SUPPORTING THE PAST WITH
THE POWER OF CLOUD

The Etches Collection Museum of Jurassic Marine Life provides the public with an innovative experience of our past. Offering its guests, the ability to view a world class collection of fossils with national importance alongside interactive exhibits that take advantage of CGI and Augmented Reality to bring the past to life.

THE CHALLENGE.

The Etches Collection knew the importance IT played in the Museums operations and decided to review both its IT setup and Managed Service Provider. They were looking for a partner who could provide a robust service, value for money and most importantly, share the same values.

THE SOLUTION.

The Etches Collection assessed several IT service providers and Enhanced were chosen based on an alignment of core values.

Enhanced undertook a review of their existing IT setup at the museum and noted several key security concerns. Action was taken to remediate these utilising as much of their existing setup as possible and deploying new services where applicable.

Enhanced deployed a WatchGuard UTM Firewall to provide perimeter security alongside the setup of Multi-Factor Authentication for access to Microsoft 365.

As a non-profit organisation The Etches Collection were eligible for donated services from Microsoft. Enhanced advised the Museum to move its existing Office 365 subscription to Microsoft 365 Premium as this service provides additional security functions whilst reducing its outgoings.

The Etched Collection needed an efficient remote working solution. It was quickly identified that the current on-premise server and remote desktop services were not delivering flexibility to the organisation. They neeeded an efficient remote working solution. This was due to on-going maintenance costs and instability of the internet connection afforded to the remote location of the museum.

Enhanced worked with the museum to understand its file data to determine the suitability for a migration to SharePoint Online and OneDrive included as part of their Microsoft 365 subscription. The engineering team created a new file structure within SharePoint and migrated the existing data to best utilise the benefits of the service. This was deployed alongside the ‘Files on Demand’ function to ensure critical files would be available to users should the internet connection fail and provide a user-friendly experience.

Whilst Office 365 is a resilient platform, it’s important to ensure a backup solution is in place. Enhanced implemented Carbonite’s Office 365 backup product to provide restore capability, should data be deleted. Enhanced provided interactive onsite user training to empower staff to use the collaborative functionality of Microsoft 365 effectively.

THE RESULTS.

Following the migration of the Museums data and service to Microsoft 365, The Etches Collection found themselves working from home in accordance to the government lockdown enforced by the 2020 Pandemic. The new tool set and adoption training enabled efficient remote working for the charity to maintain administration and contact between its staff whilst its facilities were closed to the public.

THE BENEFITS.

• Managed Support Provider to act as trusted advisor
• No large hardware refreshes every 3-5 years
• Resilient and secure service provided through the Microsoft Cloud
• Efficient remote working with native remote access to file data
• Automated backup solution
• Better utilisation of Microsoft Donation Programme
• Improved collaboration through Microsoft Teams and Yammer