The Challenges
Dated systems causing unnecessary IT expenses (and headaches)
When Raj Thethy, Chief Financial Officer for Youth Focus, was made aware that he needed to budget for a costly hardware renewal for their on-premise IT, he was frustrated not only with the impact on cash flow but also with the general feeling that the expense far outweighed the outcome. A tell-tale sign that their IT was not contributing value to their business touchpoints.
Going down the well-trodden pathway of renewing their dated on-premise hardware and systems every few years not only meant a significant capital expenditure, but it also meant shackling their team members to their work devices and relying on frustrating technology to access data, especially when trying to work out of the office.
A prime example was a renewal of their on-premise file server - a critical component in their organisations ability to deliver their services. But at over $150,000 to renew, Raj worked with Office Solutions IT to explore options that would change the way Youth Focus operated.
“It meant that we would be paying a premium to continue using old technology that restricts our team members productivity and fails to give the organisation the flexibility to collaborate while working remotely”.
The Youth Focus team were already using Microsoft 365, so when the notification of the hardware renewal hit Raj’s inbox, he jumped at the opportunity to explore win-win options that would reduce their IT expenses, improve business flexibility and free up resources that could be better invested elsewhere.
The Solution
Office Solutions IT supports Youth Focus digital Transformation strategy by leveraging M365 Platform
Raj Thethy required a secure system that would grow with the organisation, eliminate the need for ongoing hardware expenses, and above all, offer a seamless migration that would not impact the critical day to day lifesaving services of the organisation, so he turned to Office Solutions IT to make it happen. His decision to use Office Solutions IT came down to his prior experience and their business outcome focussed approach:
“The Team at Office Solutions IT have shown a professional approach to the requirements of our organisation. We put our trust into them to deliver a service that was going to change the way Youth Focus operated and we have not been disappointed in any way”.
Raj worked closely with a dedicated Office Solutions IT Partner who designed and implemented a complete overhaul of Youth Focus IT systems. This has seen Youth focus digitally transform their IT operations from on-premise email, file servers and remote desktop servers to a modern workplace operating almost 100% with clever cloud technology powered by Microsoft 365 and fully supported by Office Solutions IT.
This transformation means Youth focus are now leveraging the full value, flexibility, security and reliability of the Microsoft 365 platform including:
- Microsoft Exchange for cloud email hosting
- Microsoft SharePoint to store and share data instead of expensive on-premise file servers
- Microsoft OneDrive, Teams and Office to share, collaborate and work simultaneously.
The Results
Youth Focus Saves over $100k and achieves business objectives with Office Solutions IT
Being the Chief Financial Officer, Raj has the numbers to show that that Youth Focus’ decision to partner with Office Solutions IT to reduce their IT expenses and lead their digital transformation has paid off.
One example of this can be seen in Office Solutions IT’s suggestion to leverage their existing subscription to the Microsoft 365 platform by migrating their on-premise file server data to SharePoint online - eliminating the $150,000 expense to replace their dated on-premise file server, and the $14,000 of ongoing warranty renewals.
But it’s more than just the numbers for Raj, with access to the latest cloud technology and the Microsoft Teams platform the Youth Focus team can now offer and deliver their services through tele-health which means they can scale, grow and reach more people in need of their critical services.
