The customer

“By 2030, Swindon will have all the positive characteristics of a British city with one of the UK’s most successful economies. A low-carbon environment with compelling cultural, retail and leisure opportunities and excellent infrastructure. It will be a model of well managed housing growth which supports and improves new and existing communities.  

Swindon will be physically transformed with existing heritage and landmarks complemented by new ones that people who live, work, and visit here will recognise and admire. It will remain, at heart, a place of fairness and opportunity where people can aspire to and achieve prosperity, supported by strong civic and community leadership.”

Swindon Borough Council logo.

The project

Swindon Borough Council used a local Shared Drive to save files and collaborate. With a remote workforce, it is critical to have a cloud-based environment for all employees. One which has sufficient levels of security and customisation for classification on documentation.

The business challenges

Swindon Borough Council employees have been using a Shared Drive stored on a local environment for documentation and collaboration. The business leaders were notified there were multiple pathways to access specific data. This would not be suitable to maintain long-term, or manageable for new employees as part of the on-boarding process. The existing system was overly complex, and the hierarchical structure made it challenging for end-users to maintain and collaborate effectively.

With a remote workforce comes the added concern of security. It is crucial for any government organisation to have the appropriate security levels. As part of the shared area, it’s important that each and every employee can access the appropriate data. The Council felt the existing local Shared Drive structure does not have the level of control it desires to support. This led to problems with version control, document authoring and documents being shared through email.

The solution – Digital Workplace

  • Office 365 Security and Compliance. The Security and Compliance Centre within Microsoft365 (M365) is designed to manage all compliance features. Linking to SharePoint and Exchange features to bring together the complete stack of compliance capabilities.
  • Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams is the cloud-based collaboration software. It enables messaging, calling, video meetings, and file sharing.
  • SharePoint Online. SharePoint Online is the collection of cloud and web-based technologies. It allows storage, sharing, and management of digital information in a collaborative way.

The benefits – Digital Workforce

  • Data anywhere at any time. SharePoint Online meant the Council can work from anywhere, any time on any device. Moving into the cloud enabled employees to work flexibly without being reliant on local networks.
  • Cloud security. End-user roles and permissions can now be configured globally. Roles can be tailored on a need-to-know basis and access granted for individuals working on specific projects.
  • Collaboration. SharePoint online encourages multiple employees to work on a single document at the same time.
  • Business automation. Much of the Council’s work will be automated using a sophisticated analysis tool.

Screenshot of Swindon Council case study PDF document, with a 'click here' action to download and read full case study.
https://www.risual.com/wp-content/uploads/Swindon-Council-Modern-Workplace.pdf

If you wish to talk about how your organisation could use digital technologies to create a digital workplace please contact us on 0300 303 2044 or email at enquiries@risual.com.

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