Note on privacy: Client identifiers and sensitive details have been anonymised/redacted.
Summary for busy readers
A national boiler‑maintenance company in France had acquired 40+ independent firms. The country CEO (non‑technical) needed control over fast‑growing servers, networks, providers and services—serving over 300 concurrent users out of 1,200 employees, including field technicians. I was hired to take end‑to‑end responsibility for IT coordination and integration, excluding budget ownership and group reporting. I coordinated vendors, unified systems, migrated data, maintained operations, recruited a Level‑1 technician and supervised his monitoring/supervision project. Outcome: a unified, governable IT landscape, smooth migrations with operational continuity, and a platform ready for the parent group’s later datacentre move.
Client context
- Organisation: National maintenance company (France), rapid roll‑up of 40+ acquired SMEs.
- Users: ~300 connected users daily, 1,200 staff total including field technicians.
- Starting point: Fragmented systems, multiple vendors, uneven standards and softwares; CEO needed clear decisions and continuity.
- Scope boundary: I managed the programme operationally; budgets and group reporting remained with the CEO/parent group.
Challenges & risks
- Fragmentation across newly acquired entities (servers, domains, ISPs, line‑of‑business tools).
- Field operations continuity during migrations (dispatch, work orders, documentation).
- Vendor sprawl with overlapping contracts and unclear SLAs.
- Limited central standards (templates, access models, backup posture) slowing scale.
- Non‑technical executive sponsor requiring clear, decision‑ready options.
Objectives
- Centralise infrastructure for all acquired entities.
- Standardise systems and processes (virtual server templates, published applications).
- Sanitise and Migrate data from legacy systems to a unified platform.
- Coordinate vendors (web, ISPs, hosting/cloud, software).
- Ensure continuity for field ops and back‑office.
- Reduce load on the CEO with structured decision support.
Approach (execution + governance, no budget/reporting ownership)
- IT coordination & strategic oversight
- Reviewed vendor proposals; recommended options prioritising reliability, supportability and cost control.
- Built and ran a programme roadmap (migrations, new installs, updates) with clear gates and owners.
- Aligned internal teams, external contractors and newly onboarded IT from acquisitions.
- Data migration & integration
- Consolidated disparate databases and shares; standardised server/storage baselines.
- Planned change windows to avoid field disruption; verified integrity and access post‑cutover.
- Vendor & infrastructure management
- Guided selection of ISPs, hosting/cloud; rationalised contracts and services to remove overlaps.
- Tuned server and network configurations for performance and scalability.
- Introduced a backup & recovery plan with test restores.
- User & field support at scale
- Maintained channels covering ~300 concurrent users, including remote technicians.
- Standardised access, permissions and authentication for predictable onboarding.
- Team building & monitoring
- Recruited a Level‑1 technician to strengthen front‑line support.
- Supervised his monitoring/supervision project (alerts, dashboards, workload, escalation rules) to reduce mean time to detect-respond.
Outcomes
- Unified IT environment across acquired companies, ready to scale with further roll‑ups.
- Clear project governance with defined roles, owners and runbooks.
- Smooth data migrations with no material operational downtime reported.
- Working backup & recovery with verified test restores and documented Business Recovery Plan.
- Executive focus regained: CEO could concentrate on growth rather than IT firefighting.
- Standardised systems simplified maintenance and vendor management.
- Future‑proofed: the standardised environment enabled the parent company to migrate the whole stack to a European datacentre (Germany) with minimal disruption.
What similar organisations can reuse
- Establish a programme roadmap with site waves, exit criteria and rollback plans.
- Create gold templates (VMs, policies, access) before mass onboarding.
- Rationalise vendors & SLAs early; remove duplicated services.
- Run test restores and document recovery paths before major cutovers.
- Build a small L1 capability + monitoring to contain noise and accelerate response.
- Keep executive updates decision‑ready (options, risks, costs, recommendation).
Gotchas & limits
- Hidden dependencies in acquired stacks (licensing, bespoke tools) can block standardisation: document exceptions.
- Contract overlaps create sunk costs: time rationalisation with renewal dates.
- Field timing: avoid peak maintenance periods for cutovers; communicate early.
Next steps
- For similar roll‑up integrations or high‑pressure transitions, review Capabilities for larger organisations.
- If visibility is low at the outset, start with a structured IT audit for SMEs.
- To maintain steady operations post‑integration (L1/L2, hygiene, monitoring), consider Delegated IT leadership.
Need end‑to‑end IT integration during acquisitions—without losing operational continuity?