At Data#3, our core purpose is to enable customer success through a company-wide strategic approach to customer experience. By aligning with world-leading vendor partners like Cisco, we enhance our ability to guide customers confidently through their technology journey, establishing a solid foundation to future-proof their digital transformation.
In this video, John Tan (Data#3 Chief Customer Officer), David Impellizzeri (Data#3 Customer Success Team Lead), and Emma Crome (Cisco Success Programs Manager) sit down to discuss how our partnership with Cisco helps drive successful outcomes for our customers.
At Data#3, our partnership with Cisco is built on a strong foundation, allowing us to deliver top-notch connectivity and security platforms that enhance user experiences. Cisco’s focus on forming enduring partnerships aligns seamlessly with our approach, enabling us to understand our customers’ needs and offer solutions that lead to their success.
With an increasingly challenging cyber landscape, MercyCare sought to enhance their risk mitigation and response capabilities by accessing expertise and 24/7 monitoring services.
Following an audit that recommended upgrades to their cyber security strategy, MercyCare sought to find a partner with the right level of expertise who could help improve their security posture.
Data#3 has a team of technicians with a strong focus on new technology trends. By combining Data#3’s expertise with SecurityHQ’s service, we felt confident that we would be able to adopt a more proactive approach towards organisational security.
Armin Adineh – Manager – Information Technology, Business Services & Systems, MercyCare
MercyCare supports the Western Australian community, providing services ranging from early childhood settings to aged care. Their 1,400+ staff are dedicated to providing quality care and support to Western Australians through every stage of life’s journey.
The small, busy IT team at MercyCare is acutely aware of the sensitive nature of the organisation’s data, and the need to be proactive in taking steps to ensure it is well protected. An external audit confirmed that it was time to seek additional security expertise.
The security landscape is fast-changing. With the number of Australian organisations affected doubling in the two years to June 2022, the small, busy IT team at MercyCare, led by Armin Adineh, Manager – Information Technology, Business Services and Systems, said it was essential to take a proactive approach.
“We were a new team, and the growing risk of cyber security incidents locally had caught our attention. We were concerned about the impact an incident could have on our ability to provide care for our clients and service users, and we knew we didn’t have sufficient visibility of the network to ensure we were protected. This was compounded by a lack of documentation and understanding of our network. For us, the main thing was knowing what was happening in our systems, identifying vulnerabilities and prioritising them based on risk and impact.”
The IT team was conscious of its responsibility to some of the state’s most vulnerable; MercyCare handles personal and health-related information relating to clients, as well as staff records and financial information. The organisation also have a policy that all data must reside in Australia.
“Security is especially important because we handle a lot of personal information about clients, service users and members of our workforce. We are committed to providing the best care and support to our clients, families and communities. To do this, we need to take all necessary steps to keep information secure and operate in line with corporate compliance standards.
“From a risk point of view, if there were ever a breach, there is potential for financial and reputational damage for our organisation, but it could also have an impact on our clients and families.”
Among the challenges that Armin’s team identified was the need for round-the-clock monitoring and response from a skilled workforce. That simply wasn’t feasible given the resources available in-house. The number of alerts on any day was enormous.
“We were getting over a million security logs in a month. The task of correlating this together, and separating false positives from identified vulnerabilities, was huge, and we could not have maintained that effort at the same time as managing business as usual activities with a limited budget, it would put an unprecedented amount of pressure on our team,” explained Armin.
“Due to budgets and also other aspects of a tough market, we felt we couldn’t have the solution in-house, and we started looking at a security operations centre (SOC). If we went with a solution in-house, we would have to have at least two people to cover leave, and then what are you going to do after hours? Our adversaries won’t stop attacking after hours or because it is Christmas.”
To ensure that appropriate choices were made around possible solutions, and gain a complete picture of the situation, MercyCare invested in an independent security audit. This confirmed that external expertise was needed.
“The audit showed that we needed to have a security team to review and maintain our environment. Based on our assessed requirements and resources, the consultants with the auditors identified that a SOC was the right way to go.”
Using the audit recommendations as a starting point, MercyCare narrowed down their requirements for a SOC partner. After a careful evaluation, they chose to work with Data#3 and their SOC partner, SecurityHQ, who they felt had the right combination of technical capability and culture to support MercyCare’s aims.
“Our focus was on three pillars: people, policies and risk. We wanted to promote cyber awareness to our people, to our executives, and bring them on a journey,” said Armin.
After careful consideration, MercyCare opted for a service that included 24/7 support from the SecurityHQ SOC, including incident response support when needed. Included in the project were regular reporting, and frequent catch-ups with a dedicated, locally-based Data#3 customer experience manager. More detailed planning commenced to prepare for implementation, via a series of workshops and meetings.
“We created a roadmap to use as a foundation for a very constructive methodology to capture all assets and prioritise vulnerability based on assessed risks. We had high-level staff on board, with our technical staff working in close collaboration with Data#3 and SecurityHQ. The most important thing was enhancing cyber awareness within our organisation, and establishing robust policies and procedures to maintain security within acceptable risk appetite.in place. Technology was the final touch, much like the icing on the cake.”
“It was a comprehensive workshop that identified what we had, and asking at first how we can capture all alerts. We have many devices in our network including routers, computers, mobiles, etc. and we had to figure out how to send all logs to the SOC and establish secure connectivity for that.”
The preparation phase included troubleshooting and cleansing the MercyCare environment, and adjusting controls to ensure that alerts were triaged and dealt with appropriately according to pre-defined rules. These rules were then fine-tuned when the system went live.
“The first month was hectic with alerts for nearly everything. We communicated to the SOC team that certain alerts, like password changes by our IT team, didn’t require high-priority escalation and should be toned down. The decision to receive alerts for any event and how to handle them internally was ours.”
MercyCare’s need for transparency was met by the SecurityHQ response platform and APP, which gives them complete, real-time visibility of the current situation and any actions by the SOC team. The team can log in from anywhere and see trends, active incidents, and even the SOC engineers’ notes. Incidents are dealt with by the SOC team, and the MercyCare team is only called when more critical events occur.
“It is very collaborative, with meetings every week with the SOC team where we go through everything happening on the network. As an IT manager, I know that at the end of the week, we have monitoring, and all incidents are reviewed by a team of professionals in a way that could never have happened in-house. I know that if someone is on leave, another qualified specialist is doing that job, and when they come into our meetings, I can see that the handover was done perfectly.”
From the start of MercyCare’s path to introducing a SOC solution, Armin has been clear that cyber security must become a more prominent part of the organisation’s culture. Management support of the independent security audit, and subsequent support from Data#3 and SecurityHQ, have contributed to progress.
“To me, I was struggling to raise awareness, so telling the business how important this was, and bringing them on the journey, really has helped. I had important discussions with management about what we were doing, and we were able to make data-driven decisions. Now, we are more security aware right from the top level, which is a great achievement.”
