Supplier hits Chapter 11

With no physical access to servers, backups, data, and limited management of the database systems, giffgaff needed to urgently migrate 25 servers which would normally take 6 months. Pelicam recognised the need to balance speed with safety, whilst maintaining business continuity and reducing the impact on customers.

Forming and leading agile teams

Giffgaff operates an Agile business model so Pelicam used small, iterative cycles to fit in with their methods. Traditional project planning would have been too prescriptive, so principles of the Pelicam Assurance Method™ were used to quickly prioritise tasks, and ensure that governance allowed swift decisions to be made when needed. The Pelicam team dynamically balanced the risks – managing concerns around the loss of customer data (and associated contingencies), with the need for an assured data migration and enterprise level rigorous testing.

Test, test and test before pushing the button

• Although it took three dry runs before pushing the button to switch to the migrated data, Pelicam proved that “practice makes perfect” by challenging traditional ways of working at every stage, and innovating on the move.

• Successful migration was undertaken within four weeks and customer inconvenience was minimised.

• Giffgaff’s new product development was quickly back on track.

• The senior team put plans in place with new suppliers to reduce risks for the future.