5,600+ endpoints upgraded across 120+ countries.
A global pharmaceutical company wanted to streamline endpoint security across a large and complex estate. Specialist technology talent based in Serbia supported the transformation.
Book a discovery call- 5,000+
- workstations upgraded
- 600+
- servers, including GXP-certified systems
- 120+
- countries in the client's global footprint
- 3
- legacy antivirus platforms consolidated into one
The challenge
- Sector
- Pharmaceutical
- Talent market
- Serbia
- Technology
- Microsoft Defender ATP, MECM and Intune
- Published
The client is a global pharmaceutical company, operating through a three-pillar strategy spanning consumer healthcare products, including over-the-counter medicines, generics and specialty pharma. It wanted to streamline endpoint security management across a large and complex global infrastructure.
Its endpoint security was fragmented across multiple antivirus products, including Sophos, Kaspersky and Trend Micro, each with its own custom rules and policies. That created operational inefficiency, and made managing security consistently across the organisation increasingly complex.
Consolidating the environment presented several challenges. The estate included high-business-impact production systems, which needed careful downtime planning and close coordination with business owners and the client's global security team. It also included GXP-certified workstations and servers, subject to strict validation and compliance requirements.
Operating in more than 120 countries added complexity of its own, in synchronisation and in enforcing security consistently. The client needed specialist technical capability to support the transformation while minimising the impact on business-critical operations.
The delivery
The programme began with a global discovery process. It worked with the client's business and security teams to understand the existing environment, and to design a migration strategy that would minimise operational impact. That covered the antivirus estate and its custom rules and policies, the requirements of business-critical production systems, and the additional considerations for GXP-certified devices.
From Serbia, the team supported the move from multiple legacy antivirus products to a unified Microsoft Defender platform with Advanced Threat Protection (ATP).
Moving thousands of endpoints needed a controlled approach. The team wrote custom scripts to uninstall Sophos, Kaspersky and Trend Micro silently, and to clean up after them.
Deployment ran in controlled waves through Microsoft MECM and Intune, matched to each device's MDM authority for accurate targeting. Troubleshooting and fine-tuning continued throughout the programme, to keep the impact on business-critical systems to a minimum.
Specialist capability in Serbia, working closely with the client's global teams, enabled the programme to address the requirements of a large and dispersed estate.
The outcome
More than 5,000 workstations and 600 servers, including GXP-certified systems, were upgraded across 120+ countries within the agreed timelines.
- Three legacy antivirus products consolidated
- A unified Microsoft Defender platform replaced Sophos, Kaspersky and Trend Micro, reducing the inefficiency of managing multiple antivirus products and policies.
- Business-critical systems moved with minimal impact
- Controlled deployment waves, troubleshooting and fine-tuning supported the migration of high-business-impact production systems.
- GXP-certified environments included
- The programme covered GXP-certified workstations and servers, and considered their strict validation and compliance requirements throughout.
- Stronger security posture
- The unified Defender ATP platform provided real-time threat detection and response.
- Significant cost savings
- Antivirus consolidation and bulk licensing delivered significant cost savings for the client.
- Simpler security management
- The unified platform made security management more efficient and improved monitoring across the organisation.
The right specialist capability, operating from the right location, can deliver impact at global scale.
This programme shows that specialist technology talent does not need to sit alongside every system or business operation it supports.
Every transformation starts with a conversation.
Whether your focus is shaping strategy, accelerating growth, adopting automation and AI with confidence, or accessing global talent, a short conversation is usually enough to identify the right path forward. No pitch deck, no obligation.
Book a discovery call