Thirty years of history, infrastructure reborn
From email scattered across disparate providers to complete Microsoft 365: mailbox migration, user structure, SharePoint and optimised licensing — with zero operational downtime.
The starting point
Automotive Agency is a communications, events and logistics agency with thirty years of activity in the automotive sector. Based in Rome, they manage events, production and logistics for major clients in the automotive industry. Before our intervention, their email was scattered across multiple providers without centralised governance: mailboxes on disparate infrastructure, unstructured users, no shared document hub.
The mandate was broad: migrate all email to Microsoft 365, structure the tenant (users, groups, permissions), launch SharePoint as a single point of reference for documents, and realign licensing to actual usage. A multi-front intervention, to be completed without stopping daily operations.
What we found
Four critical areas emerged from the initial assessment.
- Email scattered across disparate providers Mailboxes distributed across multiple infrastructures, without centralised domain management, aliases or security policies.
- Unstructured users No Microsoft 365 groups, unmapped aliases, undocumented access, no baseline security policies in place.
- No document hub SharePoint not configured. Documents scattered across local storage and personal accounts, with no shared, structured access point.
- No productivity suite Microsoft 365 not activated: no access to Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive or Office online. The choice of plan needed to be made from scratch, based on actual user profiles.
How we worked
We began with assessment: mapping existing users, inventorying mailboxes to migrate, verifying the domain and configuring DNS (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Migration happened progressively — no mailbox remained inaccessible during the transition. Automotive Agency's operational activities never stopped.
In parallel with migration, we structured the tenant: Microsoft 365 groups, aliases, baseline policies on Entra ID. SharePoint configuration started from the existing document structure: sites, permissions by function, naming convention. At completion, licensing selection started from zero: plans chosen based on each user's actual profile, with no waste from day one.
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01 · Assessment
Diagnosis
User map · DNS · Mailbox inventory
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02 · Migration
Email
Mailboxes · Contacts · Calendars
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03 · Tenant
Structure
Users · Groups · Entra ID · Aliases
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04 · SharePoint
Document hub
Sites · Permissions · Naming convention
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05 · Licensing
Optimisation
Plan selection · Tailored assignment · Zero waste
Where we landed
Automotive Agency finished the project with a documented, operational Microsoft 365 environment. The 10 mailboxes moved to Exchange Online without service interruption. SharePoint is now the single reference point for internal documents. Licensing — which didn't exist before — was chosen bespoke for each user: the right plan, necessary functionality, no unnecessary cost from day one.