The challenge

For one of the world’s leading accounting firms, mergers and acquisitions are a core growth strategy. But every deal brought a familiar pain point: how to integrate new teams quickly and securely without overspending or risking operational delays.

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Historically, “Day One” readiness meant a scramble—shipping devices, swapping networks, and deploying security tools. This approach is costly, risky, and dependent on supply chains. Worse, capital investments had to be made before deals closed, tying up resources for acquisitions that sometimes didn’t happen. Additionally, one huge obstacle was meeting the organization's stringent requirements for true high availability and Disaster Recovery (DR). Their existing cloud management solution, provided by Nerdio, was limited to a single Azure region. This meant that in the event of a failure, recovery relied on manually backing up and restoring the environment to another region—a time-consuming process that could take hours and fell short of their resilience objectives. 

The firm needed a smarter way to collapse time-to-value, reduce risk, and control costs.

M&A integration in hours, not weeks

Secure access reducing risk

Reduced operational costs

The turning point

Enter Envision IT and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops on Azure. Instead of ripping and replacing existing systems, Envision layered Citrix on top of the firm’s trusted Azure Virtual Desktop image—delivering:

  • Multi-region resilience: Envision employed a high availability design using two sets of Citrix Cloud Connectors across two Azure regions, eliminating hours-long restore windows. 
  • Minimal disruption: No rebuilds, no re-engineering—just a smart pivot that kept familiar management patterns intact. 
  • Operational Efficiency: Citrix eliminated overprovisioning while improving user experience.

The new M&A playbook

With Citrix, the firm flipped its integration model: 

  • Day One access without device swaps: Secure virtual desktops issued immediately to acquired employees. 
  • Immediate productivity: Critical workflows—billing, time tracking—available from Day One.
  • Lower risk, faster value: Controlled experience from datacenter to app, reducing exposure to unknown endpoints.
  • Capex light: Hardware purchases delayed until after deal closure, minimizing upfront spend

Business impact

  • Faster M&A integration: New teams online in hours, not weeks 
  • Reduced risk: Secure, centralized access without rushed device deployments while meeting stringent DR requirements 
  • Cost efficiency: Capacity management and optimized session density cut operational costs 
  • Strategic agility: Virtual desktops became a lever for growth—not just remote access 

Why it worked

By understanding the firm’s M&A challenges, Envision helped translate a recurring pain point into a scalable achievement. Rather than acting as a traditional VAR focused on selling new infrastructure, Envision engaged as a strategic partner—designing a resilient, cost-effective integration model that aligned with the firm’s growth objectives and operational realities. This elevated the conversation from tools to transformation, enabling the firm to accelerate acquisitions with confidence and control. Here’s how they did it: 

  • Start where you are: Reuse trusted images; change the delivery plane 
  • Design for speed: Citrix virtual desktops collapse time-to-value for M&A 
  • Optimize continuously: Envision IT applied best practices for performance and savings

The result

A faster, more cost-effective, and lower-risk way to scale—exactly what the business needed to keep its M&A engine running.

Ready to accelerate your next acquisition?

Learn how Citrix and Envision IT can help you scale smarter, spend less, and move faster.

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USE CASE

Mergers and acquisitions (M & A)

The CIO M&A playbook: accelerate value and de-risk integration

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