Large-scale IT assets migration

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), part of the NatWest Group, is a leading global financial institution offering a wide range of banking and financial services. With major operations centers in India, RBS supports its global infrastructure through complex IT systems that demand high availability, data integrity, and regulatory compliance—especially in the context of banking sector requirements.

As part of a strategic infrastructure transformation, RBS needed to migrate over 10,000 IT assets—including servers, storage devices, and network equipment—from locations within EPZ restricted areas to other facilities. The process had to comply with strict regulatory guidelines governing the banking sector, including secure handling of data, documented asset movement, and zero operational disruption.

Key challenges included:

• Handling the physical relocation of 10,000+ IT assets under tight timelines

• Ensuring full traceability and data protection throughout the migration process

• Navigating the EPZ exit regulations, including customs and compliance protocols

• Avoiding disruption to mission-critical banking applications and services

• Coordinating between logistics, IT operations, compliance, and facility teams across multiple locations

A robust and audit-ready migration strategy was developed and executed to ensure smooth transition of assets while meeting the operational and regulatory expectations of the banking industry.

Solution highlights:

• Comprehensive Inventory & Assessment: Conducted a full audit and tagging of 10,000+ IT assets, establishing clear ownership, value, and movement plan

• Secure Transport & Asset Tracking: Leveraged barcoding, RFID tracking, and GPS-enabled logistics to maintain end-to-end visibility during movement

• Compliance-Oriented Documentation: Maintained complete paperwork including de-bonding approvals, asset transfer certificates, and audit logs for every asset

• Zero-Downtime Execution: Carried out migration in well-planned phases, aligned with business continuity objectives and supported by pre-migration testing and rollback plans

• Cross-Functional Governance: Established a central project management office (PMO) involving IT, compliance, logistics, and external regulatory consultants to ensure smooth execution and risk mitigation

The project was successfully completed, with all 10,000+ IT assets migrated securely and in compliance with banking industry standards, without a single incident of service disruption.

Key outcomes:

• 100% traceable and documented asset migration completed on schedule

• Zero downtime for production systems and applications

• Full compliance with banking sector regulations and EPZ protocols

• Positive internal and external audit outcomes post-migration

• Created a repeatable best-practice framework for future large-scale infrastructure transitions