While Partners has supported clients with distributed offices and teleworkers for decades, once COVID-19 hit, within days we had to scale up technology solutions to support an increase of between ten and twentyfive times the number of client staff working remotely.
Leveraging Microsoft’s Azure VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), Partners provided clients with a secure, affordable and scalable virtual desktop solution that can be used from corporate laptops as well as home computers. Using only a web browser, client staff have access to corporate data, applications, and all of the same network resources they were accustomed to in the office.
Eric Walker, CIO at the Center for Employment Opportunities, says, “The VDI solution has proven to be an invaluable platform for my company as we initiated our COVID-19 remote telecommuting policy. Our employees have found this browser-based application very easy to access and navigate. The expertise that Partners provided to architect VDI to fit our needs has been beyond exceptional.”
To ensure that clients are only charged for what they need, Partners configured their VDI environments to automatically scale resources up and down based on demand. Through the use of multi-factor authentication and secure tunneling using private endpoints, Partners helped clients subject to HIPAA regulations maintain their security standards.
While many Partners clients have been using Microsoft Teams for years, more are now receiving trainings focused on virtual meetings, information sharing, and collaborative document authoring. “Before the COVID-19 crisis, Partners helped us gently introduce our staff to Teams. Some folks enthusiastically embraced the technology, and others were more skeptical. With the abrupt change in circumstances, we were forced to adjust. With Partners’ support, within days of all staff working remotely, we are all using Teams to meet, collaborate, share, and sometimes simply connect face-to-face. The speed at which we were able to move to remote work and become fully functional was almost seamless. We did not have to figure out the technology and could focus on our important work.” said Tracy Kaufman, COO, National Housing Trust.
For the majority of Partners’ clients who use the RingCentral Voice-over-IP phone service, switching from desktop to software phones was quick and easy, allowing staff to place and recieve calls from any location as if they were in the office. Other standard features include the ability to receive voicemail messages by email and send and receive faxes by email.
Today, we we are more proud than ever of the critical work our clients are doing to improve the lives of disadvantaged populations. As this work has become almost entirely remote, Partners is here to make sure our clients have the technology options they need to maintain their impact. If you need support in this area or would like to learn more, please reach out and let us know. We’re here for you.