Presbyterian Support Central makes ‘bold move’ to the cloud
- 19 May, 2015 09:46
"End users benefit from anywhere, anytime access and greater speeds than the previous Wellington-based datacentre," says Alan Lyford, IT manager, PSC.
“We previously considered cloud services as a bold move, but our experience to date has exceeded expectations."
The migration “opened up our thinking to the possibility of a complete cloud service for our organisation, as a way to free-up crucial funds, harness innovation and deliver more front line services”.
PSC provides residential care and in-home support services for older people and social services for children and families. It has more than 1,400 staff across 26 locations, including 500 in the field.
PSC worked with Fronde to migrate to the Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud. The project included creating a virtual datacentre and improved disaster recovery capability with 24x7 managed services support. The migration included PSC’s virtual desktop infrastructure which is delivered via Citrix running on the Sydney AWS servers
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It has opened up our thinking to the possibility of a complete cloud service for our organisation, as a way to free-up crucial funds, harness innovation and deliver more front line services.
He estimates the project will help the organisation save $120,000 over three years, and hasten innovation in the business.
The AWS cloud allows PSC to scale up or down as required, only paying for the capacity used.
New ideas can be trialled faster and at a lower cost than previously, with small concepts able to be “spun up” and piloted in a few days. “It is a cost effective and efficient way to test ideas, to make sure the big projects are worth funding,” says Lyford.
Lyford says that AWS is an important stepping stone for the group, as they consider replacing legacy systems with software as a service (SaaS) in the future.
“PSC now has IT infrastructure that can keep pace with their growth, and a support and disaster recovery system that promises local presence and knowledge, preservation of data and faster system restoration,” says James Valentine, chief technology officer at Fronde.
“That leaves PSC free to do what it does best; making a real and positive difference in people’s lives.”
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