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In this case study:
Client: Omnitracs
Industry: Professional Services, Transportation
Products and Services: Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration
Country: USA
Merging two companies sets up unique challenges for a global transport group.
Omnitracs, an end-to-end fleet intelligence technology company, focuses on helping organizations improve fleet safety, boost driver experience, and increase business performance. Based in Dallas, with major offices in San Diego and Mexico City, Omnitracs is a growing, thriving company that has more than 15,000 customers in over 50 countries.
As part of its growth strategy, Omnitracs acquired SmartDrive, a leader in video-based safety and transportation intelligence, in 2020. While any acquisition comes with challenges, bringing a new company with a new workforce onboard during a pandemic had increased issues that needed to be solved.
“With any merger or acquisition, it is like peeling an onion when you start thinking about everything that is affected. From email and Teams, to collaborative development tools and all of our Microsoft products that are at the core of what we do, everything needs to be working — especially during a pandemic when communication is critical,” said Philip DeYoung, Director Global IT Service Management at Omnitracs. “You need to get the fundamentals right first, so we knew we needed to block and tackle.”
Engaging a Team with Know-How
To meet these critical demands, Omnitracs hired Quisitive to help migrate SmartDrive into its tenant. This included getting SmartDrive’s emails to merge with Omnitracs’ emails and mesh with its corporate governance.
“We needed to make sure that SmartDrive had access to our internal internet from Day one, but we knew that meant they would have two emails. We needed to get them off the old one ASAP,” Philip said.
Philip explained that they chose Quisitive because they needed a partner who was not just a Microsoft Office 365 expert but had the experience and the ability to complete the migration in the way they required.
“We needed a team that had a sense of urgency and that could do it right, do it well, and do it safely. All of these were factors in choosing Quisitive,” Philip said. “They brought a full offering, not just technical resources.”
While the initial successful migration occurred in early January, it was a few weeks before the complete domain cutover took place. Before this could occur, Quisitive needed to ensure that data was clean and intact before moving it over to Omnitracs’ tenant. This included making sure that there were no single sign-on (SSO) issues for any critical apps, such as Salesforce or Zoom as they incorporated multi-factor authentication through the new VPN.
“No project is without its issues, including a major email migration,” said Philip. “But when we had issues, the Quisitive team was collaborative — not just at a technical level, but at an administrative and leadership level as well. Quisitive brought the whole solution, from project management to organizational change management, which helped us migrate Microsoft 365 and all of its facets. On top of that, we had a daily stand-up with them to make sure that we didn’t lose any momentum throughout the migration.”
“With any merger or acquisition, it is like peeling an onion when you start thinking about everything that is affected… everything needs to be working — especially during a pandemic when communication is critical,” Philip said.
“What really made Omnitracs a joy to work with was their willingness to treat Quisitive as a partner. This allowed for a smooth engagement and ultimately, a successful migration,” said Rob Carek, Director, Global Solution Development at Quisitive, “With the consolidation of their tenant and domain, Omnitracs is better poised for collaboration across the entire organization, paving the way for teamwork and innovation in the future.”
