How a Global Education Publisher Seamlessly Migrated to AWS

Customer Overview

A globally recognised education publisher and language assessment provider based in Victoria, Australia equips current and prospective school and university students around the world with educational materials ranging from textbooks and study manuals to reading lists and a range of digital products. 

To support future growth, the organisation sought a technology partner to replace legacy systems with a more resilient, future-ready environment. That’s where Interactive came in, delivering a full migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and ushering in a new digital era for the business.

Business Challenges

Managing its IT environment on ageing systems became increasingly risky, especially for the organisation’s small internal IT team. There was growing pressure to modernise, not only to reduce risk, but to ease the operational burden of repetitive hands-on maintenance. 

“It really came down to the hardware,” said the End User Services Team Lead. “It was approaching end-of-life, and we needed a more reliable and scalable platform to build on.” 

Solution

Interactive partnered with the organisation to deliver a migration to AWS that balanced the demand for speed with long-term transformation goals. 

In August 2024, the team moved forward on the migration project with Interactive, aiming to complete the transition by the end of October.

A Collaborative Partnership  

From the outset, Interactive approached the migration with flexibility in mind. 

“As the project got underway, we faced some unforeseen hardware incompatibilities and limitations with migration,” the End User Team Lead explained. “At the last minute, we had to shift from the original lift-and-shift plan and completely rework the approach.” 

Some aspects of the project required quick-fire decisions and unplanned detours, which may have resulted in potential delays. Interactive worked hand-in-hand with the organisation to address challenges in real-time and provide alternative solutions to ensure projected milestones would be met. Interactive brought in a dedicated project manager who helped sequence tasks, clarify requirements and maintain project momentum without letting complexity derail progress. 

“Interactive didn’t change the process, they worked with us to get to the finish line,” said the End User Team Lead.  

Remote Support with On-Demand Access 

Although Interactive’s engineering team was based in New South Wales, their support proved effective for the interstate organisation. 

“Interactive’s responsiveness really stood out,” said the End User Team Lead. “They kept us informed about everything that needed to happen and offered support at every stage.” 

Interactive’s fully managed support offering was also a key value-driver. Covering everything from backup retention to patching and policy management, it allowed the internal IT team to step away from routine tasks and refocus on strategic work. As the Team Lead put it, “that helped alleviate a lot of pressures we were working under.” 

Value

The value of the migration extends beyond technical success. The most significant change for the team has been the ability to redeploy time into more strategic business initiatives that impact the bottom line. Previously, the organisation was managing the entire IT suite internally, which resulted in significant time spent simply keeping the lights on. 

“The system performance is reliable, even better than before, and the best part is that no one even noticed the transition. In IT, this means everything’s working perfectly. It’s lifted an incredible weight off my shoulders,” said the End User Team Lead. 

Furthermore, the organisation is well positioned for future planning, with an improved security posture, reduced operational noise and better service availability. 

One of the most enduring benefits has been the relationship with Interactive, according to publisher’s team. 

“The support from the Interactive team has been outstanding. They’ve stood by us every step of the way, even presenting at board level and backing me up when it matters most. True partnerships like this are rare. Everything is running smoothly, and as we fine-tune, Interactive is still right there, fully invested in our success.” 

Key Benefits

• Flexible, collaborative migration strategy that adapted to technical challenges 
• Fully managed cloud environment, including patching, backups and policy compliance 
• Reduced internal workload and stress for the in-house IT team 
• No performance disruption post-migration – seamless continuity for end users 
• Scalable, future-ready infrastructure built on AWS, with Interactive’s ongoing support