COASTAL HOUSING GROUP CASE STUDY

Coastal Housing Group is a not-for-profit industrial and provident society serving communities across South Wales which needed to modernise its IT systems to better support both field and office staff.

Better alignment of technology with the needs of users

Modernisation gave the ability to respond to changing operational and customer needs

Mobile capability for housing officers increased responsiveness and productivity

Challenges

Universal Credit had major consequences for the Coastal IT team. With housing officers needing to spend more time with tenants educating them around the changes to rental payments, it was felt that the time was right to modernise its IT systems to better support both field and office staff, driving new levels of mobility, efficiency and continuity.

The key challenge for Coastal was to safely transition from an ageing on-premises IT infrastructure to a modern, resilient and adaptable managed solution, one that would allow better alignment of technology with user requirements, and enable the organisation to respond quickly and appropriately to operational change and customer need.

Decision taken, Coastal Housing evaluated two routes – an on-premises refresh or moving to a private hosted solution, including virtual desktop.

A cloud-based proposition emerged as the optimal path to a more enabled and enabling future – although, as Mark Elias, IT Infrastructure Manager, freely confesses, the relinquishing of total ownership and moving towards a balance of responsibilities was a big step for him and his colleagues.

But he also recognised what the ‘new world’ would give Coastal:

A future-proof, flexible and adaptable network that would meet the needs of users without any waste
A level of mobile capability, efficiency and security that would enable Coastal housing officers to be more productive and responsive
A resilience across all organisational functions, maintaining availability and sustaining quality of service to tenants.

Time for the IT team to focus on more added-value activities and drive future vision.

This was a hugely significant project for us, fundamentally changing our I.T. infrastructure and radically reshaping the I.T. team’s responsibilities too.

Why Redcentric?

From an initial shortlist of eight, Redcentric was selected to deliver a comprehensive hosted private cloud and hosted desktop solution, which included managed firewall, managed backup, managed exchange and internet connectivity.

Shane Griffiths, Head of IT, is clear as to why Redcentric was appointed: “Redcentric talked of a technical solution that would give us assurance, capability, reliability and the option to work smart – but we also saw all of these qualities mirrored in the Redcentric team. It was always going to be a complex and sensitive migration, needing a collective collaborative effort so that early belief and confidence was vital.”.

Where Redcentric really outperformed was in the character they showed throughout the procurement process – diligent, responsive, professional, enthusiastic.

Business Benefits

The key outcome for Coastal Housing Group is that they have safely transitioned to a modern, secure hosted environment that can align itself quickly to organisational needs and operational change. There is intense pressure on every part of the public sector to offer more value to its stakeholders and citizens but to do it in a lean, smart, cost-efficient way. Coastal is now well positioned not just to react and respond but also to anticipate and innovate.

Future-proof – Automatic refresh, on-demand capacity and a broad portfolio of complementary solutions will keep Coastal a step ahead

Greater mobility – The move to hosted desktop has given staff the freedom to work productively from any location and on any device

Increased efficiency – Remote access to central resources has cut down housing officers’ need to travel back to the office and/or print out reams of documentation

Enhanced continuity – Increased resilience ensures that Coastal can maintain a high touch service to its tenants, especially in respect of its call centres

Resource utilisation – The IT team is now able to look up and look ahead, with more time given to added-value initiatives and strategic planning.

Business outcomes

Coastal now has a future-proof infrastructure that is providing the functionality, flexibility, continuity and security it needs in respect of supporting its staff, aiding its tenants and driving strategy and innovation.