With the SOC taking on the day-to-day security monitoring and response, Armin’s team no longer has to look through thousands of logs, trying to identify genuine risks among the mass of benign occurrences.
“Feeling that someone was taking care of securing the network properly was the main achievement. We have a defined process in place. Also, our audit outcome went up significantly this year, which gave us reassurance that we were on the right track.”
“The trust is coming back to our IT department which signals that we are doing the right thing, and it is a positive outcome when a third-party auditor comes in and confirms that. That’s when you see the value of our investment.”
The original aim of improving protection of staff and clients has been achieved now that Armin is satisfied that the people awareness, processes and risk management are in place. Not only does investment in security reduce risk to the organisation and help maintain its trusted status, he said it has also changed the game for the MercyCare IT team.
“Putting aside risk and reputation, the SOC gives us peace of mind that a successful, professional team is going to manage that big job 24/7, which frees our time to put more effort into business-as-usual support. Having that peace of mind is very important. We went from reactive to proactive.”
A very important element of the outcome was peace of mind, but I wasn’t expecting to be connected with a team of professionals with this level of friendliness and support.
Armin Adineh – Manager – Information Technology, Business Services & Systems, MercyCare
When researching potential SOC providers early in the project, Armin found that there were “different types” available, and said that the decision came down not only to technology and cost but also the right attitude and approach to working together.
“We had companies that provided similar services, with Data#3 there was competitive pricing, which helped. Also, what connected us with Data#3, and their partnership with SecurityHQ was that they didn’t talk only about what they could provide in terms of technology, they connected with our values and how they could provide services that help us to achieve our goals. Our values connected from both technology and non-technology points of view.”
This approach meant that MercyCare had access to resources and support beyond expectations, with an extended team ready to act on the usual day-to-day issues that arise in a busy IT environment.
“We knew they have a very competent team to help us with other aspects. If, for example, we have an issue with our cloud infrastructure, and I don’t have a resource, I know that the Data#3 team can help me with expert resources to solve the issue,” explained Armin.
“A very important element of the outcome was peace of mind, but I wasn’t expecting to be connected with a team of professionals with this level of friendliness and support.”
Part of the role of the SOC team is to help MercyCare to always improve their security posture, providing a roadmap and prioritising every action. Armin said that knowing there is a dedicated focus means he can sustain momentum.
“In every meeting, we assess the priorities. A good thing about the security team is that they follow you to make sure you are managing the risks. I find that they don’t ever forget, and that’s a good characteristic to have in a security team,” concluded Armin.
Download Customer Story Learn more about security managed services
We expect a lot from our networks – they must support hybrid work and cloud-centric models, stay on top of fast-moving cybersecurity threats, and provide automation capabilities for real-time network insights. It’s no easy feat when adding in the complexities of multiple sites, meeting compliance standards, and monitoring a range of technologies from multiple vendors.
In this environment, SD-WAN emerged as a transformative solution. It simplifies management while opening up a diverse range of cost-effective carriage options that boost reliability, operational efficiency and performance.
Named “the most disruptive technology” back in 2019, SD-WAN has since matured to become a priority for businesses of all sizes. IDC predicts the SD-WAN market will reach $7.5 billion with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10.1% by 2027. This level of uptake is largely attributed to its strategic response to a landscape marked by digital transformation, flexible working models and emerging cyber security threats, making it the foundation for modern networking.
Then, as the need for Zero Trust access and robust cloud security grew alongside the demand for secure connectivity for remote workers, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) emerged. This network architecture brings together SD-WAN with essential security services – secure web access gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), zero trust network access (ZTNA), and firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) – into a single, cloud-delivered service model.
With technology, talent, and security risks colliding, the burden on internal IT teams has intensified, often stretching resources – and leading to challenges in implementing SD-WAN and SASE for many organisations.
We’ve seen this scenario play out more and more over the last few years, with capital expenditure constraints that limit how comprehensively these deployments are rolled out, leading to compromises in levels of security and performance. For this reason, we chose to add two new managed services to our extensive managed IT services portfolio.
Outsourcing to specialists equipped to handle the multifaceted nature of today’s networks eases the pressure on in-house teams. Evolving from managed IT services of the past, these new partnership models allow Data#3 to operate as an extension of your business, bringing in expertise, proactive knowledge of emerging risks, advanced tools and proven architectures that might typically be out of reach or too costly to implement internally. Our rapid speed to market, fast ROI and predictable monthly pricing model make these services financially appealing, too.
Our managed services portfolio has grown organically to meet the evolving needs of our customers’ in the last 45 years. Our managed services stack includes:
We see first-hand how transformational the transition to managed services can be. Our customers can quickly shift their focus from day-to-day network management to more strategic initiatives. They can move from a reactive stance to a proactive, strategic approach where IT becomes a business enabler rather than just a maintenance unit.
This is why we’ve levelled up our managed services offerings further with these two paradigm-shifting services.
Data#3’s Managed SD-WAN is ideal for organisations looking to improve overall network performance and security across branch offices, remote locations, and cloud environments. Key benefits include:
To learn more about the service inclusions, visit Managed SD-WAN.
Managed Secure Edge Access is your answer to better application performance and reliability, consistent security, deeper visibility and control of users, data and apps. It’s a great fit for securing dispersed and hybrid work environments.
To learn more about the service inclusions, visit Managed Secure Edge Access.
At Data#3, we have packaged all the ingredients of the SASE and SD-WAN recipes and paired them with predictable, subscription-based pricing at a predetermined per-user or per-site monthly fee.
Each managed service is a flexible, efficient, and outcome-focused network solution tailor-made for your various operational needs. Both are structured around our extensive experience completing hundreds of deployments and Cisco’s best practices.
Managed SD-WAN includes full planning, design and implementation along with device hardware, software licensing, maintenance, dashboards and reporting with options to include fibre, 5G, and satellite carriage. You can also choose from pre-built reference architectures or work with us to architect a more tailored solution. All solutions are up and running in a matter of weeks and carefully designed to achieve your outcomes over set periods of time.
Managed Secure Edge Access includes full planning, design and implementation as well as software licensing, ongoing management and maintenance, dashboards and reporting with the option of Zero Trust Network Access and multifactor authentication. You can also select your user types and quantity, pick the services that interest you, and discuss with us how SASE can serve as that critical step towards a Zero Trust Network Architecture.
When it comes to Cisco solutions Data#3 capabilities are unmatched in Australia. We also appreciate that less tangible aspects like culture and approach are equally important as technical expertise. Our customers trust us to deliver, and we prioritise earning and maintaining that trust, which is why we were awarded Cisco’s APJC Customer Experience Partner of the Year.
Get in touch with our team to explore the agility, security and cost benefits of Cisco’s SD-WAN and SASE technologies – supported by Data#3’s highly honed managed services.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji wished to improve its security posture for better protection against increasingly sophisticated cyber security threats.
