Cloud services simplify and streamline the IT environment at Kommunförbundet Skåne

Kommunförbundet Skåne is the umbrella organisation for Skåne's 33 municipalities, with a mission to coordinate, collaborate, build networks and inspire members to find synergies and make use of their common strengths. As a strategist with a focus on digital development, Niclas Bendroth has a broad responsibility. His task is to support and advise the municipalities on digitisation issues and IT strategies, and to be responsible for the organisation's internal IT operations. The IT organisation also operates a number of mission-critical systems for the municipalities, such as directory services for health and social care and directory services for local residents.

For a couple of years now, Kommunförbundet Skåne has chosen to place its entire IT environment in the cloud. Niclas Clausenborg explains how the journey towards cloud services started:

- Three years ago we started to review our server operations. At the time, we had our own server hall, while we outsourced parts of the operation to a couple of different external partners. I realised it was unnecessarily expensive to have our own scrap sitting in the basement and looked for alternatives that could reduce our costs. I was already leaning towards moving server operations out to the cloud when I first met WeSafe.

- Initially, I was reluctant to put all my eggs in one basket and started to test Microsoft Azure on my own. I soon realised that we needed to strengthen our skills around Azure and cloud computing and turned to WeSafe, who made a good impression the first time we met. As they were a completely untested card for us, we decided to start the collaboration as a small pilot project. This way we had the opportunity to test out both WeSafe's technical knowledge and how we work together. In the end, it's the relationship that counts!

High availability for cloud services in Azure

In cooperation with WeSafe, Niclas and his colleagues have gradually consolidated all IT resources and the number of machines. Today, everything from application servers, AD and TS servers to test and web servers run in the cloud. A number of applications such as financial systems and various municipal services have also been migrated. All cloud services are operated and managed by WeSafe.

- As we are responsible for many of the municipalities' critical systems, good availability and high security have been absolute requirements from us in the transition to the cloud. With Azure's 99.95 percent availability and a competent, certified partner, we've got the peace of mind we were looking for. We have improved the security and availability of the systems, which means we feel we are in full control.

Pieces of the puzzle to ensure GDPR compliance

New cloud services have also improved the working environment for the 80 employees. Today, all users benefit from Office 365 on their standard Microsoft Surface laptops. All devices are connected to Azure AD, the cloud solution for identity and access management, and thanks to Windows AutoPilot can be configured centrally, without manual work.

- For Kommunförbundet Skånes IT operations, this means that processing has decreased significantly. For new end users, it is incredibly easy to get started with their work environment, says Niclas.

As the organisation's workforce has become increasingly mobile, the need to secure mobile devices, applications and corporate data has grown. With Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), you now have better control over your devices and their users throughout their lifecycle. Should a device be lost or stolen, it is easy to wipe corporate data from managed devices.

- The implementation of Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Azure AD and EMS have all become important pieces of the puzzle in our preparations for GDPR becoming a reality in May 2018. I now feel confident that we have an IT environment that ensures we can meet the new data handling requirements that will be imposed," says Niclas Bendroth.

Scalable and flexible cloud services help improve the environment

Like most organisations, Kommunförbundet Skåne operates in a rapidly changing world. Scalability, both in terms of number of users and capacity, has therefore been an important guiding principle for the new IT environment. So have expectations for cost efficiency and increased cost control.

- With the cloud-based solution, we can now consume IT in the same way we consume electricity. If the load increases and we need more capacity, the solution scales up easily. This means we don't have to account for economic peaks or future growth today, but only pay for what we actually use. The cloud solution has clearly helped us to simplify and streamline our IT environment and minimise our costs. The fact that the optimisation and the ability to shut down resources and cloud services that we don't need has also enabled us to reduce our environmental impact is a direct bonus," Niclas concludes.

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