How Ranch Ehrlo Society moved off an IBM datacenter, modernized identity and communications, and built a data platform on Azure that saves over $250,000 a year.
A mission-driven social services organization with mission-critical uptime demands. Cloudaen partnered with Ranch Ehrlo to migrate infrastructure to Azure, modernize their productivity and identity stack, build the data foundation that powers their front-line reporting, and automate the operational work that supports their programs.
Cloudaen has been a trusted technology partner through some of the most significant infrastructure changes Ranch Ehrlo has undertaken. From moving off our IBM datacenter to Azure, to migrating to Microsoft 365, to building the data platform we now rely on for our front-line reporting, they took the time to understand our mission and delivered work that respected it. The results speak for themselves: modern systems, meaningful cost savings, and a foundation our teams can build on for years to come.
Saskatchewan-rooted, mission-driven, operationally serious.
Ranch Ehrlo Society is one of Saskatchewan’s largest social service agencies, providing residential treatment, education, and support programs for children, youth, adults, and families across the province.
Every program depends on systems working reliably: front-line staff need attendance and billing data to flow, HR needs to onboard new hires quickly, finance needs accurate reconciliations, and IT needs to keep the entire environment secure across dozens of sites. When Ranch Ehrlo engaged Cloudaen, the mandate was clear: modernize the technology foundation without disrupting the work that families and youth depend on every day.
Legacy infrastructure was becoming a mission risk.
Ranch Ehrlo’s technology stack had accumulated over many years. It worked, but the cost, complexity, and continuity risks were rising.
IBM datacenter costs and rigidity
The organization was paying a premium for datacenter and network services that no longer matched their operational profile. Every change was slow, and every new capability meant another line item.
Aging on-prem Exchange
The mail and calendar platform ran on-premises, with all the patching, backup, and continuity overhead that came with it, and a security posture that needed constant hands-on attention.
Fragmented data, manual reporting
Front-line service data, attendance, billing, HR, and finance data all lived in separate systems. Reporting meant exports, spreadsheets, and workarounds. Leaders were making decisions on data that was days old.
Modernization that respects mission.
Before we proposed any migration or rebuild, we did the work to understand Ranch Ehrlo’s operations, obligations, and program realities.
We spent the first phase of the engagement embedded with Ranch Ehrlo’s IT, program, HR, and finance leadership. We walked through how a single referral becomes a placement, how attendance is captured and turned into a billable event, how payroll flows for a workforce spread across dozens of sites, and how IT tickets from the front line reach the right person. The questions weren’t "what do you want to modernize?", they were "what is your team spending nights fixing?" and "what would fail badly if it broke tomorrow?"
That work surfaced the sequence. First, unwind the datacenter cost and continuity risk by moving to Azure with a managed network layer. Then modernize productivity and identity together so onboarding, offboarding, and access could finally be automated. Then build the data platform that would give leadership a live view of front-line service delivery. Then automate the operational work behind the scenes so IT, HR, Finance, and Facilities could all run from a single, coherent service platform.
Off the IBM datacenter, onto Azure with a managed network.
We designed and executed the migration of Ranch Ehrlo’s infrastructure from an IBM datacenter to Microsoft Azure, paired with a managed network services layer that consolidated and modernized their connectivity.
The migration was planned in waves, with detailed dependency mapping, backout procedures, and low-risk cutover windows aligned to program schedules. Workloads were re-architected where it made sense and lifted-and-shifted where it didn’t. Network services were consolidated under a managed layer that gave Ranch Ehrlo predictable performance and a single point of accountability, without giving up flexibility.
The result was more than technical. It changed the economics of Ranch Ehrlo’s IT operations for the long term.
Modern email, modern identity, one login.
We migrated Ranch Ehrlo from on-premises Exchange to Microsoft 365, then modernized the identity layer around it so every platform staff use could be reached with a single sign-on.
