InSite Real Estate Upgrades to Microsoft 365
About This Project
InSite Real Estate
Client
1988
Established in
Oak Brook, IL
Location
Partner Technologies Used
Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Teams Calling Plans, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Power Platform, e911, Dataverse
Project Highlight
InSite Real Estate modernized voice and collaboration by migrating from Skype to Teams, enhancing resiliency, mobility, and security with Microsoft 365.
Overview
InSite Real Estate, a leader in commercial and industrial property development, operates over 11 million square feet of space for major tenants like Chipotle, Starbucks, and Petco. With only a small IT team supporting a high-availability business, InSite needed a modern, resilient communications solution to replace Skype for Business.
The firm partnered with eGroup, their long-time Microsoft partner, to migrate to Microsoft Teams Calling—delivering improved availability, better collaboration, enhanced mobile access, and increased security.
Challenge
“The most important part of communications for our company is having uptime and the ability to reach people, regardless of location.”
InSite had relied on Skype for Business since 2013 but saw the shift to Teams coming. The IT team, led by Senior Manager Kevin Duffy, wanted to:
Eliminate reliance on on-prem servers
Improve uptime and resiliency
Enable work-from-anywhere capabilities
Avoid potential security vulnerabilities on legacy voice trunks
Comply with e911 location-based emergency requirements
“We carved out VLANs and address plans for e911—and were able to configure future changes ourselves. That training was incredibly helpful.”
Kevin Duffy (Senior IT Manager, InSite Real Estate)
Solution
eGroup guided InSite through a phased modernization roadmap that began with:
Migrating from Exchange to Exchange Online
Transitioning to SharePoint and OneDrive
Moving voice and collaboration to Microsoft Teams Calling
eGroup worked closely with the InSite team to:
Conduct department-level planning and hardware assessments
Train users based on preferred devices and workstyles
Configure auto-attendants, call queues, and mobile-first features
Set up and educate on e911 protocols across multiple office locations
Ensure safe and seamless number porting during transition
“By putting our voice platform in the cloud, we were going to have better resiliency. Microsoft’s investment level far supersedes our team of three at InSite. Not to take anything away from our team, but having that level of resiliency, failover, and redundancy in the Microsoft cloud is immeasurable.”
Business Outcomes
Always-On Communication
Cloud resiliency replaced the stress of maintaining on-prem voice infrastructure
24/7 mobile access improved response times and collaboration
“Now, anyone calling your desk line reaches you instantly. That capability in your pocket is super powerful.”
User Adoption and Flexibility
Heavy adoption of instant messaging, file sharing, and Teams-based collaboration
Positive user feedback, especially from remote and traveling staff
“A piece of advice for anybody looking at Teams is to get an understanding of your user base,” advised Duffy. “While that may sound trite, people work differently, some people like to have headsets, some like a handset, and some like a speaker phone. Have an intimate understanding of your people and communicate in advance about how you’re going to make a change to their voice service.”
Reduced Costs & Smaller Footprint
Retired redundant hardware, routers, and circuits
Reduced long-term telecom costs while gaining advanced features
“We had integrated Skype for Business just prior to me joining InSite. We had noticed that eGroup was Microsoft’s Communications Partner of the Year, which was very attractive to us.”
Kevin Duffy (Senior IT Manager, InSite Real Estate)
Why eGroup?
Since 2014, InSite has trusted eGroup for their Microsoft roadmap, from Office 365 to Teams. In this project, eGroup delivered:
Deep Microsoft voice and collaboration expertise
Hands-on support for training, e911, and device strategy
Proactive planning that reduced risks and ensured a smooth rollout
A trusted, strategic partnership—not just technical execution
“eGroup had the patience and planning skills we’ve never seen from any vendor. They understood how every department worked and delivered tailored solutions that worked for everyone.”
Transitioned to Microsoft Teams Calling with no service disruption
Enabled mobile-first Teams experience for remote, on-the-road, and hybrid workers
Closed Skype vulnerabilities and strengthened voice platform security
Modernize Your Communication Platform with Confidence
Explore Our Microsoft Teams Solutions and discover how eGroup can help you move to the cloud securely, reliably, and with zero disruption.
