Data & BI

Data Strategy & Migration

Find out what data you actually have, what condition it's in, and what to do about it, before anyone sells you a platform. Valto audits your data landscape, designs the governance and architecture underneath it, and migrates data onto the right platform for your organisation. We work platform-agnostically at the strategy stage, which means we will tell you when your existing tools are adequate and the real problem is ownership, definitions or data quality.

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Data, AI & Automation specialists

Trusted by organisations like yours

Overview

Clarity starts with your data

Before dashboards can be trusted and AI can be adopted, your organisation needs confidence in the quality, structure and accessibility of its data. Most organisations don't struggle with a lack of data. They struggle with data that's spread across systems, duplicated, poorly governed or difficult to trust. That rarely shows up as a data problem. It shows up as a reporting problem, or an AI project that stalls, or a meeting where two teams present different figures for the same month. The underlying cause is usually that nobody owns the definition, nobody owns the source, and nobody has looked at the condition of either. Valto starts by establishing where you actually are. We audit what data exists, where it lives, who owns it and how good it is, then design the governance and architecture to fix what matters. Only then do we recommend a platform, and sometimes the recommendation is to keep what you have.

Why invest in a data strategy?

Know what you have

Establish what data exists across the organisation, where it lives, who owns it and what condition it is in.

Create a single source of truth

Bring data together from multiple systems and locations, with agreed definitions so the same measure means the same thing everywhere.

Choose the right platform, once

Understand which platform genuinely fits your requirements before committing budget, including whether you need a new one at all.

Strengthen governance

Improve control over security, ownership and compliance, with named accountability rather than assumed responsibility.

Prepare for AI

Build the foundations required for Copilot, Fabric and future AI initiatives. Most AI projects stall here rather than on the AI itself.

Support business growth

Create a scalable data foundation that evolves with your organisation.

Our data strategy & migration services

Build a roadmap for trusted, accessible data

We assess your current data landscape, reporting challenges and business objectives to create a practical roadmap that supports better decision-making, stronger governance and future AI initiatives. The roadmap includes a platform recommendation with reasoning, and where relevant a comparison of options and indicative costs, so the decision is yours to make on evidence.

Hear from our experts

Watch: Valto's approach

In this podcast episode, the Valto team explores how organisations can move beyond simply using tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, to unlocking the wider potential of the Microsoft ecosystem. From Power Platform to Copilot, we break down how businesses can modernise processes, improve efficiency, and adopt AI in a practical, outcomes-led way.

Expertise

Data specialists, platform-agnostic

Clarity

Know what you have before you buy

Value

Migrate what earns its place

Building a stronger data foundation

Every organisation has a different starting point. Some need to bring together data from multiple business systems, while others are modernising existing reporting platforms or preparing for AI adoption. We help organisations understand where their data is today, where it needs to be tomorrow and how to get there.

Data discovery

Understand where data currently resides and how it's being used, including the sources nobody documented.

Data governance

Define ownership, security, permissions and data standards, with named accountability for each domain.

Data architecture

Design a scalable structure for future reporting and analytics, sized to your requirements rather than to a reference model.

Data quality

Assess accuracy, completeness and duplication, and agree what needs remediating before it is migrated or reported on.

Master data and definitions

Agree what a customer, a project or a transaction is, so the same measure means the same thing in every report.

Migration planning

Sequence the move, decide what transfers and what is archived, and plan the reconciliation that proves it arrived correctly.

COMMON DATA CHALLENGES WE SOLVE

Expertise for the problems underneath the reporting

Data projects rarely struggle over technology. They struggle over sources nobody owns, definitions nobody agreed, and data condition nobody assessed before committing to a platform. Our consultants surface these during assessment rather than mid-migration. We help organisations address:

The same measure calculated differently in two systems, with no agreed definition
Data sources nobody documented and nobody currently owns
Duplicated records across systems that were never reconciled
Reporting that depends on one person's extract and their availability
Platform decisions made before anyone assessed the data going into it

Turn a data strategy into business value

A strategy document that nobody acts on is expensive. Our consultants focus the work on the decisions and reporting the business is measured on, and sequence it so value arrives before the programme finishes.

Agreed definitions and owned sources mean meetings are about what the data shows rather than which version to believe.

Assessing before buying means you choose the right platform and the right size, rather than discovering the mismatch after implementation.

Documented ownership and governed sources mean reporting survives holidays, illness and resignations.

Establishing what is genuinely used means smaller, faster, cheaper migrations that do not carry old problems forward.

Copilot, agents and analytics depend on structured, governed, trustworthy data. This is the work that makes them viable, and skipping it is why most AI pilots stall.

Knowing where data lives, who can reach it and how long it is kept turns a difficult question into a routine one.

