The Challenge
Upon our initial consultation with Age Concern, we knew we had a big task ahead of us in untangling (literally) the web of servers, network issues, and inadequate maintenance that their previous IT support had left behind.
Age Concern needed a whole new IT infrastructure designing from the ground up while still maintaining the ability for all four of the day centres to access their day-to-day systems. Being a charity cost is always an issue, so we set out trying to design a flexible IT system that would reduce their overall IT costs but still maintain security and scalability.
The Solution
- Move entire IT infrastructure to the cloud
- Decommission all on-premises servers
- Redesign and re-cable network cabinets at head office
- Provide ongoing managed IT services.
When designing the new IT architecture at age concern, the first step was to establish what servers were running what roles as their previous IT support had left them in a bit of a mess. Unfortunately, they also weren’t very forthcoming with passwords and other vital information, which would help us ensure a smooth onboarding process.
Once we had completed a full audit of the IT systems at their head office, we set out to start the task of migrating all of the document shares and emails to Office 365.
Age Concern handles a lot of sensitive data, so we needed to ensure we maintained the integrity of the permissions of their file structure during the transfer so only the correct groups and users could see the files they were granted clearance to access.
We then set out to migrate their Sage Accounting package to the cloud, again; the emphasis was to maintain as much uptime as possible for the client, which we managed to achieve comfortably.
Once we had completed the initial migration, we re-cabled the network cabinets and removed all physical servers from the premises via a green-friendly recycling service.
The Benefit
Age Concern has seen a drastic reduction in their overall IT costs of around 60% since moving their IT support to Boldmere. In addition, we have reduced their electrical usage and increased uptime significantly.
They now have the benefits of working in a fully cloud-based environment, allowing them to add and remove users and licenses flexibly and quickly without costly license fees.
Our ongoing proactive remote monitoring and managed IT support also gives them the ability to know of issues before they occur, which provides them with great insight into forecasting and budgeting for their IT costs.
Reduction In IT Costs
