Microsoft partners overhaul legacy Integria Healthcare systems

Jairo Garcia (Integria)

Microsoft partners Data#3, Professional Advantage, DXC Technology and Fusion5 have pitched in over a three-year period to move healthcare vendor Integria Healthcare's systems over to Microsoft-based solutions.

Integria, which owns multiple herbal, nutritional and complementary healthcare brands, now utilises Azure Active Directory, Office 365, Dynamics 365 for Financial Operations and Customer Engagement and Power BI in its operations.

This is opposed to its previous SAP and Pronto enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, many of which were outdated and inflexible, according to Microsoft.

Jairo Garcia, head of IT at Integria, said the process began in late 2018 with the migration of on-premises services to Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange. A year later, the company then moved its intranet over to Microsoft SharePoint and transitioned from Skype to Microsoft Teams.

Its Dynamics 365 solution went live six months after starting the ERP project in 2020, with the last deployment going live 10 months after that.

During that time, key folders were moved from shared drives to OneDrive, while its legacy BI platform was replaced with Power BI.

“It was an exciting three-year journey made possible by the dedication and commitment of Integria’s staff, the direction and guidance of our executive team, the experience of our external partners and support from Microsoft,” Garcia said.

The move to Azure in particular was labelled by the head of IT as a “natural fit”, with no tangible interruptions to the business during the process.

Meanwhile, the decision to move its ERP systems involved a “rigorous approach” with key business stakeholders talking to multiple vendors, Garcia claimed.

“They analysed the options in the market and assessed them based on previously agreed selection criteria,” he said. “These criteria included functional fit, strategic fit and experience in our industry, among other factors. After this process, our subject matter experts recommended Dynamics 365 as the ERP of choice.”

While it’s too early to realise the full benefits of the systems switchover for Integria, immediate benefits for Integria include reduced exposure to risks such as cyber threats and system outages.

The new system is also proving to be a far better fit than the prior legacy ones that were previously in use, with Garcia saying it has already provided actionable business opportunities.

“With the implementation of Dynamics 365, we have achieved a tighter integration of several business functions that were dispersed across multiple legacy systems and we have increased governance at the transaction level for specific business scenarios,” he said.

“Corporate reporting is another area that has been positively impacted. Not only does our data now require fewer transformations by having a single system of record, but the integration of Microsoft applications such as Dynamics 365, Power BI and Office 365 also provides our staff with a seamless user experience.”

Moving on from the modernisation project, Integria has its eyes set on utilising artificial intelligence (AI), with Microsoft and Perth-based IT service provider Empired already finding opportunities for the technology in sales and manufacturing.

Data#3, DXC Technology and Fusion5 have been involved with managed services projects over the last six months, with Data#3 scoring a $3.9 million contract with the South Australian Department of Education back in December last year.

Meanwhile, DXC won a multi-year deal with the University of Newcastle in February of this year and Fusion5 helped out its subsidiary EmpowerHR migrate from NTT infrastructure to Azure in August last year.