Eclosia moves to the cloud with Dynamics 365 Finance, boosting stability for its 25 businesses

Eclosia was founded in 1966 with a vision of an independent Mauritius capable of meeting its own food consumption needs. It has since grown into a diversified group operating across seven sectors, including food, retail, hospitality, packaging and recycling, logistics, consulting, and education. Eclosia has over 25 companies and employs over 4,700 people. 

The journey from on-premises to the cloud

To provide IT services to all its businesses, Eclosia had set up a centralized server with Dynamics 365 as its enterprise resource planning software (ERP). The company initially opted to have an on-premises setup because of Mauritius limited internet structure, which only had two international connections, leading to slow and unreliable cloud access.

Over time, the limitations of the on-premises setup became clear. "It was difficult to get an engineer who was an expert in dealing with on-premises systems. Our support requests would take longer to solve, especially when there were incidents," recalls Samiirah Choomka, Head of Project Management Office (PMO) and Business App at Eclosia Technology Services. If the company wanted to upgrade Dynamics 365 to a newer version, team members would have to manually manage the deployment outside business hours.

Scalability was another concern. "At peak times, we would experience latency issues, and we didn’t have the capacity to scale to meet the higher demand," explains Nadine Viger, General Manager at Eclosia Technology Services.

With the advancements in local infrastructure in Mauritius over the years, Eclosia started to see migration to the cloud as a feasible option. "As Mauritius expanded its internet infrastructure, it added connections to ensure a more stable and reliable network. This reduced the risk of outages and therefore made cloud adoption a viable option for us," shares Viger. “The move would give us access to the latest technologies, which would enable us to implement digital solutions and use advanced analytics tools.” The establishment of a new Microsoft data center in South Africa finally convinced Eclosia that it was the right time for a migration to the cloud.

Selecting the right migration partner

To ensure a successful migration, Eclosia sought an implementation partner with the right experience. "One of our key requirements was that the partner needed to have prior experience with moving on-premises systems to the cloud," Viger shares. “Microsoft recommended Intwo, and our journey began.”

Migrating Eclosia’s Dynamics 365 Finance to the cloud required careful planning and execution to limit disruption for its 25 companies. "Our database was also huge—1.5 terabytes in size, which made migration complex,” Viger explains. “To prepare, we conducted extensive testing, involving 128 users, 120 mobile devices, and 30 printers, ensuring seamless operations from day one." The full project took nine months and was executed in multiple phases, with the actual migration being completed by Intwo in approximately 50 hours.

A more stable and scalable platform

With the migration complete, Eclosia quickly saw improvements in platform scalability. “When we were on-premises, we frequently experienced database blocks during high-traffic periods, which would freeze operations. This no longer happens,” shares Choomka. With Azure’s ability to scale automatically, Eclosia is better equipped to handle higher demands. "If there is a spike in transactions, Dynamics 365 Finance can seamlessly adapt and our users can continue working without disruptions," Viger explains. This reliability prevents delays in the supply chain, ensuring that stores receive stock on time, which gives Eclosia a critical advantage.

The system is now more stable, with latency issues a thing of the past. "Previously, even a minor hiccup in the database could prevent everyone from working and it might happen four to five times a month. We don’t experience that anymore. What used to be a major issue is no longer something we even have to think about," Choomka remarks.

A smoother experience for employees

With a stable system and automated updates, Eclosia’s employees no longer need to spend time on preventive maintenance, disaster recovery drills, version upgrades, or overnight work on monthly scheduled downtimes. Choomka shares, "When we were on-premises, we had a technical team on a rotating 24/7 schedule every day. Now, Microsoft handles disaster recovery, backups, updates, and deployments for us. This lets our employees focus on bigger group priorities and innovation.”

With more meaningful work and less troubleshooting headaches, Eclosia’s staff are happier. “There’s much less stress for the team. Their work-life balance has definitely improved,” adds Viger.

Eclosia also has seamless access to all the new features and security updates. Software updates that previously took four to five hours now only take 30 to 40 minutes. "With the on-premises system, we were always several versions behind because it was so complicated to upgrade. Now, we are always on the latest Dynamics 365 Finance version, which our users appreciate," Choomka states. Automated updates ensure Eclosia is always on the latest security patches, reducing exposure to cyber threats, while built-in compliance controls help enforce data protection policies and regulatory requirements. By migrating to the South Africa-based Azure data center, Eclosia also makes sure that sensitive data remains within a compliant jurisdiction, further strengthening security and governance.

Expanding digital capabilities further

With its move to the cloud complete, Eclosia is now focusing on modernizing its business intelligence (BI) architecture and exploring AI. "When we moved to the cloud, we deliberately chose not to change the BI technology yet. Instead, we performed a lift-and-shift to Microsoft Azure," Choomka states. “Since then, we launched a project to implement Azure Synapse Analytics to improve reporting speed and efficiency.” Eclosia is also testing AI-powered tools with a proof-of-concept (POC) project to test Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365.

Upon reflection, Viger notes that Eclosia’s journey to the cloud has unlocked many new opportunities. "It’s been a complete shift. We’ve introduced new roles related to digital architecture and cloud infrastructure. There’s been improvements in terms of skill sets, tools, and ways of working. There is much more collaboration now, which I’m sure will lead to even greater improvements across our operations," Viger concludes.

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