Salvation Army Turned to Long View to transition its 13000 employees to the cloud

To transition its 13,000-strong employees to the cloud, The Salvation Army turned to Long View as a trusted advisor and partner

Moving a large and diverse workforce of employees to a cloud environment requires more than technology; it requires a committed partnership. Through a direct referral, The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda Territory turned to Long View Systems.

As part of a global consolidation initiative, the charitable organization needed a reliable and precise path to transition their 13,000-strong workforce from Lotus Notes to the cloud-based Microsoft 365.

Such strategies, according to NetworkWorld, are “winning over enterprises for many reasons, including the potential to ease management, streamline the deployment of new workloads, and optimize infrastructure costs.”

Rebuilding its entire on-premise infrastructure, including the implementation of new domain controllers and active directory farm, was the first step in preparing the charitable organization to make a move to the cloud and a better and more efficient way of collaborating.

Employing a proven approach to change management was the next critical stage of a successful transition, including the delivery of services in phases to avoid overwhelming the workforce. In each progressive phase from rebuilding documentation to providing online training, the newly formed Long View and Salvation Army team mobilized the transformation of an experienced workforce enabling them to get up to speed on Microsoft 365 quickly and seamlessly.

With the move to Microsoft 365 complete, the team is turning its attention to helping The Salvation Army’s workforce leverage Microsoft Teams to communicate and collaborate on a remote working basis. There are also plans to ultimately move their entire infrastructure from Domino to Microsoft SharePoint and in the process further revolutionize and modernize the way that The Salvation Army consumes technology.

 

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SUMMARY

 

Business Challenges

• An old and insufficient IT infrastructure in which the organization was not cloud-ready.
• The requirement for ongoing software patching and security, including a progressive rebuild throughout the IT upgrade process.
• Establishing an effective change management process for an experienced workforce including volunteers, enabling them to get up to speed on Microsoft 365 quickly and seamlessly.
• Departure of key client personnel and the need to rebuild documentation of current processes and procedures.

Response

• Established a close working partnership with The Salvation Army, including the provision of on-premise Long View personnel.
• Implemented a proven approach to change management as well as online training.
• Delivery of services in phases to avoid overwhelming the workforce.

Solutions Used

• Updated the current IT on-the-ground infrastructure to maintain continuity with the global transformation strategy before moving to the cloud, including the implementation of new domain controllers and active directory farm.
• Transitioned from Lotus Notes to the cloud-based Microsoft 365.
  Implemented Microsoft Teams for 13,000-strong workforce (current).
• Transition from Lotus Domino to Microsoft SharePoint (future).

Customer Impact

• Brought the client into a hyper-converged environment simplifying data management and streamlining the communication and collaboration capability of a 13,000-strong diverse workforce
• Established a solid foundation for further improvement, including the introduction of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint solutions.
• Revolutionized and modernized the way that The Salvation Army consumes technology, aligning it with the central organization’s global platform consolidation strategy.

“Long View Systems has proven to be exactly the kind of partner we were looking for as we launched the largest IT program in the history of The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda. Their extreme focus on customer service, strong technical bench, and the professionalism and skill of their project management team resulted in a graceful, high-impact transition across our Territory to Microsoft 365 from our legacy systems. We look forward to a long, productive partnership with them in the future.”

Phil Mitchell – Director, PMO