How Business Analysis Revealed Hidden Barriers to Growth

Overview

Customer

AquaTerra

About

AquaTerra Energy, one of Scotland’s leading offshore engineering solutions providers, delivers complex construction, maintenance, and decommissioning projects across global energy, renewables, and marine sectors. On the surface, their digital challenges seemed straightforward. But as the organisation continued to scale, they sensed deeper inefficiencies issues they couldn’t quite see, but could definitely feel. A full business analysis uncovered the real picture.

Sector

Energy

Org. Size

250

Service

Strategy, Software, Security and Support

Key Goals

Show how the business assessment uncovered issues they couldn’t see and created clarity for future growth.

Modernise SharePoint and Teams on efficiency, collaboration, and daily operations.

Deliver expert support and a smooth transformation journey as a trusted partner.

Challenges

AquaTerra’s teams were working hard, but their systems were working against them. Through our discovery process, we uncovered several critical issues that had been growing quietly in the background:

Staff struggled to access documents on the move or from home, with VPN constraints creating delays and frustration.
Document volumes had grown exponentially, resulting in lost files, difficult search experiences, duplication, and poor version control.
Critical client and internal emails were buried under email overload, with important messages mixed among day-to-day noise.
No collaborative platform existed to support cross-team sharing, forcing teams back to email and shared drives.
Teams wanted to work more efficiently together, but lacked the tools and structure to do so.

What initially appeared to be isolated pain points were, in fact, connected symptoms of a broader structural problem: information was everywhere except where people needed it.

What the Business Analysis Revealed

By mapping workflows, systems, and communication patterns across the organisation, our analysis identified a clear set of improvements needed to modernise and future-proof their operations:

Cleanse and restructure file shares, moving them into the cloud logically and securely
Reduce email overload by providing a dedicated internal communications platform
Introduce a scalable solution that could be adopted in phases without overwhelming staff
Increase confidence and adoption through consultancy, support, and tailored training
Improve collaboration across the Group with shared workspaces and consistent processes

This discovery stage became the foundation of a transformation roadmap aligned to AquaTerra’s real needs – not assumptions.

Solutions

Turning Insights into Action

Guided by the findings, we delivered a full Microsoft 365 modernisation programme designed to solve the root causes, not just the symptoms.

SharePoint Modernisation

Built a unified structure aligned to AquaTerra’s operations
Standardised document libraries, metadata, and naming conventions
Replaced shared drives with a secure, cloud-based file system
Implemented retention, permissions, and governance controls

Teams & Project Collaboration

Introduced collaborative workspaces to reduce reliance on email
Created project-ready Teams templates for consistent setup
Connected Teams and SharePoint for seamless communication and file access

Security & Governance

Enhanced access controls
Implemented MFA and conditional access
Delivered robust document lifecycle and audit readiness policies

Training & Adoption

Delivered role-specific, scenario-based training
Supported teams to embed new ways of working
Increased confidence in tools and reduced reliance on the old processes

Outcomes

AquaTerra now operates on a modern, cohesive Microsoft 365 platform that supports their people, projects, and long-term growth.

They now enjoy:

Reliable document access from anywhere – no VPN issues
Faster retrieval of accurate project information
Less administrative overhead and fewer duplicated documents
Clear, consistent version control across the organisation
Reduced email overload thanks to collaborative platforms
Stronger security and governance
Standardised processes that scale with the business

Who We Help?

Whatever, your situation we can help you to de-risk and accelerate your M365 adoption.  

For Owners

Small team? At capacity? Don’t know where to start? Work with us and always be in the know with data at your fingertips. Save yourselves the stress so you can digitally transform your organisation and processes. Hold on to and develop talent. Identify areas for more efficiency. Stay secure and compliant and move the business forward.

For IT

Juggling with strategy and small in-house team? With a specialist partner like us we can help simplify management, achieve compliance and guide you on best practice governance and strategy, keeping data secure whilst giving people access to the insights they need.

For Finance

Overseeing a global business? Let us help you go from data to insight to action. Free up cash flow by identifying efficiencies, removing legacy systems and removing bottlenecks. Increasing real time visibility, measuring metrics, mitigating risk and achieving better compliance and transparency.

For HR

Worrying about upskilling or reskilling your talent pipeline to meet changing technology needs and digital skills shortage? Let us help you to boost productivity, knowledge sharing and wellbeing in remote workers. Deliver a best-in-class employee experience from onboarding to offboarding. Provide better access to employee voices to guide, transform and evolve.

Sectors We Have Worked In

With experience and clients across a wide range of sectors and industries, we understand the challenges you face.

Energy/Renewables 

We have core domain experience in this area, providing solutions that have transformed the way our customers manage their businesses and use their data to extract maximum value. 

Construction 

We know how important it is to support construction companies who want to rapidly digitize their processes to support off site workers and remove manual processes, avoid delays, and drive project efficiencies. 

Professional Services 

We have been trusted by customers to streamline and secure operations and develop bespoke responsive apps within Microsoft 365 to increase productivity and deliver differentiating services.

Transport & Travel 

We understand the pressure to streamline operations, reduce costs and increase efficiency. Appetite provide M365 development and support services to improve efficiency and QHSE audit and compliance.

Pharmaceutical 

From regularly working with pharma organisations, we understand the challenges to support collaboration, productivity, and paper lite initiatives to streamline processes, increase visibility and comply with regulations. 

Public Sector  

We are on the UK Government G-Cloud framework. We can support you with process transformation, employee engagement and digital working practices with a variety of solutions.  

Healthcare 

From advisory and best practice around large digital transformation programmes to out of the box and bespoke digital solutions we can help you adopt modern working practices. 

Not for Profit 

Every penny counts.  So, we help you do more with less, from licensing to better information access, tracking data for metrics and creation of dashboards all to ensure regulatory compliance.