Shoff Darby
Virtualization Using Hyper-V
Shoff Darby
Virtualization Using Hyper-V
Industry
Insurance
Geography
USA
Consulting
Support & Project Services
technologies
Windows Server Hyper-V
Challenges/
Goals
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Finding a solution that provided a user-friendly, centralized location to help employees facilitate and manage their strategic initiatives
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Implementing a company intranet that was natively responsive to Microsoft Office 365
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Providing employees a digital workplace that could be accessed anywhere, anytime via desktop or mobile devices
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Improving employee experience with multi-way, peer-to-peer communication and a uniquely designed profile
Solution/
Approach
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Low code/no code intranet design and implementation plan
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Aesthetic, branded digital workplace where employees would remain motivated and engaged
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Site template updates managed through Powell Manager
To aid in the search for a new intranet tool, HJ Sims sought out the expertise of Synergy, an elite software consultant and implementation partner with a specialization in digital transformation. Having extensive experience with intranet projects and after working closely with HJ Sims to understand their project requirements and needs, Synergy recommended Powell Software’s intranet tool – Powell 365.
"Shoff Darby needed a flexible, secure IT environment, and we were thrilled to implement a solution that supports their unique business requirements. Our collaborative approach ensures their IT systems remain robust and adaptable.” Michael Ferro - Senior Engineer
Results
Shoff Darby's 5 end-of-life servers were virtualized successfully, and the process was completed with almost no impact to the business as the virtualization was performed out of business hours. All client workstations and end-users were not impacted by the project as no reconfigurations were required on domain workstations. Due to the low cost of high capacity drives, we were able to increase available storage capacity by orders of magnitude, and have afforded growth well into the future. The need to reduce heat in the server room was realized by reducing the number of servers, ensuring no cost to upgrade the cooling in the room by efficiently reducing heat output of the infrastructure. The legacy backup solution with an expensive console and backup agents for e-mail, SQL, and Windows was retired, leveraging the powerful out-of-the-box Windows 2008 Backup solution using inexpensive removable hard drives. The process to restore data in part or in its entirety was greatly simplified, and the recovery timeframe reduced significantly.
Replaced all end-of-life servers with a single powerful server with minimal downtime
Increased storage capacity with adequate room for growth
Reduced heat output, operating costs, and eliminated expensive licensing
Results
Improved collaboration among staff
Ability to locate and view information in meaningful ways
Improved quality of life for residents who are better informed
Overview
From personal insurance to business insurance, we strive to tailor your insurance to meet your needs. Our agency is dedicated to meeting the insurance needs of emerging businesses with specialties in Technology Insurance and Entertainment Insurance.
Challenges/Goals
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7 geographic locations
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Need to organize information per locations and functional area
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Need to surface resident data securely
Solution/Approach
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Complete discovery to understand unique requirements
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Develop dynamic Employee Portal taxonomy to manage information
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Use BCS to surface only non-sensitive resident profile information
Summary Data
As one of America's pioneering financial services firms, HJ Sims is committed to helping individuals and organizations meet the financial challenges of today and tomorrow.
