Kocho helps Hallo Healthcare secure cloud independence and £11 million savings

In Summary

Hallo Healthcare Group partnered with Kocho on an £8 billion cloud migration to Azure, ensuring secure, scalable support for 3,000 branches, 17,000 staff, and uninterrupted patient care.

Resulting in:

• 17,000 identities and 180+ applications migrated to Microsoft Entra ID.
• Enhanced security thanks to implementation of MFA, Conditional Access, and Privileged Access Management (PAM).
• Cost savings of £11 million by consolidating cloud infrastructure through Azure Security and Microsoft 365 tools.
• Enhanced user experience and endpoint security by optimising device management with Microsoft Intune and Defender for Endpoint.
• Strengthened security posture across a multi-cloud environment.
• Secured long-term, proactive IT, and security support across 3,000 branches.

The full story

Hallo Healthcare Group is a major name in UK pharmacy and pharmaceutical wholesaling, running well-known brands like Lloyds Pharmacy and AAH Pharmaceuticals.

With over 3,000 branches, a supply chain moving 10 million items every week, and essential support for 90,000 patients at home, Hallo play a vital role in UK healthcare.

Providing specialist nursing and pharmaceuticals for the most vulnerable, Hallo relies on a secure, scalable infrastructure to keep things running smoothly.

With 17,000 staff across the country, they needed a platform that could support them now and grow with them in the future.

So, when it came to their ambitious £8 billion split from parent company McKesson, Hallo set out to transform their IT quickly and without missing a beat in patient care.

Navigating an ambitious divestiture and cloud migration

Hallo needed to separate its IT infrastructure from parent company McKesson in an £8 billion divestiture.

This required:

• Rapid cloud migration of 180+ applications and 17,000 employee identities.
• New security and endpoint management processes to protect sensitive data.
• Building a resilient platform for future expansion.

Hallo’s journey with Kocho began through a recommendation from their private equity partner, recognising our expertise as a leading Microsoft partner for complex cloud IT transformations.

In particular, our deep understanding of the Azure platform and the wider Microsoft ecosystem, and our specialisations in building secure platforms that optimise performance and efficiency.

A collaborative journey to greatness

Kocho’s team worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Hallo’s IT leaders, creating a strategy to transform their infrastructure and security without compromising care delivery.

The collaboration centred around creating a secure, streamlined digital environment. This meant migrating applications and services to Azure, rolling out Azure Security and Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and setting up a Microsoft Managed Desktop infrastructure.

The key elements included:

• Identity migration and security uplift: Transferring 17,000 identities to Microsoft Entra ID from a competitor service and rolling out Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Conditional Access (CA), and Privileged Access Management (PAM) to bolster identity protection.
• Cloud infrastructure overhaul: Kocho worked closely with Hallo to consolidate and secure Hallo’s cloud environment, utilising Azure Security and Microsoft 365 tools to streamline operations and enhance the security posture across a multi-cloud setup.
• Device and application management: Leveraging Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) to manage Hallo’s devices and applications, Kocho improved Hallo’s remote working capabilities, providing a seamless, user-friendly experience with Windows 10 deployments.
• Comprehensive IT and security support: A three-year Managed IT Service agreement ensures ongoing support across all levels (1st, 2nd, and 3rd line) through Kocho’s Network Operations Centre (NOC) and Security Operations Centre (SOC) teams.

This transformation helped Hallo overcome their key challenges, giving them a consolidated and secure cloud setup, simpler device management, and top-notch endpoint security.

All tailored to keep their operations running smoothly.

Results: A secure, scalable, and cost-efficient IT ecosystem

Kocho’s solutions enabled Hallo to establish a robust, secure cloud infrastructure with several notable outcomes:

Reflections

Kocho’s partnership with Hallo Healthcare Group is a testament to the impact of strategic planning, collaboration, and cutting-edge technology in healthcare.

By building a secure, scalable cloud infrastructure, Kocho enabled Hallo to achieve independence swiftly and efficiently, with significant cost savings and a fortified security posture.

Beyond technical success, this transformation supports Hallo’s mission to provide critical healthcare to patients across the UK, now and in the future.

Together, Kocho and Hallo have laid a resilient foundation that empowers growth and delivers care with confidence.

Plotting your journey to cloud greatness?

Kocho are a leading Microsoft partner with specialisations that include cloud security, threat protection, identity and access management, modernise endpoints, and migrations to Microsoft Azure.

To find out how we can assist you on your secure cloud migration or transformation journey, please get in touch to arrange a call with our team.