Business moves to cloud and owners get time away!

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.