Destine Broker – Microsoft Migration
Destine Broker
DESTINE BROKER is one of the biggest insurance brokers in Romania, part of the DESTINE HOLDING group that includes other companies such as DESTINE HOLIDAYS, DESTINE LEASING or DESTINE IMOBILIARE.
The company was founded in 2007 and ever since it was classified on the top 3 insurances brokers in Romania, in terms of annual revenue and number of issued insurances policies. It is one of the most modern and tech-savvy insurance brokers in Romania, being willing to constantly invest into new technology, this being the key to creating a powerful company that will last for years to come.
2017 - ongoing
Insurance
8
Romania
The Challenge
As the company grew to mediate €200M in insurance policies annually, its IT infrastructure, communication, and organizational policies faced major challenges. With one of Romania’s largest sales forces—over 8,000 professionals—the need for a scalable, efficient system was critical.
Key challenges included:
• 80% of communication relied on emails, with some users handling 2,500+ emails daily on an outdated IMAP/POP3/SMTP system.
• No centralized user and policy control or cloud infrastructure for remote work.
• File sharing was limited to email attachments.
• Weak security due to user conduct and policy gaps.
• A two-year transition period required seamless parallel infrastructures, with HQ shifting to a new domain while others remained on the old one.
To address these, we conducted a full organizational audit, analyzing workflows, processes, and interdepartmental communication to enhance efficiency.
Technologies we used
The Approach
Following several client meetings we better understood their need for a dynamic infrastructure, ready to tackle everyday challenges and future company expansion. Destine Broker’s constant need for increased IT security and strict user policies was also something discussed throughout our meetings as well as a better communication flow between the other companies in the group. When dealing with large organizations, it is very important to understand how departments are formed and interconnected and how any changes to an infrastructure can affect these departments and their business flow.
1. Auditing the company from a department structure standpoint and the connection it has with other companies from its Group
We were provided with documents and an updated department hierarchy that allowed us to better understand how the company works and how departments are formed and will be formed in the future. We also analyzed how Destine Broker communicates and shares information across the parent organization, Destine Holding, in relation to the other companies in the group.
2. Conducting meetings with department leaders and other key staff members
We were provided with documents and an updated department hierarchy that allowed us to better understand how the company works and how departments are formed and will be formed in the future. We also analyzed how Destine Broker communicates and shares information across the parent organization, Destine Holding, in relation to the other companies in the group.
3. Current capabilities and budgeting
At this stage we discussed with the stakeholders and Destine’s IT department about how the current infrastructure performs, what its limitations are, and a projected budget for an infrastructure upgrade as well as for training and future developments that will ensure an increased organizational efficiency.
4. Expansion plans for the next 5 years
This step was critical in terms of choosing the right IT solutions for Destine Broker as we love dynamic and scalable solutions that will allow a customer to expand their capabilities without the need for changing and entire infrastructure throughout their business expansion. We projected the company’s users and their needs for the following 5 years and we investigated pressing issues such as increased cyber-security and scalable organizational policies that should be enforced from a centralized area.
5. Defining key areas that need restructuring
The last step was critical for our team as we defined the exact areas that need restructuring and projected early timelines of when the restructuring should be completed. Each area came with its own challenges, and we had to find the best solution that will address all these issues.
The Solution
After a 2-month data gathering period, we were ready to forward the appropriate IT solution for Destine Broker. We took into consideration all the capabilities of their current infrastructure, their expansion plans for the following years and their need for increased communication capabilities and advanced cyber-security. Even though the market has several IT solutions that may solve some of the company’s problems, we considered that the only solution that will handle everything they requested was a full transition to Microsoft Infrastructure.
Microsoft Adoption
At this point, we have presented our solution to Destine Broker and they were extremely happy with it and ready to begin their transition.
Moving from an on-premises infrastructure and old communication methods to a fully Digital infrastructure with advanced cloud capabilities can be a challenge. However, after carefully explaining the necessary steps and assured them of our current and continuous support, they were confident the process would run smoothly, and we began on working towards preparing an implementation and migration plan.
Planning the migration and setting deadlines
Our team drafted the necessary plan that provided a clear structure for the digital transformation journey and a 5-month timeline for the adoption of Microsoft infrastructure and capabilities. During our plan we constantly took into consideration the main challenge of this project, the use of different infrastructures during the 2-year period required by the customer.
The timeline was projected to start in November 2023 with an implementation date of March 2024. For the 100 users from Destine’s Headquarters we also projected June 2024 as the date when they will renounce the use of their old infrastructure and fully transition to Microsoft.
Step 1: Analysis and planning
The first step of the implementation process was to create the digital transformation plan, project the timeline and aggregate all the information we gathered from our previous meetings.
Step 2: Digital transformation process development
During the second step we created the necessary adoption documents and presentations, we set a few approval meetings with the stakeholders, and we began on creating the actual Microsoft infrastructure. At this point we projected the necessary Microsoft licenses for Destine’s users, developed their Microsoft Tenant, assigned access and created the user database. We created 20 SharePoint sites and more than 50 teams and channels on Teams, all with the right user permissions.
We also started analyzing the necessary security and organizational policies that will have to be implemented within the company and prepared the training documentation to be discussed with their employees.
Step 3: Implementation and Migration
The third and most crucial step involved on-site meetings and support for Microsoft license implementation. Our team configured employee devices, deployed Office 365, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive sync. For Microsoft Exchange, we handled licensing, permissions, archiving policies, auto-archiving, and shared mailboxes. Email retention was customized per department.
We implemented RPA flows for four departments, enhancing efficiency and security. Migrating 2.2TB of email data from on-premises to Exchange, including domain transitions, was a challenge but completed smoothly over three weeks.
Step 4: Testing and multi-steps launch
QA and testing were done incrementally, with each transformation step being thoroughly analyzed and placed through different scenarios. We launched the digital transformation process with a multi-steps scenario, allowing each solution from the Microsoft infrastructure to be tested internally by their employees.
Step 5: Continuous technical support and employee training
The final step consisted of providing continuous employee training for a period of 2 years, on top of the pre-implementation training provided by our team. Training in SharePoint, Teams, RPA and OneDrive solutions is essential for a smooth transition and quick adoption.
Our team also provided and will still provide the necessary technical support for Destine Broker’s departments, solving any issue with 99.99% SLA. A fully functional Support Portal was created for Destine Broker, where employees can raise support tickets to report and issues may arise. Solving requests are done rapidly, between 2 and 24 hours since ticket creation.
The Conclusion
Destine Broker’s digital transformation was essential, yielding immediate results. Employees now focus better on tasks with enhanced cyber-security confidence.
Key benefits observed in the past six months after transitioning to Microsoft:
• Centralized access with no security breaches, managed via Microsoft Admin Center and Entra.
• Effortless user management—quick licensing, seamless onboarding/offboarding.
• Enhanced security through MFA, policies, RPA, and Microsoft Defender AI tools.
• Improved collaboration with Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
• Streamlined data retention and tracking for admins.
Digital transformation is ongoing. Microsoft continuously innovates, requiring swift integration of new features. Regular adoption reports help track progress and optimize usage. Our experience confirms Microsoft’s effectiveness in boosting efficiency by 20-30% with proper training.
We’ll continue monitoring Destine Broker’s progress and sharing insights on this transformation.
Acquired services
Camelia Popescu
SHAREHOLDER @ DESTINE HOLDING Excellent collaboration, creativity, fairness, customer-oriented approach, imagination, professionalism – you will find all these qualities while working with this wonderful team of young people.