The Challenge: Scaling with Confidence 

 

MRI recognized the need for a more consistent and repeatable way to integrate new businesses into its core business systems. Each migration carried unique complexity, and while past projects had succeeded, they required disproportionate effort to get there. 

MRI’s Executive Leadership Team set two clear goals: 
 

1. Refine the system strategy: moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to solutions aligned to each business type. 

2. Strengthen the delivery model: ensuring predictable outcomes across all future integrations. 

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Digital Wisdom was engaged to co-design this model, combining governance, strategy, structure, and joint expertise from MRI and Digital Wisdom to migrate three acquisitions and consolidate four systems into one within a year. 
 

“Digital Wisdom’s structured approach gave the team the clarity and confidence to manage complex system consolidations methodically, rebuilding belief in our ability to deliver successfully and meet programme objectives.,” said Shahed Barrak, Senior Project Manager at MRI. 

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The Approach: From Clarity to Confidence 

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1. Health Check: Creating Clarity from the Start

 

The first step was a set of Health Checks, where MRI and Digital Wisdom assessed readiness across People, Process, Project, Technology, and Data - defining success measures and identifying complexities and interdependencies early. 
 

These assessments allowed the team to anticipate challenges, tailor the approach to MRI’s culture, and ensure delivery remained aligned with leadership’s goals. 

“The Health Checks were thorough and data-backed, helping us make informed decisions and prevent rework. It set clear recommendations and timelines from the start,” said Shahed Barrak, Senior Project Manager at MRI.

 

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2. Building Strong Foundations

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The target Salesforce system was originally designed as a temporary repository and wasn’t equipped to support system consolidation from three acquired businesses.  
 

However, through close collaboration, the team reimagined the system into a streamlined, efficient platform that now serves as one of MRI’s core business systems — widely adopted and valued by users. 

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Key areas of focus included: 

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• Process and Design Foundations: MRI’s Business Analysts worked closely with business teams to document requirements, redesign simplified and scalable processes and align them with corporate standards. Their deep business knowledge kept decisions grounded, while a clear roadmap allowed the first migration’s minimum viable product to evolve over time. 

• Data and Testing Foundations: Digital Wisdom strengthened the underlying data and testing frameworks, developing reusable extraction, transformation, and tracking processes and tools that:  

• standardized migrations 

• improved quality and reduced cycle times 

• enabled automated data comparisons for faster validation, early bug detection, and smoother go-lives. 

 

Together, these foundations transformed delivery performance and built user confidence, paving the way for rapid adoption across the acquired teams. 

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“We got off to a great start, with the first migration being the smoothest in MRI history,” said Arvind Jegatheesan, Senior Director and Project Sponsor at MRI. 

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3. Driving Engagement & Adoption

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The programme recognised that transformation is, above all, a people journey — true success comes when users see real value. Many acquired teams were initially cautious about the migration, but once they experienced the new system in action, sentiment shifted quickly. 

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Leadership and Digital Wisdom’s change specialists aligned communication with business outcomes such as efficiency, centralised visibility of data and processes, and ease of use. Clear updates, consistent engagement, and transparent decision-making built trust and strengthened support for the programme. 

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Feedback from the migrated teams spoke for itself — users found the new system intuitive, efficient, and a welcome improvement from where they were before.

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4. Empowering Self-Sufficiency & Flexibility

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Digital Wisdom’s philosophy is empowerment over dependency. Throughout delivery, the MRI and Digital Wisdom teams worked as one, embedding shared planning, execution, and governance cycles. Playbooks, tools, templates, and methods were co-created to facilitate a natural transition of ownership to MRI’s in-house teams. 

 

Richard White, CEO of Digital Wisdom, explains: “For us, partnership is about empowerment. We want every client to feel stronger, more capable, and fully in control of their own delivery - not reliant on us, but confident knowing we’re there to support when needed. On this project, that vision became reality. At the start, Digital Wisdom led the majority of delivery activities, whereas today, MRI assumes the majority.” 

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The Results: Predictable, Scalable Success 

 

MRI and Digital Wisdom successfully migrated three acquisitions on time and within budget, consolidating four systems, with each completed faster than the last. 

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Cycle times halved while quality remained high. Users praised the improved experience, and leadership gained renewed confidence in the organization’s ability to deliver future integrations at scale. 

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“Each migration had its challenges, but nothing derailed the team - and the new system is far easier to work with,” said Shahed Barrak, Senior Project Manager at MRI. 

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Conclusion: A Model for Sustainable Growth

 

MRI’s success demonstrates that when structure, principles, and partnership align, complex delivery becomes predictable, repeatable, and scalable. 

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Key takeaways for other organisations: 

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• Start with clarity. Health Checks create visibility and set projects up for success. 

• Lead with business value. Technology should always follow business outcomes, not define them. 

• Stay adaptable. Flexibility enables speed without losing quality. 

• Build capability. Empowerment ensures results last beyond any single project. 

• Succeed together. Success comes from shared ownership, open communication, and aligned goals across teams. 

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MRI’s leadership had the vision; Digital Wisdom helped turn that vision into strategy, structure, governance, and measurable delivery success through the Digital Wisdom® Framework. 

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Together, they built a partnership that delivers with confidence - transforming complex migrations into scalable, sustainable growth. 

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“I’m incredibly proud of what MRI and Digital Wisdom achieved together. It shows what’s possible when great teams align around a common goal. MRI are now positioned for continued success — because together we brought the best of both teams to ignite that momentum,” said Richard White, CEO at Digital Wisdom

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