The mailbox migration was staged with co-existence during cutover, so nobody lost a message and shared resources kept working through the transition. On the identity side, we integrated Ranch Ehrlo’s UKG HRIS with Microsoft 365 so identities stay in sync automatically: new hires get provisioned into the right groups and applications on day one, role changes propagate without manual work, and departures are handled cleanly. Single sign-on was extended across the platforms staff use every day, cutting password friction and closing off access gaps that used to require constant manual attention.
We also automated the flow of employee and scheduling data from UKG into Workforce.com, Ranch Ehrlo’s time and attendance platform, so the two systems stay in lockstep without anyone touching a spreadsheet. Onboarding a new front-line staff member went from a multi-day, multi-team effort to an automated workflow that starts the moment HR marks them as hired.
Front-line insight, delivered as a service.
With the foundation solid and identity modernized, we architected a data platform in Azure that finally brought Ranch Ehrlo’s operational data together in one place.
Azure Data Factory orchestrates the pipelines. Azure Databricks handles the transformations and the medallion layers. Azure Data Lake stores the data securely, with governance and lineage built in. Power BI delivers the dashboards that program leaders, finance, and executives use to see what’s happening across the organization.
The dashboards cover the metrics Ranch Ehrlo depends on most: front-line service delivery, attendance tracking, and the billing data that ties directly to program funding. We also automated the flow of learner data from SmarterU, Ranch Ehrlo’s certification platform, so training completions and compliance status show up alongside the operational picture. Reporting that used to take days of exports and reconciliations now updates on a schedule and is trustworthy the moment it lands.
One service platform for the whole back office.
The final phase brought Ranch Ehrlo’s operational functions onto a single, well-instrumented platform, and automated the work that used to consume Finance’s month-end.
We designed and implemented an automated reconciliation program for Ranch Ehrlo’s accounting and finance team. Transactions that used to be matched by hand now flow through automated logic, with exceptions surfaced clearly and audit trails preserved. Month-end became meaningfully shorter, and the finance team could focus on the numbers that needed judgment instead of the ones that only needed matching.
We also stood up FreshService (Freshworks) as Ranch Ehrlo’s service management platform. It’s now vital to how IT operates, and has been extended to HR, Finance, and Facilities. Requests, incidents, and workflows all flow through one system with clear ownership, SLAs, and reporting, so leaders across the organization can see what’s coming and what’s in flight.
The stack behind the transformation.
A focused set of platforms, integrated end to end.
Microsoft Azure
Cloud foundation, networking, security.
Managed Network
Consolidated connectivity across sites.
Microsoft 365
Exchange Online, productivity, security.
Microsoft Entra ID
Identity, SSO, HRIS sync, automated onboarding.
Azure Data Factory
Pipeline orchestration across sources.
Azure Databricks
Transformations and medallion layers.
Azure Data Lake
Governed storage with lineage and access control.
Power BI
Front-line, attendance, and billing dashboards.
UKG
HRIS as source of truth for identity and onboarding.
Workforce.com
Time and attendance, automated from UKG.
SmarterU
Certification and training data feeding the data platform.
FreshService
IT, HR, Finance, and Facilities service management.
A modern foundation for a mission that matters.
Quarter-million in annual savings
Moving off the IBM datacenter to Azure with a managed network layer freed over $250,000 a year that can be redirected to Ranch Ehrlo’s programs.
Modern productivity and identity
Microsoft 365 replaced on-prem Exchange. HRIS-driven onboarding, single sign-on, and automated identity lifecycle are now standard across every platform.
Front-line data as a service
An Azure data platform brings front-line services, attendance, and billing data into consolidated dashboards leaders can trust.
Automated finance reconciliation
A custom reconciliation program cut manual matching time for the accounting and finance team, so month-end focuses on judgment work.
One service platform across the org
FreshService now runs IT, HR, Finance, and Facilities on a shared platform with clear ownership, SLAs, and reporting.
Trust built through the work
What started as a technology engagement grew into a relationship built on listening, honesty, and delivering on what we said we would. Every phase was scoped, communicated, and finished on the terms Ranch Ehrlo needed.
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