A selective tender issued, inviting a shortlist of IT partners with high-level security capabilities to submit a proposal. Data#3 was selected based on their high-quality, globally backed proposal, along with Fiji-based expertise and support.
We now have assurance that someone who is equipped with the right technical skills looking at things we may miss, enabling our bank to achieve increased visibility, global threat intelligence, and an improved cyber security posture.
Ariff Ali – Governor for Reserve Bank of Fiji
As the central bank of the Republic of Fiji, the Reserve Bank of Fiji’s (RBF) functions include issuing currency and promoting monetary and financial stability in the economy, while providing policy advice and financial services to the government.
While the growing threat to the landscape has become increasingly challenging worldwide, several high-profile security incidents has highlighted the increased focus by cyber criminals within the Pacific region. For the RBF, limited visibility and a lack of specialised resources has made implanting effective security measures a challenge.
The RBF relies on a small, busy IT team to provide the tools that it needs to function. As the critical area of security has become more complex, specialist skills not available in-house were needed 24/7. For Manager Cybersecurity & Innovation, Rajnesh Chand, introducing a security operations centre (SOC) was a logical step.
“We knew we wanted to have a SOC solution in place, we knew how important it was. We had a vision, and initially we took it on in-house and put a solution together, and tried to get a sense of what having a SOC means. From this experience, we realised that it takes much more than a few security personnel to manage a SOC, given other priority security areas.”
External factors necessitated the need to raise the bar of expectations. The onset of the global pandemic increased the number of employees working remotely, which saw an increase in cyber security incidents in the region.
“There were other things that COVID-19 brought, especially security concerns, and we started to see breaches closer to home. These factors made us look outward for help, and we wanted to make it a less painful, more enriching experience,” recounted Chand.
“We knew there were SOC services available, and it made sense to change our approach to consider something managed for the extra support. With service organisations, they have the set-up, and the experience of implementing security solutions for longer than we had, so we knew we could reap the benefits of that experience.”
With the global skilled labour shortage, especially in experienced security specialists, implementing the right SOC choice would create opportunity for RBF’s IT team to develop its knowledge through a transfer of skills.
The current solution in place did not give the RBF the visibility and confidence about to focus attention where it was most needed, and with their analysis process still largely manual, more was needed if the RBF was to narrow down to the right datasets.
Data#3 proposed a solution in partnership with global managed security service provider, SecurityHQ, that featured 24/7 SOC support and availability, with built in incident response. Service and management of the solution were included, which featured a Data#3 Customer Experience Manager, in conjunction with the Fiji-based Data#3 team. Chand said that this combination of local service and global expertise gave him assurance that the RBF was in safe hands.
“First, we knew they had the capability. We knew the partnerships that Data#3 has, because we had already been long-term customers for our Microsoft licensing. We had been to some of their JuiceIT events, so we had exposure to their experts, and they have a local presence in Fiji as well, so there is knowledgeable support we can reach out to locally,” explained Chand.
During the tender phase, Data#3 and SecurityHQ presented their proposal in detail, taking time to gather information at every stage, and this attention to detail helped to prepare for the SOC for implementation.
“They really made us understand what the solution entails, how we could consume that service, and what we could expect. They showed us how they would set up the SOC, and what it would look like in reality, and that really stood out to us,” described Chand.
The combination of advance information gathering, and the work that the RBF had already done in their initial venture into trialling a SOC, helped ensure an easy onboarding process. Detailed instructions were provided on how to onboard, along with a knowledge log of how everything works.
“I think the first ten days we went through a learning phase, trying to understand what we should classify as a major alert. It was a good experience and gave us instant transparency in terms of things we may not have otherwise viewed as a threat. We introduced more rules to reduce false positives, and now we have a SOC that gives us visibility across all layers of security,” stated Chand.
During this period, the RBF team was able to experience first-hand what it was like to have a global team of security specialists monitoring their environment round the clock.
“Any analyst working on our system knows what to do with alerts and how to classify it according to our own business. Personally, it feels like having a light switch from zero to hero overnight,” said Chand.
As a part of the solution, the RBF conducts weekly meetings with Data#3 and SecurityHQ. These are attended by RBF’s IT team as well as the bank’s executive risk management team, and other business leaders where needed. This reflects the commitment by the leadership of the RBF to better understand and manage cyber risk.
Aside from the meetings, weekly and monthly reports that show incidents are generated and submitted to the team. The risk team also receives notifications of incidents. The managed SOC solution frees up time for the team to focus on other operational priorities, knowing that someone is constantly monitoring security.
“Having the managed SOC in place allowed the IT team to prioritise its focus on other areas, necessitated by the level of our security posture. Without the SOC in place, our IT team would need to work outside of business hours, always ensuring the phone is close by to make sure no warnings or suspicious activity were missed. Now, getting a call means it is a big issue, while anything else can wait for office hours. That has made it easier to sleep at night.”
The security measures and controls the Reserve Bank has put in place have improved our posture and given us visibility and insight into any security concerns in real-time.
Susan Kumar – Chief Manager Currency and Corporate Services, Reserve Bank of Fiji.
The RBF has a mandate to supervise licensed financial institutions, and provide guidance on key issues including cyber security.
Governor for RBF, Ariff Ali, commended the team on achieving the compliance expected and reiterated the assurance afforded to the RBF team, now that they have the extra support from Data#3 and SecurityHQ.
“The security measures and controls the Reserve Bank has put in place have improved our posture and given us visibility and insight into any security concerns in real-time. This comfort allows the IT team to provide that advice previously absent with in-house support,” highlighted Susan Kumar, Chief Manager Currency and Corporate Services, Reserve Bank of Fiji.
“Because Data#3 has a local presence, we are able to have easy access to their services, while SecurityHQ offers us expertise in security. In addition, having a local relationship with Data#3 has provided great comfort to the RBF given its usual conservative stance with outsourcing,” said Kumar.
“The people there make a real difference – they have experience and expertise in technology across a wide client base, and are familiar with most of our challenges,” added Chand.
“When looking back at the progress already achieved, seeking specialist external skills through the managed SOC was a “no brainer”, as the reach of the service went far beyond anything that could have been reasonably achieved with the small internal team.”
In his reflection, Chand says, “coming across another Data#3 customer case study a few years back, I wondered whether we would ever have such a use case that we could publish and feel proud of as an institution. Now, we are in a good place, and we are proud of what we have achieved it.”
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The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland Section) was dependent on disparate data sources and wanted to integrate aircraft, patient, and crew data to give a clear picture of availability.
Having worked together previously, the RFDS (Queensland Section) identified that Data#3 had the capability to tackle a highly complex data integration project, working through rigorous proof of concept stages to completion.
When we could say we had the systems and processes in place that were trustworthy and reliable enough to get our operations centre up and running, it was a huge milestone.
