MICROSOFT AZURE CLOUD SERVER MIGRATION
Challenge
With over 50 employees, this long standing Wodonga based Community Services organisation has a large services coverage area. The technology footprint of the organisation was lacking in terms of realisability and scalability. Any downtime experienced by the organisation due to IT issues were costly in terms of lost productivity and client dissatisfaction.
The organisation was looking to upgrade there systems to a cloud hosted solution in order to help ensure the ongoing costs of the solutions would be predictable and maintenance costs would be minimised.
They also required a Voice Solutions that would be flexible and expandable and allow users to easily move between locations.
An appropriate emailing system was also required that will be highly redundant and allow for easy connectivity from where ever the staff members would be working from
The original IT systems we build using PC hardware and so were stretched beyond there capabilities.
Solutions Overview
Total Solutions IT helped the client to develop a “Cloud First Solution” Several conceptual designs were reviewed with them to outline what their next system could look like. As Total Solutions IT gained more institutional knowledge about their workflow, challenges and objectives, these designs were further refined and finalized, and execution began on the strategic plan.
Initially the client was using simple POP3 mailboxes, and so a migration plan to Microsoft 365 was undertaken. Windows 7 pc’s were also upgraded to Windows 10.
As Total Solutions IT worked through moving their system to a more modern platform, we advised the Client to assess different Cloud SaaS options to host some of their applications. However, due to very specific requirements, it was determined that moving to a SaaS platform was not a viable option. So in order to meet both security and hosting goals, Total Solutions IT designed an Azure Windows Terminal Server Solution that would host all user applications to make it easier to manage. All Line-of-Business applications that were previously hosted on local servers would be moved to the Azure environment as well.
Total Solutions IT collaborated with each respective Software Vendor to properly build virtual machines to host the application in question and facilitate the installation and migration of the applications without running into serious implementation issues. There was little impact to the staff as the SaaS system was tested prior to the cutover. The Cloud based system only went live when the solution was confirmed to be working properly.
Simultaneous to the application migration, Total Solutions IT designed and deployed an Azure Cloud environment to host the client’s domain, print and file servers. While this solution was in Azure, Total Solutions IT still designed it to include appropriate backups and disaster recovery solutions. The move to the Azure cloud was also seamless because the Azure environment was built and tested while the staff utilized their on-premise system.
Prior to the Cloud deployment, Total Solutions IT made some improvements to the client’s local core infrastructure and Wide-Area-Network to ensure that their network would be robust and sufficient to support the Cloud system. Additionally, point-to-site VPNs were deployed to ensure an easy and consistent connection to the Cloud environments.
An Avaya IP Office solutions was deployed to all locations and allows for simple call routing and users communication.
RESULTS
Now that the migration has been completed, the staff’s experience has been positively impacted by the organisation’s migration to the cloud. They now have the flexibility to work from anywhere and productivity has greatly improved.
Employee satisfaction with technology has greatly improved as they now enjoy a positive technology experience. They have also been able to shift to remote working conditions seamlessly as current events demanded staff work from home more than in the past.
Had they decided to stick with a locally hosted solution, the client would have had to spend around $200,000 in capital investment to replace, configure, and deploy hardware. Migrating to the Cloud helped the organization save money by eliminating the need to purchase hardware and software.
The feedback Total Solutions IT has received from the CEO has been outstanding, and Total Solutions IT was happy to be a part of a solution to make their environment more conducive to today’s business needs.
