Streamlining Complex Microsoft 365 Migrations: How SPIE Nederland Scales Seamlessly with AvePoint
Success Highlights
Successfully migrated 160 TB of Microsoft 365 data following SPIE’s acquisition of Worksphere
Consolidated 2,357 OneDrives, 833 Teams, and over 1,100 SharePoint sites in a single weekend cutover
Streamlined ongoing acquisition integrations with five successful migrations completed to date
Enabled seamless collaboration continuity for nearly 7,000 employees across 41 locations
Location Netherlands
Industry IT Services
Platform Microsoft 365
SPIE Nederland, the country’s largest technical services provider with nearly 7,000 employees across 41 locations, excels in smart cities, energy solutions, efficient buildings, ICT, and industrial services. Formerly Worksphere, SPIE Nederland solidified its market leadership position in sustainable building services, delivering comprehensive advice, design, execution, operation, and maintenance of network systems and energy infrastructure.
Critical Needs
- Consolidate Microsoft 365 environments into a single tenant following SPIE’s acquisition of Worksphere
- Execute large-scale, simultaneous migration without disrupting business operations
- Support ongoing acquisition strategy with reliable migration capabilities
The Challenge
When SPIE Nederland acquired former Worksphere, a Dutch specialist in smart and sustainable building services, the integration brought a major IT challenge: consolidating 160 TB of Microsoft 365 data across 2,357 OneDrives, 833 Teams, 1,100 SharePoint sites, and nearly 3,000 mailboxes.
"We were dealing with a highly complex environment, with thousands of users collaborating across OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint," Mustapha Eddaoudi, IT Specialist with over 15 years at SPIE Nederland, explains. "Because of this, we couldn't migrate in small batches, everyone had to switch over at once."
With all 2,400 users requiring simultaneous migration in a single weekend, SPIE needed a scalable and reliable migration tool that could handle throttling, detailed reporting, scheduling, and complex permissions without compromising performance or security.
"Given the size and complexity of our environment, a phased migration wasn't an option, which added pressure to get everything right the first time,” Mustapha shares. “Coordinating this without the right tooling would have been unmanageable. Thankfully, we found the right tool with AvePoint."
Given the size and complexity of our environment, a phased migration wasn't an option. All users had to switch over simultaneously, which added pressure to get everything right the first time. Coordinating this without the right tooling would have been unmanageable. Thankfully, we found the right tool with AvePoint.
IT Specialist, SPIE Nederland
The AvePoint Solution
After evaluating multiple migration tools, SPIE Nederland selected AvePoint Fly for its comprehensive platform, flexibility, and strong support. The ability to manage migrations through a unified interface made planning and execution far more efficient.
Mustapha’s team executed a three-part approach: an initial bulk migration to move all 160 TB into the new tenant, incremental synchronization to keep files up to date, and a final weekend cutover to capture last-minute changes. On Monday morning, all 2,400 employees logged in seamlessly with updated devices and uninterrupted access to their data.
"I wanted to migrate the data and keep it up-to-date, so do only incrementals," Mustapha explains. "The end users and key users could check the data, go through it, and tell me if they were happy with the results."
SPIE Nederland’s initial integration proved to be a repeatable model. "Since this initial large-scale migration, we've already completed several additional migrations," Mustapha reports. "We've done about five migrations total, and four of the five were moving data from multiple sources to the SPIE tenant."
By standardizing on AvePoint Fly, SPIE’s lean IT team now has a reliable framework to support its acquisition-driven growth while maintaining collaboration continuity.
Outcomes
For SPIE, technology alone wasn’t enough — the relationship with AvePoint proved equally valuable.
"Working with AvePoint was and is a great experience," Mustapha shares. "Their team was responsive, knowledgeable, and truly acted as a partner throughout the project. Deployment went smoothly, the documentation was good, and support was there whenever we needed help. Even after the main migration was done, they stayed involved."
The responsiveness and ongoing support gave SPIE the confidence to manage not just one migration, but a series of them. "AvePoint enables us to manage data transitions quickly and securely, supporting our business growth through acquisitions and IT consolidation. It ensures that users can continue collaborating without interruption, even during complex transitions."
The Road Ahead
SPIE’s growth strategy shows no signs of slowing, and future acquisitions will continue to require fast, secure IT integration. The IT team continues to rely on AvePoint's trusted partner for these transitions.
“SPIE continues to grow through these acquisitions, which means migrations remain a regular part of our IT landscape,” Mustapha explains. “It’s the SPIE business – keep buying companies, keep growing.”
For organizations facing similar large-scale migration challenges, his advice is straightforward: "Start with a solid plan and take the time to map out your data and workloads properly. Use tooling that fits the scale and complexity of your migration. A solution like AvePoint can help manage that process, but it's important to stay critical and in control throughout. Most importantly: take control of your migration yourself."
