Standing up a newly independent professional services business.
A specialist team separating from a larger accounting network into its own Microsoft 365, identity, licensing, security, voice and connectivity stack, with a TSA built on facts rather than assumptions.
- Corporate carve-out and IT stand-up · Professional services · South Africa
- DayOne+ M&A Tech Advisory
What changed, in numbers.
- 4
- Workstreams: governance, IT separation, licensing and managed services
- TSA-ready
- Risk and compliance pack driving explicit parent-firm commitments
- Baseline
- MFA, Conditional Access, Intune, Defender, BitLocker and DLP scoped from day one
Where the engagement started.
A specialist team was separating from a larger accounting network. They needed their own Microsoft 365, identity, licensing, security, voice and connectivity stack. The engagement moved from carve-out advisory into a formal stand-up scope, and the TSA needed to be framed on confirmed services, data, access, ownership and timelines from the parent firm.
How the work was sequenced.
- 01Four parallel workstreams: governance, IT separation, licensing and managed services.
- 02A risk and compliance pack drove explicit written parent-firm commitments before cutover.
- 03Security baseline was scoped from day one, not retrofitted after the deal closed.
- 04The stand-up landed directly onto a managed operating model, not into a support gap.
What the client was left with.
- Independent Microsoft 365 tenant with Entra ID, MFA and Conditional Access.
- Intune, Defender for Endpoint, BitLocker and DLP baseline from day one.
- Licensing separation, voice and connectivity stand-up.
- Managed services on-ramp so the new firm never operated without a support function.
We were never left to interpret what the parent firm would provide. The TSA was built on facts, not assumptions.
The full narrative, sequencing and lessons, as a PDF.
The PDF covers the challenge, the approach, everything we delivered, measurable outcomes and the lessons the DayOne+ team took from the engagement. No form, no gate. All names, sectors and identifying details have been removed.
What the team took away.
- TSAs built on assumptions produce disputes. TSAs built on facts produce cutovers.
- Security baselines cost less on day one than they do on day ninety.
- A stand-up without a managed operating model on the other side is a project, not a business.
From parent-company dependency to standalone operations.
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