Case Study - Non-profit Hertie Foundation reduces IT costs & effort by 30 % with digital workplaces

Four benefits achieved with just one cloud project and digital workstations: resources saved, availability of IT systems and applications for employees increased and IT costs reduced.

To counteract cost-intensive maintenance, servicing and updating requirements for IT-supported processes, the IT service provider Sinovo business Solutions GmbH has transferred and consolidated the IT infrastructure to the Microsoft cloud for the non-profit Hertie Foundation (GHST) and standardised the IT services. As a result, GHST has saved resources, increased the availability of its IT systems and reduced IT costs by around 30 % per year.

How did the cost savings in the GHST cloud project come about? Jan Filip, Managing Director of Sinovo business Solutions GmbH, explains: ‘When it comes to IT operations in the cloud, this is where the savings potential lies dormant:

1. No investment costs: Renting digital workstations eliminates high initial investment costs for software and hardware. This turns IT investment costs into calculable operating costs.
2. Cost savings on hardware and energy: As no local server is required to store documents, emails or websites, but instead cloud servers are ‘rented’, it is possible to save costs for server hardware and energy. Thanks to the ‘pay-as-you-go’ pricing model of cloud server providers, only the cloud services that are actually used incur costs. Cloud services are, for example, e-mail services or data backup via databases.
3. Economic IT updates: It is no longer necessary to constantly invest in the latest hardware and technology in order to modernise the IT infrastructure. Updates are carried out automatically during operation so that IT is always up to date.

4. Easy increase or reduction of digital workstations: Depending on how employee numbers develop, the ‘rented’ digital workstations can be easily added or removed at any time. The ‘pay-as-you-use’ principle applies.

Demonstrable customer benefit

The cloud computing solution introduced for GHST makes it possible to conveniently access a shared pool of configurable computer resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage systems, applications and services) at any time and from anywhere via a network, which can be made available quickly and with minimal management effort.

The server resources are available in a pool from which many users can draw. The services can be made available quickly and flexibly. Resource utilisation can be measured and monitored and made available to cloud users accordingly.

Frank Schmidt, Head of IT Management at GHST, confirmed: ‘For us, this means various options for optimising the use of applications for our employees and overall cost optimisation for our foundation.’ Since switching to the cloud, we have been able to utilise the money saved much more effectively in our work on our two key topics of exploring the brain and strengthening democracy.’

Tasks in the project

SINOVO's task in the project was to take over the infrastructure of GHST's original service provider and port the systems to Microsoft Azure in the cloud. SINOVO did just that. In addition, the foundation management solution was to be operated and the users of all service areas were to be supported.

Solution in 3 steps

SINOVO agreed the requirements for the new IT infrastructure concept with GHST and then implemented a solution in 3 steps.

 1. Shifting IT infrastructure and digital workplaces to the cloud

• Setting up the server infrastructure in the Microsoft Azure cloud data centre and providing server capacities for server operation as well as installing and setting up central security and virus protection modules.
• Replacement of the current local servers and end devices and rollout of notebooks for all GHST employees.
• WAN infrastructure with VPN connection of the GHST sites.
• Service initialisation, reporting, documentation, editing of an operating manual.
• Setting up the remote and service desk environment.
• Transition of the physical telephone systems to cloud systems.
• Workstation/client rollout including training of the new hardware and software for employees.

2. IT infrastructure operation in the cloud

• Hosting: Operation in a highly secure data centre, computing power, storage, data backup, security services, central remote service.
• Application operation, basic operation and monitoring of applications.
• Desktop services: Implementation of hardware rollout.
• Setting up single sign-on for employees to log on to all systems once and for lower administration costs for IT.
• Transition: Replacing PC end devices with notebooks for all employees, providing the network connection, setting up and configuring the hosting environment, installing and configuring centralised security and virus protection modules, consolidating the mail services of all company divisions, training employees.
• Cloud services: Operation of the Microsoft cloud.
• Telephony: Operation of a cloud telecommunications system including control of the telecommunications provider via a central service desk.
• WAN connection: Provision and management of redundant WAN connections incl. control of the provider.

3. User support with service desk

• Service Desk: Provision of a centralised service desk for user support and as an interface to third-party service providers.

Cooperation with GHST for a good 5 years

Sinovo has been managing the IT infrastructure and supporting GHST employees in all IT matters for a good 5 years now.

Jan Filip explains the long-standing customer relationship with GHST as follows: ‘We always combine our technical knowledge with practical experience. This enables us to offer customers practice-orientated and streamlined solutions.

Our customers can also be sure that we work to high quality standards. This is because we are regularly audited and have our quality management system recertified in accordance with ISO 9001. We are also a Gold-certified Microsoft partner in the cloud sector. The GHST project is a project in the Microsoft cloud.“

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SINOVO Business Solutions GmbH – Workplace Solutions

SINOVO has been offering SMEs IT infrastructure design, transformation to the cloud, digital workplace set-up and IT security for 25 years. With its ISO 9001-certified quality management system and its certification as a Microsoft partner, the IT service provider ensures that its IT services meet the high quality standards of its customers.

Press Contact
SINOVO Business Solutions GmbH, Tanja Schönfeld, Willy-Brandt-Str. 4, 61118 Bad Vilbel, Tel.: +49 6101 590 90 00, E-Mail: presse@sinovo.de , Web: sinovo.de

Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung

The work of the Hertie Foundation focuses on two main topics: Exploring the brain and strengthening democracy. The Foundation's projects provide exemplary impetus within these themes. The focus is always on people and the concrete improvement of their living conditions. The non-profit Hertie Foundation was established in 1974 by the heirs of department stores' owner Georg Karg and is now one of the largest ideologically independent and entrepreneurially unaffiliated foundations in Germany. www.ghst.de

Press Contact
Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung, Julia Ihmels – Kommunikation, Grüneburgweg 105, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, +49 69 66 07 56-162, E-Mail: IhmelsJ@ghst.de , Web: www.ghst.de