Case study/SaaS
Cloud Migration and DevOps Support for a B2B Platform
Azure migration and ongoing DevOps for a B2B CRM platform serving manufacturers and wholesale distributors.
unicrew moved Crik-IT's B2B CRM platform off on-premise infrastructure onto Microsoft Azure, then stayed on as its DevOps team. The platform now scales with demand through Azure auto-scaling, and updates ship through CI/CD pipelines without interrupting the businesses that run on it.
- Client
- Crik-IT
- Focus
- SaaS
- Market
United States- Engagement
- Cloud migration plus ongoing DevOps
- Stack
Azure
Outcome at a glance
What this project delivered.
- 01Improved system performance: the downtime that had plagued the platform was eliminated, and latency issues were significantly reduced
- 02Enhanced client satisfaction: improved stability raised user satisfaction sharply, with a smoother and more responsive experience
- 03Scalability for growth: Azure auto-scaling absorbs a growing client base and higher demand without risking performance degradation
- 04Streamlined DevOps support: unicrew's team stays on, keeping the platform stable and shipping frequent updates through CI/CD pipelines
Project Overview
Crik-IT, a major CRM platform for manufacturers and wholesale distributors subscribed to by numerous businesses, had encountered significant operational challenges affecting customer satisfaction. This B2B web application gives sales representatives and customers vital information on warranty claims, order processing, sales reporting, and customer communications.
The platform needed to be more reliable and to scale with a growing user base. unicrew’s DevOps team ran the migration to cloud infrastructure and stayed on for ongoing DevOps support.
Challenges
Before unicrew’s involvement, the CRM platform ran on on-premise infrastructure, which led to multiple critical issues:
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Frequent downtime: downtime was common, hurting the end-user experience and reducing the platform’s reliability.
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Performance constraints: the existing infrastructure could not effectively support the platform’s operational load, causing slow performance that was highly noticeable during peak usage.
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Client dissatisfaction: performance issues correlated directly with lower client satisfaction, since distributors and manufacturers relied on the platform for crucial business functions.
The DevOps team also faced the challenge of migrating to the cloud on a tight timeline, which demanded efficient planning and coordination to avoid disrupting business operations. A comprehensive set of services had to be migrated, requiring meticulous management of dependencies, data integrity, and application configurations.
Solution
unicrew’s DevOps team picked Microsoft Azure for the migration, for its scalability, its reliability, and how well it integrates with the services around it. The migration ran in these steps:
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Infrastructure assessment and planning: a thorough assessment of the existing on-premise infrastructure identified dependencies, critical services, and potential bottlenecks. This laid the groundwork for a systematic migration strategy that prioritized minimal end-user disruption.
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Data and application migration to Azure: using Azure’s tools and services, unicrew’s engineers transitioned the CRM platform’s data and core applications to the cloud, ensuring all processes ran smoothly. The team optimized data integrity checks and backup protocols to prevent data loss during migration.
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Deployment of Azure’s auto-scaling and monitoring tools: the team implemented Azure’s auto-scaling strategy, letting the platform scale up during peak times and down during low-demand periods. Azure’s monitoring tools were configured for real-time insight into system performance, so the team could address emerging issues proactively.
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Continuous integration and deployment pipelines: the team introduced CI/CD pipelines, streamlining development and deployment workflows. This allowed rapid updates, patch releases, and feature deployments without disrupting the CRM’s ongoing operations.
Result
The migration to Microsoft Azure completed without significant issues, and the platform moved onto infrastructure that is both more reliable and easier to flex.
By moving the CRM platform to Microsoft Azure, unicrew gave Crik-IT infrastructure that is scalable and resilient, and a team that keeps it that way.
Migrating a live platform to Azure, then running the DevOps that keeps it steady, is regular work for unicrew’s DevOps engineers. There is a second migration story in our cloud migration of a hotel booking platform, a fixed-scope way to start in the cloud cost and AI-readiness audit, and more of what clients say on the client reviews page.
What the client says
Up until a year and a half ago, I handled all the development and support of our application myself and I needed help. I brought in Artelogic, and it was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made.
05/Technologies
Technologies on this project
Cloud
06/Quick answers
The questions behind the project
What did unicrew do for Crik-IT's CRM platform?
unicrew migrated Crik-IT's B2B CRM platform off on-premise infrastructure onto Microsoft Azure, then stayed on for ongoing DevOps support. The platform serves manufacturers and wholesale distributors, giving sales representatives and customers information on warranty claims, order processing, sales reporting and customer communications. On Azure it scales up through busy periods and back down afterwards, and unicrew's team ships updates through the CI/CD pipelines it built.
Why Azure, and what did the migration actually involve?
unicrew's DevOps team picked Microsoft Azure for its scalability, reliability and integration with a wide range of services. The work ran in four steps: an assessment of the existing on-premise setup to map dependencies and critical services; migration of the CRM's data and core applications with data integrity checks and backup protocols in place; deployment of Azure auto-scaling and monitoring tools for real-time insight into performance; and CI/CD pipelines so updates and patches ship without disrupting operations.
How do you migrate a platform people use every day without breaking it?
Planning first, with minimal end-user disruption as the priority. Crik-IT's migration ran on a tight timeline and covered a comprehensive set of services, so unicrew mapped dependencies, data integrity requirements and application configurations before moving anything, then built the migration strategy around keeping disruption to a minimum. Data integrity checks and backup protocols guarded against loss during the move itself. The migration completed without significant issues.
What happened after the migration went live?
unicrew's DevOps team stayed on. Azure's monitoring tools give real-time insight into system performance, so the team addresses emerging issues proactively, and the CI/CD pipelines it built let updates, patches and new features ship without disrupting the CRM's ongoing operations. Auto-scaling adjusts infrastructure resources to real-time demand.