Coverage Plan
Managed Service Provider (MSP)
Company Background
The client is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization that offers operational and strategic consulting services to clients across the U.S. The firm leverages 20 years of experience to provide guidance on product and service development.
Business Challenge
After we'd managed the client's IT network and provided ongoing strategic consulting services for a couple of years, the timing was finally right for some significant changes:
- Switching from legacy on-premises hardware to a serverless cloud strategy
- Increasing investment in the Microsoft cloud stack
- Committing to the first major step toward improving cybersecurity posture
Stratosphere Networks Solution
Through our advisory services, we helped the client determine that it would benefit them to switch from an on-premises phone system to Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). Stratosphere's trusted advisors assisted them in comparing and reviewing their options, and they ultimately decided a cloud phone system from Vonage was the best fit for them. Our team carried out the migration in June 2019.
Additionally, after evaluating the cost of replacing their old server (a capital expenditure estimated at $20,000), we determined that moving to SharePoint and OneDrive made more sense for the client. We also migrated them to a newer Microsoft Office 365 business license to give them all the functionality needed for a serverless environment. All their staff members got the newest versions of the Office 365 apps as a result. On top of that, we also migrated them to Azure Active Directory (AD) and implemented multi-factor authentication for everyone for added security.
We decommissioned their on-site server, eliminating maintenance costs, and began the migration to a serverless setup in the fall of 2019. After a few months, we had successfully moved all their shared files to SharePoint and all personal files to OneDrive.
Finally, we also performed a security assessment for the client, which provided us with a better baseline for the development of cybersecurity controls going forward.
Benefits
Stratosphere's services and support have benefited the client in various ways, including the following:
- Cost savings from going serverless, due to not replacing the old on-premises server and getting rid of server maintenance expenditures
- No need to spend time or money on server, email or phone system upgrades ever
- Greater accessibility for mobile and remote workers, which has turned out to be a significant advantage for the client in light of the transition to remote work in response to COVID-19
- Enhanced efficiency and performance due to the flexibility of the cloud phone system and serverless environment
- Higher level of security provided by modern business solutions
Overall, our point of contact has told us multiple times how happy she is that the organization made these changes, since it's made their lives much easier in general and also ended up preparing them for remote work during the pandemic.