systems to ensure a smooth integration by efficiently consolidating Microsoft identities. We migrated user collaboration data between Microsoft 365 tenants and migrated workloads in the Azure public cloud.

Since the summer of 2021, CGI’s relationship with Previan has grown and we have established ourselves as the company’s partner of choice for Microsoft cloud migrations and consolidations. Backed by our Quebec City team’s excellent level of expertise, we leverage our M&A playbook that uses a rigorous methodology and common migration tools to ensure quality migrations with predictable results.

A successful partnership

CGI’s work has generated several positive outcomes. We were able to increase the execution speed of the migration work while allowing Previan’s IT team to focus on their operations. Our third-party status made the process less stressful for the companies involved and our ability to offer user change management support facilitated the transition for all employees.

Our team’s customer satisfaction ratings are exemplary. As Eric Savary, Previan Vice President of IT, pointed out, “Partnering with CGI allowed us to tap into their Microsoft Cloud Center of Excellence in order to accelerate the IT integrations and ensured we minimized the investments needed in the M&A process.”