Client Overview
A global biopharmaceutical company needed to modernize and expand its data center infrastructure to support North American operations and future global consolidation.
Industry
Biopharmaceutical / Life Sciences
Geographic Scope
Global
Timeline
February 2016 – March 2017
Engagement Summary
Consolidating data center operations with zero business disruption
The company was preparing to move from an aging data center into a modern facility capable of supporting long-term growth, infrastructure modernization, and future consolidation.
BCforward provided the program management and solutions architecture expertise needed to lead the high-visibility initiative from planning through execution.
Business Challenge
The company’s existing data center was aging, and a long-term lease was nearing expiration. After securing funding and identifying a new facility, the organization still needed experienced resources to lead a time-sensitive data center move.
The internal team did not have resources with proven experience managing a project of this scale. The company also needed an architect with data center expansion expertise who could support infrastructure planning, security, continuity, and stakeholder alignment.
The move needed to be completed on time, within budget, and without disrupting business operations.
Strategic Requirements
The initiative needed to support several critical priorities:
- Replace an aging data center before the existing lease expired
- Design and implement a modern data center for North American operations
- Support strategic business growth and future infrastructure expansion
- Establish a model for future global data center consolidation
- Maintain business continuity throughout the transition
- Coordinate internal IT teams, engineering resources, vendors, hardware providers, cloud services, and executive stakeholders
- Deliver the project on time and within a multi-million-dollar budget
- Avoid disruption to business operations during the full transition
BCforward’s Approach
BCforward provided an experienced data center architect and a program manager to lead technical planning, stakeholder coordination, and execution.
The program manager divided the initiative into four distinct workstreams with clear objectives, responsibilities, and milestones. This structure helped keep the effort organized and aligned with the company’s business continuity requirements.
The data center architect worked with IT leadership to develop the expansion and transition plans, business continuity plans, IT security framework, and future-state architecture.
BCforward’s team coordinated across vendors, hardware providers, cloud services, technical teams, and senior executives to keep all groups aligned around the program’s objectives.
Implementation Timeline
BCforward managed the data center expansion through a structured 10-month timeline designed to reduce risk, maintain continuity, and keep the initiative moving toward on-time completion.
The implementation included:
- Program planning and workstream definition
- Current-state assessment
- Future-state data center architecture
- Business continuity planning
- IT security framework development
- Vendor, hardware, and cloud services coordination
- Transition planning
- Data center move execution
- Testing, validation, and stabilization
- Final delivery and operational handoff
Solution Delivered
BCforward helped the company plan, architect, and execute the transition to a modern data center capable of supporting current operations and future global consolidation.
The solution included:
- Expert program management for a 10-month data center expansion initiative
- Data center architecture and transition planning
- Four structured program workstreams with defined objectives
- Coordination across internal IT, engineering, vendors, hardware providers, cloud services, and executive leadership
- Business continuity planning to avoid disruption during the transition
- IT security framework and architecture guidance
- Executive-level reporting and stakeholder alignment
- Support for future infrastructure growth and global data center consolidation
Business Outcomes
The new data center was delivered on time and within its multi-million-dollar budget. All project objectives were met, and the company experienced zero business disruption during the transition.
Key outcomes included:
- New data center delivered on time
- Project completed within multi-million-dollar budget
- Zero business disruption during the transition
- 100% of project objectives met
- Modernized infrastructure for North American operations
- 33% additional growth capacity
- Foundation created for future global data center consolidation
- BCforward’s delivery model adopted as a global standard for large-scale IT programs
