Learn how Withum helped a critical not-for-profit transition to the cloud, prioritizing security, accessibility and standardization.
Executive Summary
After the successful completion of a COVID testing and vaccination tracker project with Withum, an established non-profit with over 100 years of essential service was ready to commit to the cloud and move their many apps, licenses and files over.
Working in alignment with the client’s specific business and goals, Withum dug deep and transitioned the client’s many dependencies, including data, over from on-premises solutions to the cloud and planned for the future with training.
The Client
A not-for-profit serving disadvantaged New York City residents throughout the five boroughs. The organization features 2,500+ staff and is migrating from the in-office model to a hybrid and remote workforce. The not-for-profit has been in business for over 125 years and has needed to scale and adapt several times, including when they were deemed a critical business during the pandemic.
Background and Challenge
Due to the client transitioning its workforce from a traditional in-office to a hybrid and remote model, over three thousand devices, and the many licenses, apps and dependencies that come with them, needed to move to the cloud.
Withum was involved with the client on multiple other projects and had developed deep knowledge of the organization. As a result, Withum engineers were well aware of the specifics and challenges of the organization.
The client’s legacy data and app management/licensing solutions included several servers and vendors, which led to a complicated system that was hard to manage, lacked security and was running out of time for vendor support. The technology was simply aging and needed a secure, agile and scalable replacement that made their new hybrid setup sustainable.
The biggest challenge for the client was the sheer number of dependencies involved — everything was connected and required individualized consideration on the best solution. The legacy solutions were mostly on-premises and transitioning to the cloud would impact everything from how files were saved to management policies and a focus on training.
The Approach and Solution
Withum’s Digital and Technology Transformation experts knew that the most successful projects begin with thorough discovery. Working very closely with the client, Withum began to analyze the many dependencies and build a roadmap of needs, both acute and future-state. Withum used its deep experience working with previous projects to make recommendations and listened closely to the needs of the client when tackling unique issues impacting the client.
By assessing functional areas, established workflows and pain points, Withum’s team looked for opportunities to:
- Shift legacy vendors to Microsoft solutions as much as possible.
- Move away from chaotic on-premises solutions to Microsoft Intune, a unified endpoint management for organizations.
- Reduce reliance on VPN by applying consistent security policies to all devices using the cloud.
- Transition the Windows update process to AutoPatch, eliminating the previously time-intensive, manual process that burdened IT.
- Build an employee dashboard to access secure information from anywhere using multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO).
The Results, ROI
The client had faced a reoccurring challenge that was boiling over as they transitioned to a hybrid workforce — accessing crucial information securely without tedious manual processes and redundant applications. As Withum and the client delved deeper into modernization, the
importance of standardization became very evident, especially in their organization.
Adding cloud technology from Microsoft eliminated the complexities of continuous configuration management, freeing up time and power for the client’s mission.
The cloud offered them superior security measures and a shield against incoming threats to their sensitive company data. The cloud is taking care of continuity, backup and access for the client by managing both the physical data and the identity and access needed to use it. If needed, the cloud can handle data recovery and crisis management.
Intune connected all of their new cloud solutions and facilitated a secure, connected experience between the many devices, their users and IT. Best of all, the client already had a license for Intune, so there was no additional money out for that important solution. And even better?
During the discovery process, Withum and the client realized that they were paying double with Intune plus other antivirus and endpoint detection services, so now they are saving money and streamlining their services. Intune’s admin and reporting tools are richer and more useful — another time-saver.
The elimination of VPN was the only way to securely perform certain tasks remotely, leaving less up to chance. A single sign-on (SSO) with multi-factor authentication helped integrate many of the apps and processes the client’s employees needed access to and streamlined their workflow. With these secure and convenient features, employees were more empowered and comfortable working from any location. For IT, the time gap between policy updates and acceptance had significantly reduced, allowing them to stay ahead of the ever-evolving security landscape, even remotely.
