30% Opex Reduction by Outcreating Infrastructure and Enhancing User Experience for a Global Manufacturer of Dairy and Farming Machinery

Our Client

The client was a global leader in dairy and farming machinery, operating in over 100 markets, supporting customers with livestock sizes from 1 to 50,000 animals. With a legacy of more than 125 years, the company employs ~4,600 people, has 35 local sales organizations, 20 manufacturing units, 120 sites, and 7 R&D units, and holds over 300 innovations and 1.5 patents per year.

Market Trends

The dairy industry is undergoing rapid transformation driven by sustainability goals, automation, and digitalization. Producers are adopting eco-friendly practices and carbon-neutral targets while leveraging robotic milking and IoT-based monitoring to improve efficiency. Animal welfare remains a top priority, with innovations in health monitoring and barn design enhancing herd well-being. Consumer demand for traceability, functional dairy products, and resilient supply chains is shaping future strategies.

Business Challenges

The client was operating a complex end-user technology landscape that struggled to keep pace with rising employee expectations, security requirements, and business growth. Some of the main challenges included:

• Increasing end-user experience expectations
• Establishing a collaborative multi-vendor setup
• Introduction of a state-of-the-art technology stack built around Microsoft M365 solutions
• Inconsistent endpoint security and compliance
• Large on-premises hardware footprint with EOL/EOS setup
• High management and Opex costs
• Performance issues with legacy VDI environments
• Monitoring, reporting, and administrative challenges due to shared infrastructure

Business Impact

• High management and opex costs due to large on-premises footprint.
• Performance issues with legacy VDI environments affecting productivity.
• Monitoring and administrative challenges impacting operational efficiency.

LTM’s Solution – Powered by Microsoft Azure

LTM transformed the client's end-user computing landscape by adopting a cloud-first, automation-driven workplace platform built on Microsoft Azure and M365. The solution modernized virtual desktops, endpoint management, security, and IT operations while improving user experience, reducing costs, and enabling scalable global collaboration.

Key highlights of the solution included:

Cloud-based VDI Modernization and Software Store Automation

• The client’s Citrix environment was modernized through Azure Virtual Desktop implementation, enabling secure, scalable remote access for global users.
• ServiceNow integrated with Intune along with redesigned and hardened Azure AD automates software deployment and access management across all devices.

Modern Device Management and End-user Experience Monitoring

• Intune Autopilot and Azure AD streamline device provisioning, policy enforcement, and lifecycle management for thousands of endpoints.
• Nexthink integration provides real-time analytics, allowing proactive resolution of user issues and optimization of device performance.

Reduction in On-premises Footprint

• Migrating workloads to Azure significantly reduced physical infrastructure, operational costs, and maintenance overhead.

Security & Compliance and User Account & Access Automation

• Entra ID and AD Manager Plus automate user provisioning, access control, and self-service password reset enhancing security and compliance.
• Defender stack (Identity, M365) configuration and management along with Log analytics provides threat protection for all cloud resources.

Integrated Service Management

• Azure Monitor and ServiceNow ITSM dashboards provide centralized visibility and rapid response for incidents and changes.
• Improved cross location collaboration by leveraging M365 core services like Exchange online, Sharepoint online and MS Teams.

Business Benefits

The cloud-first, automation-driven solution provided a range of benefits for the client including:

IT Administration Simplification

• Established a centralized desktop and application management platform, improving operational control and governance across the enterprise.
• Eliminated 90% of legacy applications, data repositories, and end-of-life tools, significantly reducing technical debt and management complexity.
• Retired 99% of legacy desktop images, enabling a standardized and modern endpoint environment.
• Optimized Active Directory infrastructure by consolidating 60+ domain controllers to 28, improving efficiency while maintaining regional high availability.
• Accelerated device onboarding from days to hours through automated provisioning and lifecycle management.
• Delivered resilient global support operations with multi-location service delivery and enhanced coverage for business-critical services.

Cost Optimization

• Enabled a flexible pay-as-you-go cloud consumption model, eliminating upfront infrastructure investments.
• Reduced operational and management costs by 30% through infrastructure consolidation and cloud modernization.
• Achieved 95% reduction in manual application packaging effort while delivering 100% packaging accuracy through automation.
• Lowered remediation and support costs through proactive monitoring, automation, and standardized endpoint management.

Enhanced End-User Experience

• Improved digital employee experience through modern device management and proactive monitoring of over 4,300 Windows 11 endpoints.
• Empowered users with self-service account provisioning and access management, significantly reducing fulfillment times and IT dependency.
• Modernized enterprise printing with a secure, cloud-based, analytics-driven solution leveraging Universal Print and Azure AD-based management.
• Delivered faster, more reliable access to applications and services through an optimized cloud-first workplace environment.

Strengthened Security & Compliance

• Enabled secure and seamless access for remote and distributed workforce populations through a managed cloud-based workplace platform.
• Enhanced endpoint and identity security with unified Intune baselines, custom hardening policies, and integrated Microsoft Defender capabilities.
• Improved compliance posture and governance through continuous monitoring, Conditional Access enforcement, device compliance validation, and centralized visibility.
• Strengthened cyber resilience with proactive threat detection, identity protection, and comprehensive security analytics across the enterprise.

Conclusion

Through a strategic approach combining infrastructure modernization, automation, and Azure-native technologies, LTM transformed the client’s legacy environment into a highly scalable, cost-efficient, and resilient digital foundation to support future growth and enhanced customer experience.

Looking to simplify endpoint management, improve user experience, and reduce infrastructure costs?

Contact us at microsoft.alliance@ltm.com to learn more.