Nick Warwick – Data Integration and Analytics Manager, Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section)
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is a charitable organisation that delivers primary healthcare and 24-hour emergency services to rural and remote Australians. Supported by a vast number of volunteers and supporters for more than 90 years, the RFDS holds a special place in the heart of the nation.
As one of the largest aeromedical organisations in the world, the RFDS faces unique operational hurdles. The crews and aircraft at the frontline work beyond the reaches of consistent data connectivity, so providing service involved considerable manual effort.
Before the RFDS was founded in Cloncurry in 1928, Australians living in remote locations had to travel by horseback, cart, or even camel to reach medical help in an emergency. Since then, the fleet has grown to 79 aircraft that operate from 23 bases across Australia.
The RFDS has expanded its services to include primary health care clinics, patient transfers, research, and a host of other essential care. Data Integration and Analytics Manager (Queensland Section), Nick Warwick, said that modernising the mainly manual RFDS systems was essential to ensure the Service could continue to provide the finest care to the furthest corner.
“One of the biggest challenges is that we operate off-grid, where there is no phone data or internet. If we can get data at all, it is usually slow, with very high latency, low bandwidth, and poor connectivity.”
“In the sky, there is limited connectivity – we have satellite phones and tracking, but we’re not about to be streaming Netflix, and the cost of streaming data is prohibitive. As a result, we operated with a lot of paper-based processes, with many standalone apps operating offline,” explained Warwick.
As well as receiving much-appreciated donations from the public, the RFDS also accepts funding from both state and federal governments. Both levels of government supported the RFDS quest to modernise and innovate, and Warwick said moving away from paper-based systems represented an opportunity to improve care.
“It is all about how we can look after the patient better. Queensland Health has been moving all hospitals to electronic records, and we looked at how we provide information to the receiving hospital, and how the information we add works into that process.”
In addition to integrating patient data from multiple sources, the RFDS (Queensland Section) wanted an Operations Control Centre for the fleet that would have accurate, near-real time data about its fleet and crews. The potential for increased efficiency and faster response times was an important driving force.
“If, for example, a hospital needed a patient transferred, they would ring Retrieval Services Queensland, a service attached to the 000 centre, who would then ring around to find pilots and nurses who were available and had the right skills for the specific job,” explained Warwick.
“We wanted better situational awareness of available flight crews and availability so we could respond to calls faster. In Queensland we have 22 aircraft and 11 crews, and we’re operating 24/7 ready to do medical retrievals. Different aircraft have different capabilities; all nurses are intensive care specialists, most are midwives, and all aeromedical doctors are anaesthetists or intensive care experts. We always need to make sure we send the right combination of specialists when responding to calls.”
There are many considerations for dispatchers. Some aircraft have cargo doors, necessary for certain situations, or have capacity of multiple stretchers, while others may be better suited to landing on outback dirt strips. The dispatcher must rapidly assess and make decisions based on patient needs, location, pilot, and crew skills and even the aircraft itself.
“We had a duty tasking officer whose job it was to advise Queensland Health from the moment of the request, organising everything that was needed for the best patient outcome from assigning the right aircraft and crew, through to making sure that the receiving hospital was ready for them and had a bed reserved.”
Much of the needed information that documented aircraft capabilities and crew skills was held offline, so the tasking officer would have to manually look through hard copy information in multiple locations before an aircraft and crew could be sourced. A task that required manual checking of every piece of information, often with several phone calls.
“We were depending on paper-based processes and stand-alone systems, with someone figuring out what aircraft had what capabilities, and remembering it all in their head. We asked ourselves, how do we get our records all available electronically, and get our systems talking? The goal was to get the right information to the right person at the right time,” outlined Warwick.
“We couldn’t find anything commercial off-the-shelf that would do the job of emergency and flight planning for an airline where we have no advance knowledge of where we’ll being flying to on any given day.”
The RFDS (Queensland Section) began to automate some processes, extract simpler data, and load it into their data warehouse. They gained the ability to run some reports however they were not in real time. They still needed to integrate patient and aircraft data, and to find a way to display the information. All this needed to be managed within a strict budget, as the RFDS team was very conscious of their responsibility to get the most from every dollar of funding.
“We had to find all the bits of information and get them into a spot we could use. Prior to coming on board, Data#3 had done some work with the RFDS around data processing strategy to produce reports. We were initially looking at Azure Data Factory and had done discovery work, and we chose to work with Data#3 and their partner Lynkz for a proof of concept to show if it would work and prove beneficial,” explained Warwick.
“As we evaluated the cost, we realised that Azure Data Factory would not be the right tool, and the team identified that Azure Functions applications would be better suited. We rebuilt the prototype, and it exceeded performance and costing expectations.”
Azure Functions is a serverless solution that allows you to write less code, cut infrastructure requirements, and reduce costs. With the needed resources residing in the cloud, and streamlined development, the affordability factor soared.
Part of the limited proof of concept, for a single view of aircraft information, was the build of a simple dashboard displaying real time details. Even then, Warwick said that getting the go-ahead was “by no means a given”, and the project was put through a strict approval process to ensure that it offered significant value to patients and staff.
“Azure Functions was a much better cost of operations model for us, and we continued to build out the model and started hooking up new systems and looking at the quality of data. It was a real collaborative effort between RFDS, Data#3 and Lynkz,” said Warwick.
As more systems were integrated, some were determined to be no longer fit for purpose, and alternatives were considered for functions such as flight manifests and tracking.
“Data#3 helped us to design and build a new manifest system, and we chose a new partner for a flight tracking system that sends API calls. The capability of our system is now far more advanced than we had previously.”
A key moment was the launch of the RFDS (Queensland Section) Operations Control Centre. This was made possible when key systems were integrated successfully and marked a milestone on RFDS’ commitment to growth in innovation.
“We can now see exactly where we are, whether any of the crew has limitations we need to be aware of, we can see their location, and no longer have to make calls to know where people are, the information is just there. When we look at the board, we can see information about aircraft maintenance needs, and understand the current situation.
“At a glance, we know which aircraft is loaded with NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) equipment, or which staff are available with the right specialist skills. If we’re asked a question, we can just look up and see it on a big display board that shows real time information,” Warwick said.
Display boards are also installed in each of the RFDS locations around Queensland, so that wherever they are, crews, support staff and engineers can access accurate information at a glance.
“The work we’re doing ensures that pilots, nurses, and doctors have the right information. Rather than a 000-dispatcher calling multiple places to find the right aircraft, we can tell them straight away. For example, we had a critically ill patient who needed to travel to Brisbane, and we could see that the closest crew was not the best match for the patient’s needs and could immediately locate the best option.
“At the Operations Control Centre, we have integrated flight systems, manifests, and tasking systems plus the first of our clinical systems, so instructions can be preloaded onto the clinician’s iPad, used offline during flight and the data uploaded at the other end. We can be saving five to ten minutes per patient by passing data over, and the process can remove up to half an hour in tasking communications.”
