Our Work

Real engagements. Proven outcomes. The case studies below reflect the depth of expertise Michael & Associates brings to every client relationship.

Corporate Divestiture: Enterprise Tenant Separation & Infrastructure Build-Out

A large environmental and industrial professional services firm undergoing a corporate divestiture engaged Michael & Associates to stand up a fully independent IT environment from the ground up. The newly formed organization required complete separation from its parent company — encompassing identity, email, data, applications, and endpoint infrastructure — for approximately 770 users, on a fast timeline of 4 weeks from SOW execution.

Scope of Engagement

  • New Azure and Microsoft 365 environment provisioned from scratch

  • VMs and secured Virtual Network configured to host a new Active Directory Forest. ADMT user migration with SIDHistory followed by AD Sync to the new tenant

  • Email and OneDrive/SharePoint data migration using MigrationWiz. Over 15TB of email Data + labels and encrypted messages

  • Migration of business-critical applications (POS and Accounting Software + 10 corresponding SQL databases)

  • Physical server and workstation migration and re-enrollment through Intune and ADMT

  • Sharegate used to migrate SPO

  • over 77TB of file shares, blob storage and PSTs migrated to Azure with private endpoint access

Security Hardening

  • Azure network segmented and built on NIST SP 800-2 framework

  • For AD and Entra AD, audit logging and activity monitoring configured across all workloads.

  • Risky user and risky sign-in alerts deployed via Microsoft Defender and Azure AD Identity Protection

  • Custom ATP rules for phishing/malware/access along with proprietary SPF/DMARC/DKIM rules for advanced protection

  • Mailbox and file retention policies

  • Conditional Access policies enforcing MFA and device compliance with Authenticator as the primary

  • Intune device policies for secured access

Methodology

Delivered in five structured phases: Discovery & Assessment → Pre-Migration Configuration → Staged Migration → Big Bang Cutover → Post-Migration Remediation. This phased approach minimized business disruption while ensuring all users were operational in the new environment within the engagement window.

Outcome

Full infrastructure independence achieved on schedule. The organization entered operations with a clean, secure, independently managed Microsoft 365 and Azure environment — with a significantly improved cybersecurity posture compared to their previous state. All 70+ users migrated with continuity preserved for email, files, and business-critical applications.