What was the issue?
Quinovic Kapiti Mana are a well-established and busy property management company looking after hundreds of properties for owners.
- Some systems in the cloud, but much was still running on a server
- Server was Windows Server 2008 R2 (the Win 7 version) with Microsoft ending support in 2-3 months.
- The options were to replace with another costly server or move to the cloud
- The biggest problems were therefore the potential unreliability of the server, and future proofing
- As a former IT business owner, Bernard could continue to run the IT/server himself, but …
- This ties you to the business, and
- Limits the ability of the principals to be away from the business
- You would like to prepare the way to having a manager run the company
What needed to happen?
Quinovic needed:
- To make the office easier to run, whilst maintaining security and management ability
- Initially, replacing aging computers for the team
- GTB suggested you consider moving to Dropbox, removing the last key use of the server (file store and share) and thus opening the way for its retirement
Action?
- Upgraded fleet of old PCs with more powerful new ones, allowing the work required to be done
- Setup Dropbox Business and moved documents to it
- Setup Microsoft 365 Apps for Business for team to have common, supportable, work tools
- GTB on tap as IT support when needed
- Later – server retired (simplifying office management)
Results:
- The business’ IT has now moved fully to the cloud, hardware has been updated, and the server has gone
- This means the principals can take time off and be away, yet still be in touch!
- The ongoing support for IT from GTB is also very important to the owners/business
- This work allows the principals to step back from the business, opening up possibilities for their eventual succession or exit.