It’s not only in the Operations Control Centre that efficiencies have been realised. Warwick noted a reduction in effort when aircraft come in for servicing. Engineers can quickly notice when an aircraft will be waiting for a few hours for a patient’s return journey or a hospital handover, thanks to the screens in each location.
“We can now show clearly which aircraft are on call, and which aircraft our engineers can work on. When an aircraft is on the tarmac, engineers can know whether they have time for routine maintenance. Now we have visibility of information, we can improve our operations and work more efficiently.”
For Warwick’s IT team at RFDS (Queensland Section), one of the key success factors was knowledge transfer, with Data#3 specialists providing documentation and helping internal resources to gain confidence in working with Azure Functions.
“We knew at the end of phase one there would be a disengagement process, and if we were successful, we would have produced what was needed and have the skills to maintain it, and this was absolutely achieved.”
We have connectivity options at every site we operate. We’re looking for ways we can improve telehealth, and how we can put equipment like cardiac monitors and diagnostic equipment where they’re of most use.
Nick Warwick – Data Integration and Analytics Manager, Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section)
With real time information available on screens at each of the RFDS (Queensland Section) locations, the project has been highly visible within the organisation. This has led to demand for additional data to be integrated as the possibilities are considered. Warwick said that the project has highlighted the core RFDS spirit.
“As an organisation, innovation is at the core of what we do. In 1928, nobody had used planes to transport sick people. We’re always looking for the best ideas. Our aircraft now have stretcher loading systems to go straight from the aircraft to ambulance. We have connectivity options at every site we operate. We’re looking for ways we can improve telehealth, and how we can put equipment like cardiac monitors and diagnostic equipment where they’re of most use.”
As an organisation, the RFDS is ever conscious of spending funding wisely, and this impacts the way that technology projects are approached. This makes proof of concepts especially important, and Warwick said that “we’ll give it a go but stop if it doesn’t work”, something that requires a supportive technology partner.
“Data#3’s biggest strength was their attitude. The account manager saw us as a relationship, and had a professional, constructive approach based on mutual respect. They could see what we were trying to do, and their attitude was that we will find a way together to make it work,” praised Warwick.
“If we had more work, there was always give and take, and they were able to find another person.”
Looking to the future, the RFDS has plans to roll out additional services that are much needed by the remote and rural Australians they serve. Warwick said that as well as increasing demand for primary care and dental clinics, the health practice now offers youth mental health care, maternity health, and operates a system of medicinal chests that he hopes will be integrated, so that status can display for the operations centre staff.
“We’re considering projects around geospatial technology, so that when someone calls needing help, we can get lifesaving medications to them from the medicinal chests faster than an aircraft can arrive.”
Given the RFDS spirit of innovation, it is unsurprising that Warwick sees modernisation efforts less as a project with a start and finish and more as an ongoing progression where there will always be opportunities to improve services as new technologies emerge. There’s “no endpoint” when striving for the best patient outcomes. Still, he said it’s also important to reflect on the advances already made.
“When we could say we had the systems and processes in place that were trustworthy and reliable enough to get our Operations Control Centre up and running, it was a huge milestone.”
The Department for Education wanted to achieve a smooth transition to a new managed service provider that would offer greater transparency and a true partnership.
The Department for Education chose Data#3 as their managed service provider (MSP) through a competitive tender program. Established systems and customer references played a key role in the decision.
The highlight was the proactiveness of Data#3, the way they went about the engagement was positive and professional, and the process they used was highly effective.
Simon Chapman – Assistant Director, Digital Architecture and Operations, Department for Education South Australia
The South Australian Department for Education (The Department) provides education, training and child development services to support children, young people and families as they reach their learning goals.
The Department was nearing the end of its contract with an existing Managed Services Provider (MSP) and sought a future partnership that would serve it well through an exciting phase of transformation in education services.
In a state that spans vibrant cities as well as rural and remote communities, striving for excellence in education is both challenging and rewarding. Innovative use of technology is seen as a tremendous opportunity by the Department. The busy in-house team is passionate about raising the bar of technology in the education sector, something Assistant Director, Digital Architecture and Operations, Simon Chapman said he could “talk about all day.”
To dedicate efforts into providing the best services within the Department and to schools, the team depended on a managed service provider. When that contract neared its conclusion, it was seen as an opportunity for progress.
“We were looking for someone we could have a long-term strategic relationship with. We were keen to find value-adds that a service provider could bring to education to support modern learning,” said Chapman.
“Government is complex, and every agency is different, with unique processes around each area. There is a phase of building up knowledge and understanding the environment of the customer for a managed service provider. We needed those dedicated resources who would understand us and the way we work.”
Any change to existing managed service arrangements needed to be handled with care, in order to avoid any disruption to the Department’s vital work. With this in mind, Chapman scrutinised the approach to transition in each tender response.
“We were on a previous whole of government arrangement with a different provider and we needed to know that there was a plan in place that could make that happen smoothly,” said Chapman.
To verify suitability and experience, the Department for Education team did its homework, diligently following up references to get a sense of how well potential partners would mesh with the in-house team. Chapman was keenly aware that there could be no loss of focus on the important work of supporting South Australia’s school communities.
“Our approach was that we needed this to be a partnership to truly achieve a successful transition. We knew we needed dedicated resources and a proven process.”
Beyond the immediate challenge of transitioning between providers, the Department saw any managed services agreement as an opportunity to access a broader knowledge base, with an opportunity to free the busy in-house team from day-to-day activities. Overall efficiency gains, increased insight, and improved resolution times were also high on the wish list.
“We identified that there was room to streamline the support process and get a clearer view.”
After careful consideration against each required criteria, the South Australia Department for Education selected Data#3 as its new managed services partner. This signalled the start of an in-depth planning phase to ensure a smooth transition.
“We had weekly meetings and then, as we got closer, daily stand-up meetings between Education and Data#3’s specialised team. Each week we had progress reports from the project manager, so we knew what activities had been completed and what was coming up. This all followed our overarching plan and agreed milestones,” described Chapman.
Some aspects of the transition merited a more in-depth look, with the Department for Education team keen to make the most of a wealth of enhanced systems and services available to them. Chapman said that this proactive approach served the Department well as it strove to get maximum return on its managed services investment.
“We conducted workshops focused on discovery and explored various value-added services. One example of added value was the integration of our service desk tool, ‘ServiceNow’, with the systems of Data#3. Any requests logged in our tool became accessible to the Data#3 team through their own ServiceNow system, which saved our teams a significant amount of time as we were able to manage everything without leaving our own systems.”
The integration was about more than saving on administration effort. It also gave the Department real-time visibility of every ticket in progress or completed. Every action and comment from Data#3 engineers can be seen b y the Department’s team, who can also add their own updates. This gives a better sense of teamwork between the organisations as they collaborate towards shared goals.
