Smart IT were approached by Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP). Pioneering Care Partnership is an award-winning charity whose mission is health, wellbeing and learning for all. Pioneering Care Partnership aims to support the development of individual and community capacity by creating opportunities to improve the health, wellbeing and life chances of disadvantaged communities.
PCP was established in 1998, and after 20 years has robust governance and management arrangements supported by a highly experienced staff and volunteer team. PCP engages with over 50,000 individuals each year.
The Challenge
PCP were looking for a comprehensive IT support package that they could be confident in. With staff working a hybrid approach offsite, in the community and at home it was important for PCP to choose a provider that can provide support to all their users across all their devices.
PCP had already moved all user accounts to 365 and were looking to move away from their old on-site servers that were causing them constant issues with wifi at their centre in Newton Aycliffe. With the age of the server, day to day usage was starting to become difficult due to longer waiting times, slower speeds and cut outs.
Due to the nature of the charity most staff work at other sites across the region, in the community or from home.. However, the centre is still a central hub for staff to work and houses a range of community services and tenants. All of whom needed service without regular disruption.
The onsite server also hosted their door access control at the centre and accounts software, these needed to remain operable, so Smart IT provided a separate solution for these.
The charity also felt there was improvements needed in central admin management control over devices and user accounts.
“Due to the nature of our charity, we knew that we would need a comprehensive IT solution. Our move to 365 really supported the hybrid working approach the charity has implemented but our ageing server was really causing us problems due to our software running slowly. We knew that totally overhauling our current system was the best thing we could do for the charity.”
Vicky Browning, Operations Manager
The Solution
Smart IT’s Business Development Manager Steven Jones met with PCP to gain an understanding of their requirements. Smart IT highlighted key areas that PCP would need to make changes or improvements
Servers
The best option to fix PCP’s server issues was to decommission their existing servers and remove as much hardware as possible from the site. To do this Smart IT has moved their accounts system over to a cloud-based version that would be accessible by all members of staff remotely.
For their data and door access controls Smart IT arranged to host a small server in Smart IT’s secure data centre. This server will be backed up nightly ensuring data is always up to date and removing and concerns over data loss. This solution also meant PCP wouldn’t have to install more replacement hardware on site.
Domain
Regarding their domain, PCP were in the process of moving their full database over to SharePoint. Once the SharePoint migration was complete all devices were taken off the current domain and have been added to an Azure domain. This makes managing these devices a lot easier for PCP.
IT Support
PCP needed a provider that can provide all their users with high quality technical support across all their devices. Smart IT are a great choice for PCP as we offer 7am/7pm as standard for all our customers unlike some other IT competitors. All PCP users can use our support portal to speak directly with our help desk and resolve their issue ASAP. These two factors combined give PCP the confidence they need in their IT.
“Smart IT offered us a comprehensive solution that would resolve all our technical issues. This solution was perfect for us as it would get us running smoothly again and thanks to the support of Smart IT ensured we wouldn’t experience any downtime throughout the process.”
Vicky Browning, Operations Manager
Conclusion
After suggesting all these changes to PCP they decided that they would like to implement them to ensure their IT infrastructure was future proof.
Smart IT migrated all PC’s and laptops over to the Azure domain and installed software to assist with the monitoring and security. With all these changes PCP can monitor, update, and keep all their devices secure while off site.
Smart IT now host a server in our secure data centre to run their door control systems and accounts software. This server keeps everything operational for PCP but takes the stress away from keeping the hardware on site.
Smart IT engineers were available on site throughout the setup ensuring any teething issues were sorted immediately keeping the business running. Engineers have also been available every day from 7am/7pm providing a high level of support to all PCP staff whenever required.
Regular account management meetings take place with Steven Jones and Martin Simnett. These meetings provide an open discussion for further strengthening the ICT infrastructure including ICT policy, device management and disaster recovery options.
“Having access to all our devices as well as our access points has meant we can constantly stay on top of our hardware with very little hassle compared to our previous solution. Hosting our server off site has been a real weight off our shoulders since we no longer need to worry about any maintenance or backups.”
“Overall, we would highly recommend Smart IT as they worked tirelessly to ensure our switch over was as smooth as possible. The onsite engineer support was great for us as it gave all our staff piece of mind.”
Vicky Browning, Operations Manager
For information how Smart IT can help with your IT Infrastructure contact us today.
