case study: future-proof virtualisation for hospice uk charity

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CASE STUDY

FUTURE-PROOF VIRTUALISATION AND SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN OPERATING COSTS FOR HOSPICE UK CHARITY

Hospice UK is a London based charity for hospice care and represents local hospices across the UK. Hospice UK supports the development of hospice and palliative care worldwide.

Their remit includes a wide range of training, education and grant programmes, informative and practical resources for hospice staff in the UK and oversees, influencing government policy and support for quality care and good practice.

Fundraising programmes and campaigns help hospices to raise money in ways that would otherwise not be open to them.

INTRODUCTION In 2000, Hospice UK moved into a new office, fully refurbished as a training facility and resource centre for its membership. Following an internal review in 2012, Hospice UK decided to renew its IT infrastructure to provide an up-to-date resilient and reliable system that would serve staff seamlessly. At this time, they also decided to seek support to develop a data storage strategy, back-up and recovery strategy, and implement an efficient IT support system – all in a financially challenging environment.

ITS, who was already providing IT support services to the organisation, was approached along with several other suppliers to put forward proposals for the new infrastructure. The requirement was to:

deliver new “fit-for-purpose” technologies (hardware and services) and replace outdated equipment

provide a resilient and stable IT platform with commensurate maintenance and support

review and reduce operating costs

provide a solution that would be scalable to include Hospice UK’ members

if required

After a rigorous procurement process, ITS was selected to carry out the entire IT infrastructure overhaul, maintain the systems and continue the delivery of IT support for the London office. ITS not only delivered the functionality, stability and business resilience desired, but also achieved direct cost savings of approximately £50,000.

3 Case study Future-proof virtualisation and significant reduction in operating costs for Hospice UK charity

ITS not only delivered the functionality, stability and business resilience desired, but also achieved direct cost savings of approximately £50,000.

THE CHALLENGE Prior to ITS’ appointment, the IT infrastructure at Hospice UK was in danger of failing and, as a consequence, the ability of the organisation to function would be at risk. Aside from the lack of capital available to replace redundant IT, there were a number of other factors that needed to be taken into account.

First, systems operated on single servers located in one server room with no fire suppression capability and located under a flat roof next to a shower. The room was full and some essential components were old and overloaded to the extent that servers would not fully power down in the case of power outage. This could have resulted in delays in restoring systems and potential non-recoverable damage.

Second, the ICT infrastructure was managed in-house by one person resulting in limited knowledge sharing, no contingency or succession planning.

Finally, the majority of the technology needed replacing having reached the end of its operational life and therefore was at risk of failing at any time.

In addition to the above, there was a need for a solution that could potentially be offered to members of Hospice UK, many of whom had expressed similar challenges within their own organisations.


WHAT WE DIDThe first stage was to deliver a Risk & Recommendation Report where ITS presented a range of solutions that took into account the immediate challenges as well as setting out an “IT roadmap” for the future. All proposals considered capital investment, systems migration and ongoing maintenance and support requirements.

The recommendation was to move to a hosted virtual platform in order to reduce on both the cost and improve operational benefits. Through the new infrastructure recommendations, it was clear that there would be significant reduction in the ongoing cost of IT and working with ITS enabled the following benefits:

Financial

• Aggregated buying power for hardware resulting in economies of scale

• Reduced overheads as an outsourcing model utilised

• Virtual or cloud technology used for infrastructure resulting in a lower capital expenditure

Service Delivery and System Stability

• More extensive Service Level Agreement offering increased hours of support

• Improved business continuity processes for major incidents and service disruption implemented

• Improved IT support through priority service model. Now Hospice UK is able to focus on their core services and internal projects

Expertise

• Expert team of highly trained IT specialists on hand at any time.


All proposals considered capital investment, systems migration and ongoing maintenance and support requirements.

THE RESULT: MODERNISED SYSTEM WITH BEST-OF-BREED TECHNOLOGYPrior to appointing ITS, Hospice UK was struggling to maintain an outdated system, had disparate contracts for support and the system was simply not “fit for purpose”. This resulted in disproportionate amounts of resource and time being spent on a department that, whilst vital to the smooth running of the organisation, was not a core service or function.

With the new IT infrastructure now in place Hospice UK enjoys a modernised system with a clear plan for the future, “best-of-breed” technology and the expertise of a highly competent, reliable and cost-effective contracted supplier.


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