“Having that visibility really improved the efficiency, and reduced resolution times to get incidents resolved,” explained Chapman.
“We get monthly reports from our Data#3 customer success manager, and that tracks the number of tickets, what’s outstanding, and whether any SLAs have been breached depending on the severity of the ticket. We’re seeing trends and we’re not seeing a spike in any type of tickets, there’s a consistent downward trend with improvement on how long each takes to resolve.”
In any transition of this magnitude and complexity, Chapman said that it is realistic to expect a few technical challenges to work through but thanks to experienced project managers both in-house and with Data#3, the project progressed smoothly.
“Anything that cropped up was dealt with on a case-by-case basis. There were some issues with discovering all assets in discovery, but we were able to mitigate that; we had an issues register to track issues and were able to put an action plan in place. Meaning there were no showstoppers, and that was incredibly important to us.”
Chapman credited staffing and processes with helping to make the transition and ongoing management a success. He pointed out that, given every government agency operates differently, consistency of resources makes all the difference.
“We all have different processes around each area, so it takes time building up knowledge to understand the environment of each customer. We like that Data#3 brings subject matter experts to each account, rather than just a pool of Data#3 resources, so we get specialised engineers who are familiar with the education sector and environment. We’re not just getting generic resources and having that first level dedicated resourcing to our account has helped familiarise them with our environment, they are not having to relearn for every request,” stated Chapman.
“There’s a learning curve and rather than having to refer to the documentation every time, we have those dedicated resources who know education, with backups when they are not available. It improves our resolution times when they don’t have to relearn our environment.”
They understand our business and help us be more adaptive to change. They are service delivery focused and have the experience as a managed service partner for a large, complex environment. The local staff are very good at building relationships and communicating to keep us in the loop.
Simon Chapman – Assistant Director, Digital Architecture and Operations, Department for Education South Australia
While there are certainly many managed services options on the market, they are far from all the same. In particular, the people, processes, and systems can vary considerably. For the Department, finding the right fit has had a clear effect on reducing resolution times, but the impact goes beyond that simple measurement.
“We’ve got someone who is a genuine close partner rather than a general managed services provider, they want to see us succeed and set about making that happen. We have a partner at a strategic level.”
“They understand our business and help us be more adaptive to change. They are service delivery focused and have the experience as a managed service partner for a large, complex environment. The local staff are very good at building relationships and communicating to keep us in the loop.”
The integration between Department for Education and Data#3 systems has served to give Chapman greater insight into his environment, and his team has been quick to put that intelligence to good use.
“We have more transparency around ticketing systems and a level of visibility we have never had before due to the monitoring tools used. We can see a greater level of improved service overall. We are also more forward looking. We can make continuous improvements and use the information for road-mapping; it helps us see what the future looks like and where we can save costs or improve efficiency,” outlined Chapman.
“In terms of ongoing costs, we’re in a much better position. They’re quite flexible about onboarding new services, around billing and invoicing.”
For other organisations looking at transitioning to a new managed services provider smoothly, Chapman’s advice is that it pays to allocate the right resources, who can focus fully on the task.
“As a project, don’t try to do it on top of the day job. Dedicate resourcing both internally and within the provider so that you get all the prerequisites and planning done and nothing is left to chance. Work with somebody who has experience and has done multiple transitions before, so you have the comfort that they know what they are doing and have the right expertise. Do talk to their other customers – we did reference checks, who reflected positive experiences of their transitions.”
Ultimately, given the importance of technology within most organisations, the role of the managed service provider is key to progress. Along with expertise, finding a strong cultural fit is worth the effort. “I think the highlight was the proactiveness of Data#3, the way they went about the engagement was positive and professional, and the process they used was highly effective. They had a collaborative approach. I was really impressed by the partnership between the Department and Data#3 to get a positive outcome: we don’t see them as a simple managed services provider, but as a strategic partner, and that is the key that has set them apart,” concluded Chapman.
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With cybercrime increasing in frequency and complexity, Melbourne Racing Club sought a security partner to help improve visibility for vital round the clock support, to support its IT team.
Melbourne Racing Club reached out to trusted partners including Data#3 to request proposed solutions. A proof of concept showed that the solution and joint expertise Data#3 and SecurityHQ offered was a great fit to meet their requirements.
For us, the highlight was improving our business security posture. Partnering with Data#3 and SecurityHQ for the managed SOC solution meant we were able to achieve a more robust, stable scenario and respond to incidents quickly.
VJ Borgohain – General Manager – Technology, Melbourne Racing Club
Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) offers a world-class visitor experience to its sporting, entertainment and hotel venues. Formed in 1875, the organisation’s history plays a central role in Australia’s cultural heritage.
The organisation has a busy ICT team that primarily operates during business hours, supporting the business as well as partners using the network at its venues. A modern cyber security solution was needed to aid the ICT team in protecting against evolving risks.
With many high-profile organisations getting hit by cyberattacks, MRC was acutely aware that every organisation must tackle this growing risk. To do so it would take the right mix of people, process and technology, and would require 24/7 resources. MRC General Manager – Technology, VJ Borgohain, said that monitoring and addressing cyber incidents involved considerable manual effort and was performed in-house.
“We had almost all of our detection and response service in-house, using different platforms and software that monitored our environment. It was up to the infrastructure team to look at that and take actions. The issue was that we all wear multiple hats; we are not dedicated security consultants, we knew we needed a partner with the expertise to monitor what comes in almost in real-time,” said Borgohain.
“We work at specific times, not 24/7. Outside of business hours, we lacked the coverage needed to respond quickly.”
The tasks involved in evaluating risk were increasingly time-consuming, and staff had to balance working through a volume of alerts with other priorities. Their skills were in demand to provide ICT expertise for the many events and activities that MRC hosts, ranging from sports events to conferences and charitable endeavours with the MRC Foundation.
“We knew we really needed some help, and reached out to several partners including Data#3, who took us through their managed SOC offering in partnership with SecurityHQ. We really liked what Data#3 and SecurityHQ offers in terms of 24/7 access to 300+ security consultants at SOC operations centres all over the world. This combined with the expertise of the Data#3 team meant we knew our environment would be monitored 24/7 and that we could respond to incidents quickly,” explained Borgohain.
While the solution met MRC’s requirements, including onshore data storage, on paper, Borgohain was keen to take a closer look at how it would work in the real world. Data#3 and SecurityHQ organised a proof of concept (POC) so they could try the managed SOC solution and consulting proposal for themselves. The speed of the Data#3 and SecurityHQ partnership was quickly put to the test.
The Data#3 team onboarded MRC to the managed SOC solution in a carefully managed transition.intelligent security analytics was deployed, and the team got to work. The most noticeable changes since implementing the new Data#3 and SecurityHQ managed SOC solution have, to Borgohain, been the increased visibility and reduced false positives and noise that make it easier to pinpoint threats from the vast number of logs created daily.
