The Company

LGT Crestone (Crestone), a leading wealth management firm, provides tailored investment solutions to high-net-worth clients. Through personalised financial strategies, investment management, and advisory services, they help clients achieve their financial goals. With over 300 employees and four Australian offices, they manage over $24 billion in assets in Australia as of March 2025.

The Challenge

Crestone’s rapid growth put increasing strain on its technology infrastructure, making it costly to maintain and limiting its ability to deliver a seamless client experience. Their systems neared capacity, performance declined, and security requirements became more complex. In a high regulated industry, maintaining robust security and compliance was critical.

Crestone sought a managed service provider that could offer a flexible, client-focused technology solution and act as a strategic partner rather than just a service provider. They needed a provider that supported their business growth through scalability and enhance their security posture to meet stringent banking and finance regulations.

The Solution

AC3 designed and implemented a multi-stream technology transformation program, addressing Crestone’s key business and technical challenges.

Infrastructure Modernisation: AC3 developed and hosted Crestone's workloads within our private cloud, successfully migrating existing workloads to a new data centre tenancy while completing annual disaster recovery testing.

Network and Security Enhancements: The network infrastructure was modernised through an SD-WAN implementation with redundant links across multiple locations, enabling business continuity with public cloud connectivity, as well as a refreshed Wi-Fi platform across major offices. The security posture was also enhanced, incorporating internet traffic security, endpoint protection, email filtering, and multi-factor authentication. These improvements allowed Crestone to meet industry regulations and enhance security for customers and employees.

End-User Computing Improvements: To enhance user experience, AC3 developed a standardised approach to end user devices. As part of this approach, AC3 deployed a new laptop model with a newly built SOE, replacing the legacy platform with modern productivity tools and best of breed email backup solutions.

Service Management Transformation: Service management was strengthened by implementing a new IT Service Management (ITSM) tool covering incident, problem, request, and change management, with ITIL-aligned support processes and reporting structures established for seamless operations.

The Result

AC3 delivered a comprehensive, risk-averse solution that improved operational efficiency, security, and scalability for Crestone. Key outcomes included:

  • Business Continuity and Cost Optimisation: Legacy services were successfully decommissioned, and a cost-efficient, high-performing infrastructure was established, ensuring uninterrupted business operations
  • Enhanced Workplace Productivity: A modernised Standard Operating Environment (SOE) and upgraded end-user computing experience improved flexibility, efficiency, and employee satisfaction.
  • Strengthened Cyber Resilience: Deployed new security platforms to bolster Crestone’s cyber security posture, proactively mitigating risks and ensuring compliance.
  • Future-ready Infrastructure: Developed a scalable infrastructure, supporting Crestone’s long-term growth and creating a strong foundation for future digital transformation
  • Operational Excellence: A new ITSM platform and ITIL-aligned processes improved service delivery and governance.

Throughout the project, AC3 mitigated 55 issues, 51% of which had significant cost, schedule, or quality impacts. Over 100 risks were identified, with 49 resolved and 10 escalated as issues.

By taking full technical ownership, AC3 enabled Crestone to transition seamlessly to a modern, secure, and scalable infrastructure, empowering the organisation to focus on delivering exceptional client experiences.