CASE STUDY
“ More broadly , the systems and platforms Tecala have put in place will help us focus on our new patient-facing application and pursue more innovative ideas and projects ,” Brooks said . “ It ’ s always a challenge matching the right patient with the right research project , so this new application will allow us to link patients to relevant research projects .”
Moving to the cloud
Since the COVID lockdowns occurred , Tecala has also been working closely with NBCF on other aspects of its technology refresh strategy . An existing fleet of 13 servers has been reduced to just two with
THE SYSTEMS AND PLATFORMS TECALA HAVE PUT IN PLACE
WILL HELP US FOCUS ON OUR NEW PATIENT- FACING APPLICATION . required staff to work from home . The IT team had just days to equip staff to work from home offices and ensure they had full access to required applications and data stores .
A tight COVID deadline key applications being migrated to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform .
“ Eventually , our goal is to be 100 % in the cloud ,” said Brooks . “ We think we can reach that point within the next 12 months .”
Faced with this tight deadline , Tecala and the NBCF IT team set to work to make the required changes . Brooks says that , despite the fact that Tecala was not yet familiar with the organization ’ s systems , they stepped up quickly and transitioned all staff to a homeworking environment .
“ With our previous provider it could take up to a month just to get a quote , but Tecala successfully managed this transition in just a couple of days ,” he says .
Employees can now securely access patient , donor and corporate data from their homes , the office and everywhere in between . With IT now working for NBCF , the team can focus on driving better outcomes for patients and improving the success of research programs . Support tickets , response and resolution times have all significantly decreased .
Having applications such as SharePoint has allowed staff to become much more efficient in the way files are accessed and used . Multiple people can also work on a file simultaneously which was not previously possible .
Tecala is also working with NBCF to deploy Microsoft Teams as a replacement for its existing PABX phone system . “ Once our journey to the cloud has been completed , I estimate we will be enjoying savings in overall IT spending of more than A $ 100,000 per year ,” said Brooks . “ That is valuable money from our supporters that can be diverted into other areas .”
Brooks says NBCF will continue to work closely with Tecala to ensure its IT infrastructure remains as up-todate and efficient as possible . “ Tecala has become a valuable and strategic partner for us and I look forward to working with them in the future ,” he said . p
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