Cloud Hosted Infrastructure Complete with Managed Services

Harrier HC approached CT Group in August 2012 with a vision to embark on a fully cloud hosted solution to meet their growing demands and for CT Group to provide mainstream IT support for the organization. The overall strategy and plan was to focus the firm into utilizing IT as a means to provide increased efficiency and mobility within the firm without sacrificing performance.In October 2012 the decision was made at a board level and the project commenced to provide cloud hosted solutions.

Harrier HC utilized a combination of Windows XP & Windows 7, Office 2010 and a standard windows file share as their main line of business applications. The small business server currently employed to perform the critical roles was struggling with the increased growth seen by the firm.These technologies provided a robust environment however lacked the smarts and business acumen required by a high-demand firm aiming to push the boundaries of process automation and mobility.The company required a solution to perform the following;

• Provide a ubiquitous working environment for all staff regardless of location
• Change from a Capital upfront commitment to an operational cost per user model
• Amortize the total cost of ownership (TCO) over a 3 to 5 year lifespan
• Obtain the ability to upgrade software as and when required with no additional spend
• Continue to utilize IT as a leverage tool for the business as opposed to a lagging tool

CT Group embarked on the cloud transition with the vision in mind to provide the robustness and mobility required by Harrier HC, leveraging best practice solutions designed, developed and implemented by leading engineers.

IT SERVER INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE:

• Migrated from a physical Windows Small Business Server to VMWare ESX virtualization (located in our private data centre) running Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
• Successfully integrated Harrier HC to our Hosted Exchange platform
• Implemented Terminal Services for remote staff – to maintain their mobility
• Implemented roaming profiles with caching services at their main office to streamline the user desktop experience

IT SERVER NEW DEPLOYMENTS:

• Implemented Distributed File Services (DFS) across the head office and data centre
• Deployed Terminal Services to maintain the user experience
• Instigated a complete hosted exchange environment for enterprise email management

IT DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE:

• Deployed new workstations and ultrabooks with premium warranty designed to last 3 years
• Rolled out a Windows 7 standard operating environment for all workstations and ultrabooks
• Deployed 24” dual screens to all workstations for added efficiency

The culmination of the above process was completed in under 45 days from project commencement. The project came within budget and the downtime experienced by users was less than 2 business hours over the course of the entire deployment.Project signoff was completed within a week of the go-live date and standard support and maintenance commenced thereafter.

The implementation of these new systems in conjunction with processed automation and a redefined document repository magnified the efficiency and process management of the firm.These were realized by the following

• Significantly reduced capital expenditure
• Predictable operational staff take on costs (Cost per user per month scenario)
• Increased mobility support for traveling staff operating within different time zones
• Single workspace instance regardless of location
• Increased security and reduced footprint for IT services emanating from head office