Executive Summary
Meggitt, then a FTSE 100-listed aerospace and defence manufacturer, set out to migrate its digital manufacturing software platform to Microsoft Azure for operational efficiency and scalability. The platform supported manufacturing operations for a workforce of more than 11,200 people across facilities in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, so a manufacturing platform migration at this scale carried a specific kind of risk: secure data transfer, minimised downtime, and uninterrupted operations throughout, since disruption doesn't stay contained to IT, it reaches production.
This migration followed Epitechnic's earlier independent assessment of Meggitt's proposed platform and architecture decisions, which gave Meggitt the evidence base to proceed with confidence. Meggitt appointed a third-party partner to build the secure Azure landing zone and carry out the application migration itself. Epitechnic's role was independent assurance: verifying the structural integrity and security of the migration architecture, managing the project to keep it on schedule and aligned to Meggitt's business objectives, and conducting the business analysis needed to make sure the solution actually reflected Meggitt's specific needs, not a generic landing zone template.
The result was a secure, well-architected Azure Landing Zone with recovery objectives close to zero, delivered to schedule and aligned to the business, with Meggitt able to proceed with confidence in a migration it did not build itself but could independently trust.
Business Challenge
Migrating a live digital manufacturing platform to the cloud is not the same as migrating a back-office system. The platform under migration ran the systems supporting Meggitt's manufacturing operations directly, an estate serving a workforce of more than 11,200 people across facilities in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, so downtime, a security gap, or a mismatch between the delivered architecture and Meggitt's actual requirements would not stay contained to IT, it would reach the factory floor.
Meggitt had appointed a third party to build the landing zone and execute the migration, which meant the organisation needed a way to verify that work was structurally sound, secure, on schedule, and aligned to its business needs, without simply taking the implementing partner's own assessment of its work at face value. Left unaddressed, that gap between delivered and independently verified as correct is exactly where migration risk hides: security issues, timeline slippage, or a technically complete solution that doesn't actually fit how Meggitt operates.
Success Criteria
- Secure transfer of data throughout the migration
- Recovery objectives close to zero, so a disruption would not meaningfully interrupt manufacturing operations across a global workforce
- A structurally sound, secure Azure Landing Zone, independently verified rather than self-assessed by the implementing partner
- A migration that stayed on schedule and aligned to Meggitt's business objectives
- A solution that reflected Meggitt's specific needs, not a generic template
Epitechnic Approach
Epitechnic's role was deliberately independent of delivery. Rather than build the landing zone itself, Epitechnic sat between Meggitt and its implementing partner, providing the architectural scrutiny, project oversight, and business context that let Meggitt trust a migration it had not built in-house. That independence is what gave the assurance function its value: a partner assessing its own work has a structural incentive to find it sound; an independent reviewer does not.
Solution
Architectural assurance
Meggitt needed confidence the third-party-built Azure landing zone was structurally sound and secure, without relying solely on the implementing partner's own assessment. Epitechnic decided to provide independent architectural assurance over the landing zone design and the migration itself, rather than accept the implementing partner's self-certification.
An implementing partner has a natural incentive to assess its own work favourably. Independent assurance is what lets an organisation actually trust a migration it did not build itself. The result was a secure, structurally sound Azure Landing Zone, verified independently rather than taken on trust, engineered to recovery point and recovery time objectives close to zero given the scale of manufacturing operations it supported.
Project management
A migration of a manufacturing-critical platform, delivered by a third party, needed active oversight to stay on schedule and aligned to Meggitt's business objectives, not just technical execution. Epitechnic decided to take on project management of the transition directly, rather than leave schedule and alignment entirely to the implementing partner.
A technically capable implementing partner can still drift from the client's actual priorities without active oversight holding the project to them. The result was a migration that met its timelines and stayed aligned to Meggitt's business objectives.
Business analysis
A landing zone and migration built by a third party risked reflecting a generic template rather than Meggitt's specific operational needs. Epitechnic decided to conduct business analysis directly with Meggitt, rather than rely on the implementing partner's own requirements-gathering.
A migration partner focused on technical delivery may not have the same depth of understanding of the client's business as an adviser working directly for that client's interests. The result was a delivered solution that reflected Meggitt's actual needs, not a generic landing zone template.
Outcomes
Risk reduction: An independently verified, structurally sound and secure Azure Landing Zone, engineered to recovery objectives close to zero, rather than one accepted on the implementing partner's word alone.
Operational improvements: The migration completed with minimal disruption to manufacturing operations serving a workforce of over 11,200 people across Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Governance improvements: Independent oversight of a third-party delivery, giving Meggitt a model for assuring future vendor-delivered technology projects.
Executive benefits: Confidence in a migration Meggitt did not build in-house, delivered on schedule and aligned to business objectives.
Why It Worked
The engagement succeeded because Epitechnic's value came specifically from not being the implementing partner. Independent architectural assurance, direct project management, and business analysis conducted for Meggitt's interests, not the migration partner's, gave Meggitt a genuine check on delivery, rather than a second opinion supplied by the same party being assessed.
Client Testimonial
"Epitechnic are a fantastic partner to work with. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that allowed Meggitt to define and implement a secure Azure Landing Zone with confidence. Their engagement, commitment and interaction with the customer was exceptional, leading to a successful implementation. I hope we have the opportunity to work together in the future." — Carl Foreman, Director, Infrastructure Services, Cloud & Hosting, Meggitt
Key Takeaways
Challenge: A manufacturing-critical Azure migration, serving a workforce of over 11,200 people across three continents, was being delivered by a third party, and Meggitt needed independent confidence the work was secure, on schedule, and aligned to its business.
Approach: Following an earlier independent assessment of Meggitt's platform and architecture decisions, Epitechnic provided architectural assurance, project management, and business analysis as a party deliberately separate from the team executing the migration.
Outcomes: A secure, structurally sound Azure Landing Zone with recovery objectives close to zero, delivered on schedule and aligned to Meggitt's business objectives.
Lessons: Assurance only has value when it comes from outside the delivery team; a partner reviewing its own work cannot provide what an independent reviewer can.