The Challenge: Large-Scale Migration on a Tight Deadline
The organization, a large corporation in a highly regulated sector, faced a challenging task in migrating 80,000 users to Windows 11 across a complex, global infrastructure. In a traditional IT environment, a migration of this scale would typically take 12 to 18 months.
The primary obstacles included:
- Application compatibility – manually testing and packaging thousands of apps for a new OS is the primary bottleneck in any migration.
- Geographic complexity – coordinating updates across multiple time zones and business units without disrupting daily operations.
- Resource strain – the internal IT team didn’t have the bandwidth to complete the project within the necessary timescales.
- Hardware compatibility – identifying which of the 80k devices met the strict TPM and processing requirements for Windows 11.
- Deployment bottlenecks – coordinating the rollout without overwhelming the help desk or causing unnecessary user downtime.
What We Did: Orchestrated Automation via Access Symphony
To hit the aggressive 60-day target, the enterprise deployed Access Symphony to automate the end-to-end migration lifecycle.
Automated Hardware & App Auditing
Instead of manual spreadsheets, the team used Symphony’s discovery module to instantly scan the global estate. This provided a readiness dashboard that flagged:
- Devices needing hardware upgrades
- Incompatible application versions
- High-risk user groups
End-to-End Orchestration
Symphony acted as the brain of the migration, sitting on top of existing tools (like Microsoft MECM/Intune). It automated the scheduling and delivery of the OS, ensuring that users were only migrated once their specific application stack was verified as okay for migration.
User Communication
To reduce friction, the company used Symphony’s Signal module to communicate directly with employees.
The Results: 80,000 Users in Just 60 Days
By shifting from a manual, project-based approach to an automated, orchestrated approach, the enterprise significantly bettered industry benchmarks for migration speed.
| Metric | Achievement |
|---|---|
| Migration timeline | Completed in 60 days (vs. 12+ month estimate) |
| Automation level | Zero-touch deployment for the majority of users |
| Average downtime | Under 15 minutes per user |
Strategic Impact
- Operational efficiency – the IT team avoided the migration fatigue typically seen in year-long projects.
- Risk mitigation – automated health checks meant that any post-migration issues were flagged and resolved with minimal friction.
- Standardization – the company successfully standardized its global desktop environment.
To get a demo of Access Symphony and learn more about how it can transform IT support in your organization, contact us at Access IT USA today.