We're one of the UK's few Microsoft partners to hold all Microsoft Solution Partner designation badges, across all Solution Partner designation pathways. For our clients, that means working with specialists who understand the relationship between data, reporting, governance and AI. Whether you're creating a data strategy, modernising reporting or planning a migration, we help organisations build trusted foundations that support better decision-making and long-term growth.

Why organisations choose Valto

Connected, across Microsoft

A data strategy has to survive contact with your systems

Data strategy doesn't happen in isolation. A strategy that ignores where data is produced, and the systems people actually work in, becomes a document rather than a change. Valto brings together expertise across Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Dynamics 365, Business Central, Power Platform, Azure and Microsoft 365. That lets our specialists design a strategy against the systems you really run, and to recognise when the fix belongs in a source system rather than in the reporting layer. It also means the recommendation is not constrained by one product. We implement Fabric where it fits, and we say so when it does not.

How we deliver data strategy & migration projects

Our five-step process is clear and transparent from start to finish. From assessing what data you have and what condition it's in, through to designing, migrating and governing a foundation your reporting can rely on.

1
Discovery
Data landscape & objectives
We assess your current data environment, reporting challenges and business goals to identify opportunities for improvement and define success.
2
Design
The smarter data strategy
Together we define governance, architecture and migration requirements that support both immediate priorities and future growth, including the platform recommendation and its reasoning.
3
Build
Migration & implementation
Our specialists migrate, structure and connect data to create a secure and scalable foundation for reporting, analytics and AI, with reconciliation built into delivery.
4
Launch
Governance & adoption
We help establish ownership, processes and user adoption to ensure long-term success, including naming who is accountable for each data domain.
5
Optimisation
Keep ahead
As reporting requirements and business priorities evolve, we help continually improve data quality, governance and accessibility.

Case study · Clermont Hotel Group

IT infrastructure migration from AWS to Microsoft Azure and Fabric

Clermont Hotel Group strengthens systems, improves performance, and embraces AI innovation with Microsoft Fabric.

Stronger IT foundation
Data-driven insights

The team driving you forward

Dena WilliamsBusiness Applications Business Unit Lead

Sam GarehPre-Sales Consultant

Ben BreedenSenior Cloud Developer & Squad Lead

Claire BedingtonHead of People

“So often data captured is thrown into a black hole of data storage, [Valto's] solution enables us to monitor activity in real time and to present this in a useful format to those at all levels within the charity who can use it to inform decision making.”
Sportily

Keep ahead

Visit our resource hub

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12 August 2026

Questions, answered plainly

Learn more about how Valto data strategy & migration can support your business objectives.

Often, but not always, and this is the question we are most often asked to answer honestly. Fabric makes sense when data sits across several systems, when reporting depends on manual extracts, or when you are preparing for AI. Where Power BI on existing sources is coping and the real problem is conflicting definitions or unclear ownership, a platform will not fix it. We assess first and tell you which situation you are in, including when the answer is to spend nothing.

We audit your data sources, ownership, quality, duplication and access, and identify where definitions conflict. You receive a written assessment setting out what exists, what condition it is in, what needs fixing and in what order, with a platform recommendation and reasoning. It is a defined piece of work, scoped and priced before we start.

A set of decisions rather than a document: what data you consider authoritative, who owns each domain, how quality and access are managed, what platform supports it, and in what order you will address the gaps. The useful version is short and acted upon.

Because most reporting and AI problems trace back to data that is fragmented, duplicated or poorly governed, and those problems are not solved in the reporting layer. Migration is the point at which you can restructure, deduplicate and govern properly rather than carrying the same issues onto a newer platform.

No, and that is deliberate. We agree a retention position early: what is genuinely used and moves, what is archived, and what is retired. Migrating everything reproduces the current problem on a more expensive platform. Whatever moves is mapped, cleansed, validated and reconciled so your team can confirm it arrived correctly.

Yes. We migrate from legacy warehouses, on-premises databases, Synapse, other cloud platforms and self-built solutions. We assess the existing estate first, including which reports have a current audience, because a meaningful share of reports in most organisations no longer have one.

Yes, and we have done. Cross-cloud migration involves the same disciplines as any other: assess what exists, agree what moves, plan the sequence, validate on arrival. We will also be honest where a workload is better left where it is.

Internal teams usually know where the problems are but lack the time and the mandate to resolve them, particularly where the fix crosses departments. An external assessment is also easier to act on politically, because agreeing that a definition is wrong is simpler when the finding comes from outside.

FREE DATA ASSESSMENT

Ready to unlock more value from your data?

Whether you're planning a migration, improving reporting, preparing for AI or trying to work out what you have in the first place, our specialists can help you define the right next step.

Data & AI specialists
Speak directly with experts who help organisations build trusted data foundations.
Practical advice
Clear recommendations focused on business outcomes, not technical jargon.
Platform-agnostic assessment
We assess what you have before recommending anything, including when the answer is to keep what you already own.