Report: IT infrastructure modernization for a trading company

A medium-sized trading company with two locations and over 25 employees was faced with a growing burden due to its outdated IT infrastructure. The systems were getting old – some in use for over 11 years – and increasingly led to problems in day-to-day business. The eight existing virtual machines were running on two physical servers, which were causing problems with increasing frequency. Several unplanned outages per quarter had already affected operations, and a terminal server failure would have resulted in immediate loss of sales.

In addition, PROTOS identified a high level of effort in daily administration:

• The internal IT manager spent around 40% of his working time with reactive troubleshooting.

• Had to per week 8-10 hours of manual tasks be done because there was a lack of automation.

• The lack of location comparison regularly led to duplicate data setswhich had to be corrected manually.

The situation was also critical from a security perspective. In the existing infrastructure, operating systems that were no longer supported ran without security updates, multi-factor authentication was not available, security-relevant events were hardly logged, and there was no central overview of devices and access. In addition, there was an outdated backup strategy, which would have resulted in expensive recovery processes in the event of damage. The combination of operational pressures, security risks and increasing complexity made it clear that a fundamental modernization was essential.

Strategic realignment of the IT infrastructure

In order to effectively meet these challenges, the company decided together with PROTOS consistent realignment of IT. The aim was not only to replace the existing infrastructure, but also to completely rethink: away from rigid on-premise servers towards a scalable, secure and future-proof cloud architecture based on Microsoft Azure. This should transform IT from a risk factor into a real growth driver.

The focus was on three key areas of focus:

• Replacement of the old server landscape and Transition to modern Azure services for all core functions.

• Standardized security, backup and recovery processes to protect business-critical To avoid failures permanently.

• Introduction of centrally controlled administration, clear access structures and uniform compliance guidelines.

This realignment laid the foundation for an infrastructure that not only reduces operational pressure, but also offers the company long-term stability, transparency and security.

Technical implementation by PROTOS as a managed service partner

PROTOS took over the complete implementation and the subsequent managed service operation. The migration almost happened without downtime – a crucial factor for the trading company, which relies on consistent availability every day. All user accounts, data and processes have been transferred to a uniform Azure architectureinklusive Entra ID, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Azure SQL und Azure Virtual Desktop.

Architecture diagram for IT operations & IT security at the customer:

At the same time, the Complete security base renewed: MFA was introduced across the board, logging and monitoring was modernized, phishing and security training was carried out and emergency processes were documented. The previously necessary 8-10 hours of manual administration work per week has been largely eliminated.

A dedicated operations team took over Service with extended support hours. Critical incidents are prioritized, increasing the average response time 50% reduced became. In addition, the company was provided with modern endpoint management via Microsoft Intune, including automated policies, compliance checks and device monitoring.

Increased efficiency and cost control during ongoing operations

The new cloud infrastructure had an immediate impact during ongoing operations. Systems ran more stable, support became faster and the security situation improved significantly. At the same time, cost transparency was created, which opened up new control options for management.

• Availability: System availability increased from approximately 95% to over 99 %unplanned outages increased by more than 70 % back.

• Expense: Administration times were massively reduced because many manual tasks were automated. The internal IT manager was able to concentrate on value-adding tasks again.

• Costs & Security: Clear license overviews, the elimination of outdated tools and a modern security and backup concept ensure predictable IT costs and a significantly higher level of security.

Regular reports on availability, security and resource usage now provide management with a level of transparency that was previously not possible.

Digital scalability as a growth driver

Just a few months after the successful project, the company decided to to integrate a third location after acquisition. The new infrastructure made this a seamless process: users could be onboarded within hours, security policies were automatically transferred, and cloud services were immediately used across locations. The rollout of MFA and access authorizations could also be implemented centrally and without additional effort.

This made it clear: IT was no longer a bottleneck, but a real scaling factor. The standardized cloud structure supports company growth efficiently and securely – supported by a managed services model that keeps availability, security and costs permanently controllable.

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