Turning legacy into leverage: Persistent transforms with Microsoft Unified

Persistent Systems, a global technology services and solutions enterprise, is at the forefront of digital engineering and enterprise modernization. It partners with businesses worldwide to design and deliver cutting-edge digital experiences, unlock new revenue streams, and build innovative business models. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Pune, India, Persistent helps enterprises create value at the intersection of industry transformation and technological innovation.

With a global footprint spanning North America, Europe, and Asia and a team of over 21,000 employees, Persistent excels in cloud computing, data and AI, cybersecurity, and platform engineering. In 2024, it was recognized among the top 10 IT services brands in the Brand Finance India 100 report, reinforcing its position as a trusted digital transformation partner.

Need to break free from legacy limitations

Persistent recognized that its existing data infrastructure could no longer support modern technical and business demands. The primary system for storing and processing large-scale data was becoming obsolete, with challenges emerging around data management, security, compliance, and real-time analytics. Fragmented data environments, rising capital expenditure from hardware refreshes and scaling, and stand-alone API management systems were further adding to operational inefficiencies.

Persistent sought a modern solution to unify its data lakes, data warehouses, and analytics. It aimed to implement an integrated and cost-effective solution to streamline internal operations and deliver greater efficiency across client engagements.

Redesigning core systems for agility, resilience, and scale

Sanjiv Kumar Shrivastava, Head of Enterprise Applications and Architecture, Persistent, explains, “We were already using Azure for many of our core applications. The applications operating on other platforms hindered our ability to achieve scalability, resilience, and security goals. Compounding the challenge were high maintenance costs associated with aging hardware and software. Based on a Proof of Concept, we decided to transition to Azure.”

Migrating a 30-year-old legacy application with complex workflows was no small feat. With support from Microsoft, Persistent set on the critical, cross-platform migration project with Microsoft Unified. The goal was a seamless transition without disrupting business-critical operations. Despite the intricacies of legacy code, platform dependencies, and vendor-related complexities, the migration was completed in just three months. Data ingestion services were moved to Microsoft Fabric, and Azure API Management replaced the erstwhile API management tool. A month and a half were dedicated to testing and stabilizing the system. Following this, legacy applications were decommissioned, and operations were completely migrated to Azure.

This successful transformation resulted from close collaboration between Persistent and Microsoft’s Customer Success Unit (CSU). The Customer Success Account Manager (CSAM) orchestrated the project execution, while Cloud Solution Architects (CSA) with experience in Azure data services and Microsoft Fabric provided critical technical direction. The CSU, comprising cloud solution specialists, architects, and engineers, designed and deployed the solution with Persistent. They also provided extensive support through documentation, best practices, workshops, and post-migration guidance, helping Persistent fully leverage the Microsoft ecosystem.

With Microsoft Unified leading its application consolidation journey, Persistent streamlined operations, unlocking strategic value across the enterprise.

Enhanced security

Transitioning from external, fragmented systems has strengthened Persistent's security posture through Azure's enterprise-grade security features and security-by-design architecture. Microsoft Fabric's integration with Microsoft Entra ID ensures robust identity management. With Microsoft Fabric's Eventhouse, real-time and historical monitoring is possible, enabling proactive performance tuning and enhanced operational visibility. This enhanced security framework ensures the smooth completion of security audits.

Zero compliance violations

Post-migration, Persistent’s workflows fully align with organizational and industry governance requirements. With Microsoft Purview and Fabric’s unified governance, data is now classified, labeled, and protected with strict access controls. Unlike the earlier system, there have been zero compliance violations. Fabric’s secure-by-design architecture with features like encryption at rest and in transit, built-in compliance reports, and Azure AD integration strengthens authentication, helps meet data protection regulations such as GDPR, and improves risk management.

Improved performance

Persistent has seen a marked improvement in overall system performance. Queries that previously took hours to run, such as generating employee sentiment reports, are now completed in minutes using Synapse Data Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric. This shift has enabled near real-time analytics, allowing HR and management teams to respond swiftly to evolving employee sentiment rather than relying on delayed, end-of-quarter reports. Additionally, the adoption of GitHub Copilot for Power Platform (GHCP) has significantly boosted developer productivity, making solution development faster and more efficient.

Enhanced resilience and scalability

The transition to Microsoft Fabric has improved operational resiliency through built-in fault tolerance, automated recovery, and secure data handling. Its instant scalability ensures consistent performance even as data volumes grow, and the ability to scale resources down during off-peak periods further optimizes usage and cost.

Substantial annual savings

The move to Microsoft Fabric has delivered tangible cost benefits. Its pooled capacity model enables better resource utilization, significantly reducing the cost of storing and processing each terabyte of data. The simplified analytics stack has reduced licensing and support expenses, and redeploying employees previously responsible for cluster maintenance work to higher-value tasks has boosted productivity and cost-effectiveness. Migration of the API platform has reduced monthly costs by up to 50%.

Sunil Pandey, Principal Architect, Persistent, says, "Microsoft Unified has proved to be a game changer for us. The CSU team's expertise, experience, and hands-on support de-risked the migration. With Microsoft robust frameworks, we resolved issues faster and drove continuous performance improvements. Microsoft Unified has played a critical role in helping us deliver extraordinary customer experience."