ackspace, the technology
services company, has helped
the British Heart Foundation
migrate to Microsoft Azure and
transform the role technology plays within
the organisation.
R
As the user experience
becomes ever more
digital, organisations
must deploy the
most advanced IT
solutions to reach their
audience. The British
Heart Foundation has
migrated to Microsoft
Azure with Rackspace
for IT modernisation,
supporting a more robust
website and powering its
online retail store. Mary
O’Callaghan, Director of
Technology Engagement
at the British Heart
Foundation, tells us more
about the solution.
The British Heart Foundation is the largest
independent funder of research into heart
and circulatory diseases in the UK, which it
supports through voluntary contributions,
physical stores and its online retail
business. As part of its strategy to create
a world free from the fear of heart and
circulatory diseases by 2030, the charity
wants to drive advances across the
spectrum of these diseases, preventing
these conditions from developing, as well
as enabling those with existing conditions
to lead better, longer lives.
The move to Microsoft Azure accelerates
the charity’s goal, with infrastructure that
provides a foundation for growth and
supports increased fundraising efforts.
The website has become increasingly
important for driving this mission by
housing fundraising campaigns, the online
retail business and acting as a source of
information for all stakeholders.
Working with Rackspace, the migration
to Microsoft Azure has given the charity
a scalable platform that is reliable and
has an uptime of 99.9% to capture digital
donations from across the globe.
Rackspace Professional Services worked
collaboratively with the charity, from
designing the solution through to
technical implementation. The migration
took six months without a minute of
downtime. One of The British Heart
Foundation website’s recent campaign’s
drove a significant traffic spike without
encountering any of the issues the
website faced in the past.
Mary O’Callaghan, Director of Technology
Engagement at the British Heart
Foundation, said: “As our IT set up moves
from being a service provider to a core
part of how we achieve our organisational
objectives, both the wider business and
the IT team itself has had to adopt a
different mindset. A true partnership
has been formed with the Rackspace
Professional Services team who have
supported us at every step of the process
with unbiased expertise, deep platform
knowledge and a strong understanding of
our operating environment.”
Adam Evans, Director of Professional
Services, EMEA at Rackspace, said: “It
was crucial for us to work collaboratively
with the British Heart Foundation to bridge
the gap between its existing platform
Rackspace aids
British Heart
Foundation’s
mission to beat
heartbreak by 2030
62
Issue 11
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