Wentworth Community Housing Case Study

A workplace modernisation journey

Business Challenges

Wentworth Community Housing (WCH) embarked on a workplace modernisation journey to achieve 4 major outcomes:

Improve customer service quality through enhanced interaction with clients

Increase productivity by adopting modern workplace techniques

Leverage technology to attract and retain quality staff through flexible workplace arrangements

Ensure compliance with new data privacy laws

WCH engaged Experteq to assist with the transformation to a modern workplace.

Approach

Experteq worked with Wentworth Community Housing in devising a plan to migrate WCH to modern cloud services that are securely accessible. This would allow WCH to address each of their key business imperatives from the transformation project.

The plan involved migrating on-premise technology to a secure “Microsoft 365” environment that includes Microsoft Office 365, Windows 10 and EM+S suite (Enterprise Mobility + Security).

The new Modern Workplace required a program to modernise, mobilise and secure their IT business tools and data. The program adopted a “cloud first” approach that would ensure scalability, security and flexibility.

Replacing aged, on-premise infrastructure with secure cloud infrastructure, that is resilient, secure and always-on

Building an ultra-mobile environment that would allow staff to access their IT resources from anywhere, on any device

Creating a highly-secure workplace that has inbuilt security and compliance to meet EU GDPR and Australian NDB regulations

Identifying and implementing improvements to internal operations, structures and processes to reduce risk

Providing ongoing advice, support and management services to maintain a competitive advantage

Problem

The key issues identified in our analysis were that WCH’s existing IT systems were reaching the end of life and had not been maintained to best practice. The business systems had limited process documentation on structure, security process, data governance or access entitlements.

Importantly the ability to securely share resources and data were limited, thus reducing the ability to collaborate with colleagues or clients in the field. WCH were utilising Office 365 for a limited number of staff, but only for Line-of-Business application licensing.

It was not being utilised for any collaboration or security services. Staff were limited to specific devices and locations to access IT resources and data. There was no ability to securely federate or collaborate with internal or external parties.

Our Solution

“Microsoft 365” (Office 365, Windows 10 and EM+S) suite was chosen as the key solution toolset to deliver the Modern Workplace required by WCH

The EM+S e5 suite was selected as it provides Security, Classification & Governance of corporate data across the business; Enterprise mobility for staff using any device; and Cloud services brokerage to allow the business to adopt new services as business needs change.

Once business systems were migrated to the cloud, WCH quickly updated their fleet and chose optimum devices for communication, collaboration and centralised management.

This allowed staff to work from any location on the device of their choice, at a time convenient for clients and staff alike.

Staff are no longer constrained by technology while performing their duties.

Working with Experteq project managers and privacy consultants, Wentworth has sought to develop and embed a culture of security and privacy by default. Technology automates security but is not intrusive and does not prevent staff from performing their roles.

Executive privacy and security compliance briefings are held regularly for staff, and Data Protection responsibilities have been assigned to a senior staff member.

Benefits

Flexibility

Device independence, mobility and access to data on any device, has empowered staff and enabled the flexibility to work and collaborate securely at any location

Performance

Cloud migration has improved business systems performance, reliability, security and scalability

Automation

Automatic data classification is automating data security, governance and management. Policy is set centrally and enforced using modern tools, and all without preventing staff to do their work as normal

Encryption

Persistent file level encryption allows for a secure transmission of data files and provides access management to critical corporate data. Hardware encryption secures both user devices and server systems

Security

“Microsoft 365” includes Windows Defender ATP, which has been chosen as the endpoint protection solution across the fleet. The solution protects the desktop, mobile and server device from malware and viruses, while also achieving substantial cost savings through the consolidation of security products and support services

Access

Multi-Factor Authentication is being deployed in several cases, particularly with regards to staff who have privileged access to sensitive business systems and data

The Future

WCH intends to further leverage their investment in “Microsoft 365” by deploying Microsoft Intune to manage all applications across servers and devices, including BYOD where required.

They will also deploy Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) to continually secure the business against new cyber attacks as they emerge.

Experteq will continue to monitor, support and manage the new Modern Workplace and to optimise IT services to address changes and meet new business requirements.

Summary

The transformation to a Modern Workplace utilising Experteq’s services and Microsoft 365, enables and empowers WCH’s workforce with total mobility, device independence and data accessibility from anywhere.

Our solutions also significantly improve the organisation’s GDPR and NDB compliance status and cyber risk profile. WCH expect to see improvements in customer service, increased staff productivity and happier staff working in a modern flexible workplace. The outcome of the business transformation is a Modern Workplace environment that allows the organisation to scale rapidly, while improving operational performance, strengthening security, reducing cost and enhancing user experience.