Need to Get Your Employees Working Remotely? Microsoft Azure Can Be a Fast, Affordable Solution

Last Friday, we were contacted by one of our long-time clients. They were dealing with a challenge that thousands of other businesses are currently struggling with: the sudden need to provide hundreds of employees with the ability to work from home.

Particularly for large organizations, getting employees set up to work from home can be a major technological undertaking. In the case of this particular company with a national radio station network, there was a need to give approximately 500 market managers the ability to work from home.

For this company in particular, the challenge wasn’t just a matter of scale; there were extenuating circumstances at play. For example, the company was right in the middle of transitioning to Dynamics 365 when COVID-19 hit the United States. Their existing server systems are old, making it difficult to give employees the ability to work from home. On top of this, there are genuine security concerns common to the media industry that need to be addressed.

Microsoft Azure: The Ideal Solution

AKA has been working with this client for years, hosting their Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) ERP system on Microsoft Azure. GP is essentially a client-server application that runs in the cloud, which led the company to wonder: could AKA give them the ability to run any application remotely?

In fact, we could—and we did. With the help of Microsoft Azure, an organization can give its employees access to any application, including third-party software, from any location, on any device, all while satisfying security requirements. In this instance, the solution was to set up a virtual desktop using remote-to-desktop software, giving employees the ability to access necessary applications from home via a secure browser interface.

Azure is Reliable, Fast, Scalable, and Affordable

Azure is the perfect solution for companies that need to get their employees working from home. For one thing, it’s scalable: we can add more processing capacity at the drop of a hat. It’s extremely reliable, too. With this build, the client has yet to encounter any glitches or hiccups.

Plus, setting up a solution with Azure was fast. This entire project took less than 48 hours, including a soft launch and test. That’s just two days. The client contacted us on Friday, and their employees were up and running from home by Tuesday.

But what about the price tag? We managed to get this solution up and running for our client with a minimal number of billable hours and without the need to purchase new servers or laptops. Unlike Amazon Web Services (AWS) licensing, Azure users pay only for what they use. This means our client doesn’t have to worry about paying for server capacity that they don’t need, and they can scale up or down as capacity needs change.

Contact Us for a Custom Solution with Azure

Every business is different. If your organization is struggling to get your employees set up for working remotely, you’ll likely have concerns which differ from those of the company above.

What the above client success story illustrates, however, is the fact that every challenge can be met with an affordable, efficient, and scalable solution. AKA will work alongside your organization—both during these challenging times and through whatever lies ahead—to develop and implement solutions that meet your organization’s unique needs.

Do you need to quickly give your employees the ability to work remotely? Are you dealing with other challenges related to COVID-19? We’re here to help. Contact the experts at AKA today.

ABOUT AKA ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS
AKA specializes in making it easier to do business, simplifying processes and reducing risks. With agility, expertise, and original industry solutions, we embrace projects other technology firms avoid—regardless of their complexity. As a true strategic partner, we help organizations slay the dragons that are keeping them from innovating their way to greatness. Call us at 212-502-3900!

Article by: Greg Inks | 212-502-3900

With two decades specializing in Microsoft and Azure platforms, Greg leads AKA's Cloud practice. He is a Cloud evangelist offering deep expertise in Cloud architectures and adoption strategy. Greg has developed subject-matter expertise and wide-ranging business acumen by working with some of the largest, most successful technology providers and client companies on the planet.

March 27, 2020 by AKA Enterprise Solutions

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