Systems Migration Across Borders

How EWORLD empowered an aviation giant’s transcontinental systems migration post-acquisition

Summary

Our client, a prominent international group specialising in ultra-luxury aviation services, operates across multiple countries, including Malta, Switzerland, and Dubai. Despite this global presence, their IT systems were centralised in the United States.

After a major shareholder acquisition, the organisation faced a significant challenge. They needed to segment systems by market, which triggered a large-scale migration across continents and countries.

Chosen as the trusted partner for this global project, EWORLD spearheaded the migration process. From our offices in Malta, we designed the entire strategy and process, executing local implementation, and providing detailed guidance for the rollout in the United States.

The Challenge

Untangling interconnected IT ecosystems is never simple. It becomes even more complex when regulatory compliance, operational continuity, and shareholder trust are at stake.

Following the acquisition, our client faced the critical task of fully separating its systems, applications, and data, across multiple entities – including email, user data, and internal platforms – all while maintaining uninterrupted operations.

This was not a simple split. The environments were tightly linked, with complex legacy systems integrated across multiple regions and on-premises systems connected to a shared U.S.-based cloud infrastructure.

Adding to the complexity, U.S. system specifications restricted modifications to Malta’s environment, limiting flexibility during migration. Furthermore, while domains needed to be separated, some U.S. domains had to remain operational in Malta in order to ensure a seamless transition. This required careful planning to prevent service disruption.

The Group also needed to ensure that European user data was not stored on a U.S.-based infrastructure, which might introduce significant GDPR compliance concerns. This also presented an opportunity to improve cybersecurity operations locally, which the client was keen to achieve. In fact, safeguarding data integrity and security throughout the transition was a top priority for everyone involved, in order to ensure regulatory compliance and preserve stakeholder trust.

As such, and despite the complexity of the migration, the client’s requirements were clear: zero downtime, and zero data loss.

Our Methodology

Our work began long before ever touching the client’s systems.

Before the migration began, we invested over 100 hours in research. We designed and tested every possible methodology within our in-house lab, where we were able to replicate the client’s environment to accurately assess risks and validate every step of the process. This allowed us to explore all possible scenarios – what could go wrong, how to prevent it, and how to recover if necessary – while developing robust contingency strategies and a comprehensive fallback plan to ensure business continuity under any circumstance.

Two of our certified Microsoft cloud specialists led the complete solution design, ensuring best practices and compliance throughout. To automate the data migration itself, they evaluated third-party tools extensively, held one-to-one meetings with five to seven vendors, shortlisted three, and conducted further rigorous testing. After their analysis, we narrowed the options to two leading solutions and presented the client with a transparent comparison of pros and cons, underscoring our commitment to transparency and consultative guidance.

Once the solution was finalised and agreed upon, we didn’t just begin implementing it right away. Instead, we went back to the lab – and invested another 100 hours in further risk mitigation testing.

After making sure we were prepared for any circumstance, we created a detailed migration plan for the Malta, Dubai, Switzerland, and U.S. environments, and executed the Maltese side with precision – which took an additional excess of 100 hours of work, and which resulted, as requested, in zero data loss and uninterrupted operations.

Results

We delivered the migration exactly as required: zero data loss and virtually zero downtime – just one minute during the cutover phase. End users experienced no disruption and no visible changes, even after the domain separation. Importantly, we also avoided creating new accounts. This preserved continuity for a highly diverse user base that includes employees, freelancers, pilots, private jet operators, airport staff, and charter teams operating across different countries and time zones. On a technical level, we maintained the existing on-premises environment and merged it with the new Malta-based cloud infrastructure. This means that passwords and user settings also remained intact, guaranteeing a frictionless experience.

During the process, we also ensured effective communication with international teams, synchronising systems across regions and cultures. After the migration, we continued to assist the client with all necessary adjustments and remain engaged in supporting the final stages of the project.

The overall result: a fully compliant, secure, and transparent migration that met every requirement for operational continuity and user experience.

Key Takeaways

• Leadership from start to finish
  EWORLD led the entire project end-to-end, from planning and testing to execution and post-migration support. This level of ownership and accountability is what sets us apart and what enabled us to ensure that the migration process was implemented smoothly.
• Ability to improvise and adapt
  Complex migrations demand flexibility. Our team anticipated potential challenges and developed multiple solutions to address issues before they could impact operations.
• The power of our lab environment
  Our in-house lab was critical to success. It allowed us to replicate the client’s infrastructure, test every scenario, and validate fallback strategies. Without this controlled environment, it would have been impossible to foresee and mitigate all the risks inherent to such a complex project.
• Responsiveness in M&A IT transitions
  Mergers and acquisitions require rapid, secure, and compliant IT transformations. This project demonstrates how responsiveness and rigorous planning can deliver continuity, even under demanding conditions.

Ready to Simplify Your Next IT Transition?

Complex migrations don’t have to mean system disruption. With accurate research, proven methodologies, deep expertise, and a commitment to transparency, we help organisations achieve streamlined, secure transformations – no matter the scale.

Contact us today and let’s talk about how we can make your next IT challenge a success.