Our client was tired of their old IT provider who were not providing the level of service and advise they were after. With an aging network infrastructure and server hardware it was costing too much to maintain and didn’t have a modern feel.
The server hardware was nearly 20 years old, and the network hardware was dated with limited features. The staff was dealing with consistent issues with various parts of their IT systems and a lack of portability meant they were often stuck in the office or having to rely on overly cumbersome and unreliable remote access.
Evolve came in with modern ideas and a reliable hardware solution that would exceed their requirements and make working remotely possible. After a consultation with Aspire, we proposed a simple three step solution. The first was to replace their network equipment with modern firewalls, switches, and Wi-Fi Access Points (WAPs), the second step was to move all over their data to a cloud solution, one they were already mostly paying for, and lastly to migrate their existing phone system to a new VOIP system.
Our client’s internet was upgraded to a much faster and cost-effective provider. Their network was replaced with a modern Router/Firewall which could do site-to-site VPNs, intrusion protection and firewall rules. A separate network for guests was commissioned and another for certain infrastructure to ensure on premises systems would be secure. The implementation, configuration, and maintenance of the Firewall’s build in Intrusion Protection systems gave the client peace of mind. Site-to-Site VPNs were configured with Azure (and others) to ensure seamless network access and network security was configured to ensure appropriate security access.
Their on-premises Domain Services (Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, Printing) was migrated to an Azure Virtual machine, emails relocated to Microsoft 365 and their data to One Drive/SharePoint making accessing their content simple and reliable. All staff computers were cut over during a weekend to ensure that business operation was back to normal for the team on Monday morning, it was important to have minimal disruption during this upgrade and Evolve staff were available throughout the first week to ensure a smooth cut over and provide any training needed.
Over the coming weeks, the old server was removed from the domain and retired. Numerous processes were developed to enable standards across the business, such as a standard build process which ensured consistency across the entire team’s laptops and desktop fleet.
Aspire’s phone system was migrated to a cheaper and more feature rich VOIP solution that is scalable as the business grows and extensions were setup as required.
Going forward we now support Aspire and their team with a monthly maintenance program, providing cloud and network maintenance and security, monthly reporting and IT support services for anything they may need.
