A growing real estate startup engaged our cloud migration services to modernise its ageing on-premises infrastructure, eliminate hardware risks, and enable future-ready capabilities.

The challenge

What steps can a growing business take to overcome legacy limitations and embrace scalability?

A growing real estate startup was operating on a decade-old on-premises (on-prem) setup that included physical servers, virtual machines, databases, and both custom and commercial applications. The ageing infrastructure led to recurring hardware failures, unreliable network performance, and end-of-life support issues, particularly with Windows Server 2008 R2. As the user base and data volumes expanded, scalability became a pressing concern. The on-prem environment also lacked the technical foundation needed to adopt next-gen capabilities like generative AI and advanced analytics.

How we helped

Migrating to a secure, scalable public cloud foundation on Azure

To address these challenges, Grant Thornton Bharat proposed a complete public cloud migration using Microsoft Azure, aligning with the client’s Windows-heavy workloads and SQL infrastructure. The engagement began with a manual discovery and assessment of all on-prem assets. We then designed and built a lightweight landing zone to serve as a secure, scalable foundation. Using Azure Migrate and Azure Data Migration Service, we moved all servers, VMs, databases, and applications to the cloud. The environment was tested manually, and the client successfully transitioned to a fully operational Azure setup with backup and disaster recovery in place.

Technology stack

1.

On prem

  • Infra – Servers: 8, VM: 23
  • Apps – 20+ (Custom and COTS)
  • Database – SQL Server
  • Network – Firewall
2.

Cloud (Azure)

  • Azure Virtual Machines (VMs)
  • Azure SQL on VMs
  • Azure Storage
  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Azure Migrate

The results

Future-proof infrastructure fuels business growth and AI readiness

The move to Azure eliminated hardware-related risks and avoided costly license renewals. The client now benefits from a modern, scalable infrastructure that can grow alongside their team and user base. With data and applications now cloud-native, the business is also well-positioned to explore future initiatives in AI and analytics, confident in the reliability of their digital foundation.

Cloud migration isn’t just about replacing servers; it’s about building resilience, scalability, and future readiness. By transitioning the client to Azure, we enabled them to leave behind infrastructure limitations and move toward a digital-first operating model that supports innovation and long-term growth.
Aniruddha Chakrabarti Partner, Cloud Consulting Services, Grant Thornton Bharat

About our team

Our cloud solutions are designed to accelerate your adoption journey and maximise returns on your technology investments. We support clients across every stage of their cloud lifecycle — from strategy, business case development, and assessment to migration, modernisation, infrastructure automation, DevOps, cloud-native engineering, and cost optimisation (FinOps). Whether you are initiating your cloud transition or scaling existing capabilities, our experienced professionals work with you to align technology with business goals, driving agility, resilience, and long-term value creation.
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Aniruddha Chakrabarti
Partner, Cloud Consulting Services, Grant Thornton Bharat