“I can see from our latest monthly report that we had around 1.1 billion logs, with 2.87 million alerts, and 264 of these were from related activities, with the managed SOC narrowing it down to 49 items for further investigation.”
The MRC team can view incidents on a single dashboard, making it easy to get an overall picture of the current situation and drill down into individual events. They can see in real-time any actions taken by the SOC analysts, and share any measures taken in-house. The managed SOC is used as an extension of the MRC team, giving them greater reach and allowing them to direct their efforts where they can add most value.
“Earlier, we were dependent on someone in the team looking at those logs and any alerts. They would have to process, analyse, and see what the event involved. Now the Data#3 and SecurityHQ team looks at it first and we only need to look further if it is relevant to our environment. We don’t have to look at logs anymore, we are more efficient and better protected,” stated Borgohain.
“We used to use several tools that we would navigate through to get a picture. Now, we get a ticket created in our dashboard and that’s all we need to look at. We can invest that time doing other things in the business that enable progress.”
One of the challenges at MRC had been the rapid nature of response needed as the threat landscape changed and attacks increased in sophistication. Where once, the logs would have been checked in the morning, competing for attention with many other tasks, the MRC environment is now monitored around the clock by skilled security analysts, so that responses can happen more immediately.
“For us, the highlight was improving our business security posture. Partnering with Data#3 and SecurityHQ for the managed SOC solution meant we were able to achieve a more robust, stable scenario where we could respond to incidents quickly.” “We may still get a call at 1 am, but we know that it is a verified incident when that happens. There is a definite improvement in our security posture, and we know this will be an ongoing journey for us. Every month, every day, we want to keep on improving. We try to put in as many controls as we can, and we rely on our partners where we don’t have the resources available.”
When it comes to cyber security, Borgohain emphasised the importance of the entire organisation, from senior management to every worker, playing their part. The POC was an important element in gaining support.
“Data#3 and SecurityHQ did a really great job in the response phase and the analytics phase, we were really impressed with their work on the security event that occurred. It made it easier to take to management and show why we needed to get on board with the managed SOC.
“We do our part in making the business aware of cyber incidents including what they should and should not do. We then report to management about our security posture.”
The insights available from the SOC solution are proving invaluable to Borgohain’s team and have opened new insights into the task at hand. The platform includes powerful analytics that offer information about the types, frequency, and origins of attacks. Looking ahead, Borgohain expects to see the “usual increase” in cyber activity around major events in the spring racing calendar, but he is already enjoying a clearer picture.
“We can see that the last few months have ramped up. It has already been good to have the monthly report to gain visibility of trends; SecurityHQ now does the numbers and logs so I can look at and compare current activity to previous months and see how we are travelling. There are definitely peaks and troughs, and we can plan accordingly.”
Having access to a worldwide team of cyber security specialists for a predictable monthly fee has proven advantageous to the in-house team and working together has led to upskilling opportunities.
“We are constantly looking at what more we can do from a security perspective, because it is important to always improve. We lean on Data#3 and SecurityHQ to provide that expert advice and help us align the technology stack in our environment going forward. Whether we’re doing a refresh or other projects, it gives us more visibility and helps us enhance our security posture,” reported Borgohain.
We get that accountability from Data#3 and SecurityHQ that saves us from constantly worrying if we are doing enough, as we used to feel when we were doing this in-house.
VJ Borgohain – General Manager – Technology, Melbourne Racing Club
In a fast-evolving security landscape, Borgohain was clear that technical solutions alone are only part of the story. He said it is vital to have the right people and processes in place to continually adjust and improve security posture.
“We get that accountability from Data#3 and SecurityHQ that saves us from constantly worrying if we are doing enough, as we used to feel when we were doing this in-house. Some weeks, my team is especially busy with different big events, provisioning technology for our customers, and now we have peace of mind knowing that our security monitoring is being taken care of.”
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Originally published on Business News by Mark Beyer
IT company Data#3 has won a $20.6 million contract to supply Cisco equipment and services to Main Roads WA.
The contract win comes one year after the ASX-listed company was appointed as a preferred supplier for the state government’s Common User Agreement panel for device hardware.
Eight companies submitted bids for the Main Roads contract, according to details on tenders.wa.gov.au website.
The contract runs for five years and primarily comprises the supply of network switches, along with network routers and fibre optic patch cord.
Data#3 said this work demonstrated its expertise as a Cisco partner, with the company noting it had won its fifth Cisco Global Partner award in a row this year.
Brisbane-based Data#3 established a WA office in 2007.
Led in WA by state general manager Kingsley McGarrigle, it has about 150 staff in WA and is ranked as the 13th largest ICT company in the state, according to Data & Insights.
Nationally the company has more than 1,200 staff and had operating revenue of $2.2 billion in FY22.
A weakness has been discovered in Microsoft Teams that allows attackers to deliver malicious files to users if Microsoft Teams is configured to allow external parties to establish chat.
There is a simple fix for the exploit called TeamsPhisher. Businesses should disable external access and allow only trusted domains to initiate chats from external parties, as by default, when Microsoft Teams is configured to enable external access, it allows access to anyone.
Max Corbridge and Tom Ellson of JUMPSEC’s Red Team have discovered a vulnerability in the most recent version of Microsoft Teams which was published on June 21, 2023.
The exploit takes advantage of the default setting of Microsoft Teams, which permits users from outside tenants to chat with employees in businesses.
Threat actors can transmit payloads right into a target’s Microsoft Teams chat by faking recipient IDs in POST requests.
These payloads appear as files in the target’s Microsoft Teams environment and are hosted on SharePoint sites. The flaw gets around standard anti-phishing security measures, instigating a channel for threat actors to distribute malicious files.
Upon notifying Microsoft of the vulnerability, JUMPSEC received confirmation that it is a legitimate vulnerability. However, Microsoft found that it did not satisfy the requirements for immediate service, indicating that a fix, or patch for the issue may not become immediately available.
The following steps should be taken by organisations to reduce the risks posed by this vulnerability:
Or;
Azure Sentinel is your go-to resource for reporting on external collaboration activity. If you have deployed Azure Sentinel and configured the Microsoft 365 connector, then it is a simple operation to enable Microsoft Teams ingestion on the connector page. This is a new feature so if you have enabled the connector previously then the Microsoft Teams option might not have been available at the time.
If you are not familiar with what external domains may be communicating with your Microsoft Teams instance, Data#3 can help you identifying external domains and validate trusted from unknown sources. If your Microsoft 365 tenant doesn’t have strict controls in place to ensure it is well-governed, start with a Microsoft 365 Health check today.
If you need ongoing support managing Microsoft 365 licensing and governance, we recommend the Microsoft 365 Optimiser service. As an Azure Expert MSP, if you’re interested in deploying Azure Sentinel, we can help with that too.
