Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Creating impact in the community by providing more people with care as a result of saving money with their move to Microsoft Azure.

As an independent social change organisation working to solve UK poverty, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) identified that their ageing infrastructure didn’t provide a platform to enable the organisation to change.

This meant that they needed to move to a new internal IT infrastructure that could respond to the varying demands of a modern digital workplace and be one that is both secure, stable, and simplified.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation engaged with Phoenix Software to look at the possibilities and what would deliver impact to the entire organisation and drive it forward. This started with our Surveyor assessment which identifies the appropriate mix of on-premise, hybrid or cloud workloads and helps plan for your future growth.

Andy Veale, Director of Technology and Change, at Joseph Rowntree Foundation commented, “One of the key drivers that we’re doing this for is not only to help the users of the systems, but also external stakeholders – residents benefit, and we improve collaboration with the government who we’re trying to inspire to change.”

Joseph Rowntree Foundation Video Case Study

“Cost cutting was not the key driver, but it has become one of the outcomes of what we’re moving to. Roughly, there is a 50% saving in certain areas of our current IT expenditure by moving to the cloud – so we get more for less. For every £1,000 saved in IT that’s potentially 2 weeks’ worth of people being within one of our care homes. So, the more effective we are at spending our cash the better it is for the community as a whole.”

Andy Veale, Director of Technology and Change, Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Our unique Surveyor assessment is made up of the following modules and provides a rounded perspective to base business and technical decision on:

Infrastructure Assessment
SQL and Data
Backup, Continuity and DR
Security
DevOps

Following the Surveyor assessment, the decision was taken to make the move to Microsoft Azure as it fitted hand in glove with their requirements. Not only would it reduce the risk and cost to the organisation and enable IT to deliver changes, but it would also remove the barriers that their ageing infrastructure were starting to bring.

Working in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we have been able deliver the following to help with their end-to-end Microsoft cloud requirements:

Infrastructure migration to Azure

Use of Microsoft Business Value Programme to showcase and implement Microsoft 365

Engaged with Joseph Rowntree Foundation to review Dynamics 365 as a replacement for their Housing Management System

Optimise licences to maximise savings and ensure compliance

Built upon cloud deployment to explore advanced workloads such as IoT, AI and Machine Learning in the context of a ‘Smart Region’ initiative

Enable a more mobile workforce and identified savings for Joseph Rowntree Foundation to invest in core services and allow the organisation to deliver organic growth

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Alternatively, email us at [email protected] or call 01904 562200 and one of our specialists will be in touch to discuss your requirements.