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Read how their new flexible, scalable solution has saved over 8,000 hours and £200,000
With an outdated infrastructure fast approaching the end of vendor support, Southway Housing Trust needed to find a modern solution and a provider who could deliver it quickly. The not-for-profit organisation, which provides quality affordable housing in south Manchester, didn’t simply want to upgrade their systems, they wanted to build a new modern, cloud-first IT environment. BCN was able to quickly and successfully migrate the trust and its more than 300 users to a bespoke Azure infrastructure that provides a flexible, scalable and secure environment that’s fit for the future.
Sector: Charitable / Social Housing
Southway Housing manages more than 6,000 homes and has more than 300 IT users, from volunteers to board and committee members.
Southway Housing Trust is a not-for-profit organisation that provides affordable homes for rent and sale in south Manchester. The trust manages more than 6,000 properties and provides a range of support services for tenants and the local community, including repairs, adaptations, advice and regeneration projects. The trust has more than 300 people using its IT systems, from tenant volunteers to board and committee members, all working to create sustainable neighbourhoods where people are proud to live and work.
Southway Housing Trust had previously commissioned BCN to facilitate the rollout of Microsoft 365 across its on-premises environment, so when it came time to modernise the trust’s infrastructure, Azure was the logical best choice. BCN’s Microsoft technicians were able to focus immediately on tailoring the environment to Southway’s specific needs and invested time and testing on the vital migration of its core housing management systems from on-premises to the fully modernised infrastructure of Azure.
With Azure up and running, we were able to seamlessly deploy AVD to the trust’s 300+ users through a phased rollout.
Our technicians began by reviewing Southway Housing Trust’s entire environment, taking time to understand where and how critical systems and core applications had developed over time and how these fitted in with the trust’s current and future needs. With a full picture of the trust’s business goals over both the short and longer terms – including optimised costs, more flexibility, increased agility, and access to the latest security tools and features to prevent cyberattacks – BCN recommended a full migration to Microsoft Azure.
Our technical teams knew how integral the Open Housing core application was to the success of this project and were committed to getting it right. They collaborated closely with the trust to design and test a brand-new POC for the housing management system, and delivered what remains the only example of Open Housing working within Azure.
Following a significant amount of internal development by the trust, and with input from third-party consultants as well as a rigorous and thorough migration testing process, UAT and a phased rollout, BCN successfully migrated the trust’s infrastructure to Azure with minimal business disruption, no costly vendor upgrades, on time and to budget.
BCN is pleased to continue supporting Southway Housing Trust with a fully managed Azure service, ensuring the environment remains secure, up to date and optimised going forwards.
Ian Hardingham, Head of ICT at Southway Housing commented “Southway Housing Trust completed a vigorous process to review the options that were available to us to deliver a modern and scalable infrastructure replacement. This included a review of on-premise, hybrid and cloud based options for infrastructure needs of a Housing Association.
The review led us towards Microsoft Azure which provides Southway with an integrated solution giving us the full capabilities of the Microsoft platform.
The implemented solution has provided Southway with extensive options for our Infrastructure team, giving us granular control of what we spend and when we spend it. Following benchmarking exercises completed after implementation, we have worked with BCN consultants and reduced the outlay spending less than budgeted figures with more control and capabilities than we have ever had before.
BCN have played a huge part in the project providing Southway with valuable expertise that has helped deliver a project on time and under budget.”
Testimonial
The Azure Migration has been a solid first step on Southway Housing Trust’s journey to becoming a cloud-native organisation. With a fully modernised and well-architected infrastructure in place, and a new cloud-based environment supporting users across the service, the trust is already seeing countless benefits to digital transformation.
Overall, the project has been a hugely successful first step towards Southway Housing Trust becoming cloud native. Thanks to our technical team’s in-depth knowledge of Azure, BCN was able to work with Southway to modernise the infrastructure fully, and within the tight timeframe required, maximising the range of Microsoft cloud services to deliver a truly modernised infrastructure. Partnering with BCN ensured the trust had access to expert Microsoft partners who could not only build and migrate legacy infrastructure and applications, but who could replicate and deploy core housing management systems as a truly one-of-a-kind POC.
Southway Housing Trust are on a journey to move away from traditional infrastructure to cloud native for innovation, and BCN is proud to be continuing the journey with them. Under the banner of our Azure Managed Service, our Microsoft-certified experts are working to ensure the trust’s Azure environment remains secure and optimised at all times.
We also have an eye on the future and are keeping the trust’s long-term goal of becoming cloud native front of mind. As we collaborate with the trust, getting to know more about how they use their environment and what they need going forward, we are preparing to support the next phase of transformation as the trust focuses on data and a move from IaaS to PaaS.
We’re proud to be supporting Southway Housing Trust to deliver critical services to tenants and their communities, and we look forward to continuing to do so for many years come.
RSK approached BCN shortly after they had commissioned an on-premise server, with the objective of delivering a highly available environment. However, experiencing business interruption resulting in high levels of maintenance, we discovered the business was operating on a standard version of Exchange. BCN were asked to provide options which would not only resolve their current issues but would allow for future expansion.
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