Helping Those Who Help Others: A Case Study
How eManaged makes MSAU’s difficult job a little easier
The Mallee Sexual Assault Unit has a sobering responsibility
Since it was first established as a small pilot project in Mildura back in 1992, MSAU has worked to protect survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, expanding to assist those suffering from family violence.
To accomplish this, they provide a large scope of services to attend to the assorted problems that these situations present—ranging from counselling, housing and accommodation, protective services, behavioural therapy, and a litany of other support options to help protect those who need their assistance.
Due to the nature of their work, MSAU also works closely with the Victorian police, MASP (the Mallee Accommodation and Support Program), and MDAS (the Mallee District Aboriginal Services). Today, the not-for-profit has more than 65 staff members, having effectively doubled in size over the last few years.
MSAU’s mission is a critically important one—particularly for their clients, 95% of whom are women—and is one that requires a lot of technology in order to carry out effectively.
Once eManaged was on board, they sprang into action
eManaged improved MSAU’s available IT by implementing a veritable laundry list of systems and solutions, including a variety of Microsoft products, like Azure and the variety of tools under that umbrella, an assortment of Microsoft-branded solutions, along with unified endpoint management and security tools, as well as remote monitoring and management.
Migration to the cloud now enables simple remote work processes to take place, with necessary data and files more accessible to the MSAU team, and increases the company’s overall scalability.
eManaged helped MSAU meet substantial criteria
In order for MSAU to receive government funding, they need to pass a major accreditation process. This accreditation requires that (amongst other things) MSAU confirms that their systems are secured, with a plan for their further enhancement and development laid out.
However, this wasn’t something that MSAU always had. In fact, they were struggling with their IT maintenance, relying on break/fix methods provided by a single independent technician whose services simply weren’t right for an organisation that needs to maintain alignment between their goals and their technology. This left their technology vulnerable and unreliable, with no standards unifying the infrastructure. As a result, failing hardware was supporting inconsistent user experiences across the different computers being used.
Fortunately, MSAU’s Manager of Finance and Corporate Services, Simon Rohde felt that Ivan Janssen, President and CEO of eManaged, a local managed service provider, could be of assistance. Having seen the risks that the company’s current IT strategy could leave them exposed to, Simon pushed for MSAU to partner with eManaged as a risk management measure, noticing that eManaged’s processes would be a perfect fit for their business’ needs.
eManaged also assisted MSAU with modernising (and thereby streamlining) many of the systems they rely on, providing significant benefits. For instance:
- MSAU no longer has to manually manage their clientele’s sensitive data, as their more secure IT systems make it far simpler to organise without shortchanging security.
- eManaged facilitated the transition from manual timesheets to online timesheets, which saves MSAU’s payroll officer a significant amount of time.
- There is now full integration between MSAU’s numerous systems, including their incident reporting software.
- MSAU now makes use of single sign-on solutions, something they were not even aware was an option before eManaged introduced it to them.
“eManaged understands our business. They work to give us a clear direction, have improved our technology and given us assurance that everything is secure.”
— SIMON ROHDE, MANAGER OF FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES FOR THE MALLEE SEXUAL ASSAULT UNIT
Make no mistake: this was a complicated process that effectively needed to be condensed to a single step from 99 different processes. However, while the implementation process was laden with needs to ensure it went off smoothly and a few challenges did rear up, eManaged worked with MSAU to ensure a positive outcome. After a brief learning curve of just a few days, MSAU fully embraced the improvements made.
In fact, eManaged has seen a 54% decrease in support tickets and issues coming from MSAU since they have taken charge of their IT!
As you might imagine, MSAU is pleased with the work eManaged has done for them, citing the response time that the staff can expect eManaged to stick to, Rohde would “most certainly” recommend that other organisations should turn to the managed service provider for their assistance.
eManaged has been serving the Mildura and Riverland area since 2014, after 50 years of operating as Office Everything to provide their IT services. With their IT services including technical help desk support, computer support and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses, eManaged partners with many types of businesses so these businesses can be driven forwards. Reach out at 1300 363 308 for more information.