Accordis achieves rapid Azure migration with TrueFullstaq
From bottleneck to strength: a scalable cloud platform in record time
Accordis, an IT specialist for healthcare, was facing a critical situation. Their business risked stalling due to the limitations of their aging infrastructure. The infrastructure needed to be transferred as-is to Azure to ensure business continuity. With major commercial opportunities at the upcoming Dutch healthcare event, Zorg & ict 2024, they had just one month to complete the migration.
IT specialist for healthcare: implementation of Nedap Ons
Accordis implements, optimizes, and manages Nedap Ons® healthcare software for approximately 190 healthcare institutions. "This system includes an electronic client record, administration, scheduling, and internal files," explains Ruud Coppens, Senior Advisor at Accordis. "We also develop customized BI solutions to process and analyze the substantial data generated by the software for our customers."
The challenge: growing pains
By early 2024, Accordis faced two significant challenges. First, the rapidly increasing volume of customer data required scalable resources for efficient processing. Second, they aimed to leverage Microsoft's Power BI to offer enhanced data solutions, which led them to choose Azure as their cloud platform.
However, an even more pressing issue emerged: the existing infrastructure couldn't handle new customers and was experiencing performance problems. With the Zorg & ict (Healthcare & ict) event scheduled for April 9, where their commercial team planned to attract new customers, they needed a complete infrastructure replacement—and fast.
Finding the right partner with Cmotions in the The Digital Neighborhood
Accordis initially engaged Cmotions, a sister organization of TrueFullstaq for data processing and analysis. "We clicked immediately with Cmotions," says Ruud. "Their scan of our environment provided valuable insights that quickly established trust."
While Accordis knew they needed Azure, they required a partner to manage the cloud environment with proper SLAs. Through Cmotions's recommendation, they connected with TrueFullstaq, who aligned well with their culture and could develop an growth-oriented climate within their tight timeframe.
Racing against the clock
The first call between Cmotions and TrueFullstaq in late January 2024 made the urgency clear—Accordis needed to migrate by March 1. After an internal emergency meeting, TrueFullstaq committed to the challenge.
"Normally, our lead times for new infrastructure are much longer," explains Rickert de Heus, New Business Developer at TrueFullstaq. "But we didn't want to leave Accordis without options. If we didn't help, their timeline would only get tighter."
The project prioritized transferring the infrastructure as-is to meet the deadline, without the usual deep preliminary research or optimization recommendations. "We knew there would be assumptions and risks we'd only discover later," adds Michael Kroes, Solutions Architect at TrueFullstaq. "But Accordis needed to move forward immediately."
Technical challenges
The technical solution had to transfer the existing infrastructure to Azure without modifications while meeting specific requirements for authentication via Windows AD. A key challenge was ensuring customers wouldn't notice the migration—particularly that they could continue using their current passwords, even after resets.
The environment primarily ran on Linux and Windows VMs with MariaDB and MSSQL databases. "Synchronizing customer accounts between infrastructures was technically challenging," says Michael. "We solved it by setting up a hybrid cloud with site-to-site VPN."
A stress test for processes
"The project was lightning-fast and a stress test for our processes," reflects Stefan Meertens, Senior Delivery Manager at TrueFullstaq. "Only under such pressure do you discover exceptions to your standards."
The rapid pace required adjustments to their typical delivery approach. Solutions architects and engineers joined customer meetings directly, and collaboration intensified. "We constantly needed to gather information from Accordis to make things work properly," Stefan explains. "Close collaboration ensured we could quickly adjust and prevent issues from hindering the go-live."
"Within one month's time, and on time for the March 1st deadline, TrueFullstaq delivered the new environment in Azure."
Success and immediate results
Within one month, TrueFullstaq successfully delivered the new Azure environment, meeting the critical March 1 deadline.
"We were positively surprised by TrueFullstaq's team," says Ruud. "Everyone was enthusiastic and optimistic with a 'we'll fix this together' attitude that created a positive flow in our team."
While a few small issues occurred at launch, they were quickly resolved. The impact was immediate: "We can now onboard customers with ease, existing customers are happier due to better performance, and we added ten new customers in four months—something that was impossible before," Ruud explains.
"We can now grow without worrying about performance issues," he concludes. "That saves time and energy, allowing our team to focus on new developments instead."
