A government-offshoot organisation of over 300 employees was using Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 Apps. However, they were being held back by their 32-bit version of the software. Due to their legacy contract, they couldn’t move forward onto the better 64-bit devices.  

This led to: 

  • Slower devices – staff were getting frustrated with old and slow devices that were causing delays in their workload and ultimately halting the organisation’s progression.  
  • Increased staff stress – due to the slow devices, workloads were being delayed and/or not completed on time, which led to staff working overtime or having to delay internal affairs.  
  • Reduced productivity – with a lot of time being spent coping with legacy devices and trying to find workarounds to technology failures, it meant staff weren’t being as productive.  

Following Microsoft recommendations, the client was keen to follow best practices. However, they were concerned that a considerable amount of their apps and add-ins wouldn’t work after the upgrade. risual has collaborated with numerous clients for over 15 years and it’s clear that most clients are worried about this, especially where there is little process around their additional apps.   

risual performed a Microsoft 365 Readiness Assessment which scanned all devices on the client’s network using the Office 365 Readiness Toolkit. Information from 96,000 files across 300 devices was pulled into Power BI and insights drawn from the data following Microsoft best practices. 

Reviews and recommendations were laid out clearly in the report. The risk of moving to the current version of Microsoft 365 was evaluated, and the results analysed: 

  • 8000 additional apps, only 7 required some minor remediation. 
  • 90 add-ins that only 1 required further investigation 

Further detailed guidance was given to the client on how to address any of the issues discovered in the report, as well as recommendations on how to improve their current applications and processes around them. 

What benefits were seen from the engagement? 

  • Confidence in technology – completing a Microsoft 365 Readiness Assessment showed the Law Firm that they can regain trust and confidence in its existing applications.  
  • Better performance across the entire organisation – with the latest technology at their fingertips, end-users were no longer being halted in time, capabilities, or accessibility.  
  • The IT Team has the correct insights to resolve most problems – the Readiness Toolkit was kept by the organisation to allow the IT team to review recommendations, best practices, and solutions at any time, allowing problems to be resolved much more efficiently.  
  • Constant updates for end-users with new updates each month instead of every year – with the new technology frequently being updated the organisation will not fall back into having a legacy system and waiting years for an update.  

Moving forward, the client has kept the Readiness Toolkit to hand to help aid any future issues that may arise. Or if they need to reassess the applications following our recommendations, they’ll have the correct report to do so.  

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