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After facing a range of support and system challenges that affected users, Knight Frank wanted to establish a device program that would equip their teams with modern technology while providing an efficient service and excellent value.
Most of Knight Frank’s 1,000-strong workforce is accustomed to working on the go, so their laptop is a vital tool. The business had been working with multiple providers with inconsistent support and faced challenges resolving device servicing needs. The business was keen to maximise the benefits from its investment in Microsoft Intune, making its device service seamless for users and reducing touchpoints for the busy IT team.
Now that we have Microsoft Intune implemented, we can wipe and deploy machines anywhere with an internet connection. A complex and lengthy process has been replaced by a simple sequence that offers a greater experience to our end users.
John Walton – Director, Head of Service Delivery, Knight Frank
Knight Frank Australia is part of a global consultancy that has been matching families and businesses with their perfect properties for more than 125 years. The 1,000-strong Australian team works from 20 offices around the country, and prides itself on combining innovation, industry knowledge and traditional service to give clients the best possible outcome.
As frustration grew from dealing with support challenges from multiple vendors, the IT team was keen to consolidate their supplier list to a single provider that could offer more personalised support that the business needed. By choosing a consistent device type designed to work well in a Microsoft environment, a smoother, more efficient experience could be offered to users.
Knight Frank’s IT team is dedicated to providing customers and colleagues with a high-quality service. To achieve this, they strive to continually improve processes and work as efficiently as possible. Providing users with reliable, appropriate laptops empowers them to work at their best, but Director, Head of Service Delivery, John Walton, said that the device program in place had proven to be problematic.
“This came about as we sought greater asset control, and also for better security and business continuity.”
Working with multiple device types from two different vendors had led to a number of support challenges. Aside from the cost of running multiple systems, the IT team found itself spending additional time troubleshooting and managing device issues, which took time away from other important tasks.
“We experienced frustration. Especially when it comes to service delivery, we need quick, responsive action. We had situations where people were without a functional laptop for a couple of days – this was a big part of the experience – this needed to change” explained Walton.
Deploying new devices had been another bugbear in the past, with both IT team and users taking more time than they would like to transition data and applications to a new machine.
“Our aim is to keep things simple, keep staff happy, and provide a device that’s ready to go,” outlined Walton.
Support coverage was important also as many Knight Frank offices do not have IT staff on-site to deal with new deployments or the day-to-day management of devices. This had proved difficult in the past in situations where no local support was available, with pandemic-related restrictions amplifying the limitation of the previous arrangement. Repairs were on occasion untenably slow.
“We’ve experienced delays of up to a month and a half to get one user’s device fixed, which significantly impacts our team’s productivity.”
Data#3’s Device as a Service (DaaS) includes device procurement bundled with a choice of services, such as deployment and management services, analytics, security and eventual end of life recycling. Companies choose a length of service, typically three years and pay a consistent monthly cost per device.
Knight Frank opted for a full device as a service (DaaS) and modern management, including a detailed rollout schedule and support agreement. This would give users modern, well-maintained Microsoft Surface devices while minimising touchpoints for the busy IT team.
“We looked at the offerings from three providers, following our acquisition process. We knew from experience that Data#3 was a good technology partner, and from there it was about process and finance. Data#3 had the trust factor, the communication channels, and the resourcing, and we knew they could manage our workload nationally,” commented Walton.
“We are juggling time zones, resources, and capacity for 20 offices nationally and Data#3 has that national coverage. It’s critical that our devices were being as well controlled as possible in every location, with us leveraging Data#3 resources to sites where we have no direct IT staff.”
Another important factor was Data#3’s partnership with Microsoft. Knight Frank had invested in several Microsoft technologies and sought to gain maximum value from this commitment.
“We looked at what leverage Data#3 had in terms of their partnership with Microsoft, and this was a big factor. From there, Data#3 assigned a dedicated team member to help us build our environment from start to finish which was most beneficial,” said Walton.
“We were attracted to Microsoft Surface devices because we are a very heavy Microsoft-focussed organisation. Their hardware leverages modern technology and is designed to fully integrate with Microsoft security features. Security is a huge aspect for us – and we knew that Microsoft Intune would work best with our devices, leading to a lower chance of issues. We didn’t have the same integration worries that can crop up, and we knew that Microsoft software always plays well with Microsoft hardware.”
The combination of Data#3 and Microsoft proved to make deployment a less stressful experience, and Walton said that users are efficiently transferred onto their new Microsoft Surface devices and quickly enjoying the benefits.
“Before deploying the devices, we heavily pushed Microsoft Teams and Microsoft OneDrive across the business, and this helped make the rollout seamless. Consolidating where staff kept their date definitely minimised complications and increased our ability to support staff remotely, reducing the need for such a heavy office IT presence.”
True to the IT team’s aim of providing the best service to users, the process of receiving an updated machine, and of seeking help, has been made more efficient.
“This time, there has been zero manual work for the user in getting their device set up. They just need their username, password, and to sit tight for a few minutes. Now that we have Microsoft inTune implemented, we can wipe and deploy machines anywhere with an internet connection. A complex and lengthy process has been replaced by a simple sequence that offers a greater experience to our end users.”- recounted Walton.
“Our teams appreciate the new system; the feedback has been very positive about how seamless the process is now.”
For the IT team, knowing that any support needs can be ably handled by Data#3 specialists means that they can concentrate on their important work of guiding the business through digital transformation. Walton said that knowing user devices are well-managed is a critical element of security at a time when cybercrime is a highly challenging issue in the property industry.
“It has been much easier to deploy further application and Microsoft updates using Microsoft Intune, and we know that updates are pushed out to devices within seven days of release.”
The cost benefits, too, have been notable, with the Knight Frank team still counting the savings.
“A big part of why it is cost-efficient has been our ability to reduce the number of systems required to maintain our legacy fleet of devices. Once we are 100% deployed, which we are really close to, we will be able to shut down other systems reducing our expenditure even further and we’ll have the added assurance of knowing that we have modern devices at our disposal,” explained Walton.
“Once complete, the entire onboarding process for staff will be simplified as we train people on the same standard operating environment (SOE) nationally. It adds up in an environment of 20 offices.”
As one of the most trusted names in the property sector, Knight Frank knows the importance of good relationships in business. Just as they put enormous effort into building relationships with their own customers, they value the same in their suppliers. Knowing who they were dealing with and having a dedicated contact has saved the IT team from the time-consuming process of chasing down support after explaining the same issue to multiple staff as they get passed around from person to person.
“With Data#3, we know they have the right communication channels, we get the advantage of having local support for our offices across Australia, all backed by the global expertise of Microsoft,” outlined Walton.
“If a device is damaged, we just raise a ticket with Data#3, and they take responsibility from there. We have the backing of a team of Data#3 resources that can be deployed where they are needed and know they will provide a good service.”
