Case study: Maynard Heady migrates to Azure cloud computing platform

Maynard Heady LLP is an independent firm of chartered accountants. Formed in 1993, the company provides a professional and personal accountancy service to businesses and individuals throughout Essex and beyond.

Since 2018, Fusion has provided managed IT support services to Maynard Heady, offering a prompt response to daily issues, whilst planning ongoing strategy and mitigating the risk of downtime with the delivery of business-focussed IT solutions.

The Challenge

By the beginning of 2020, demand for flexible working was already on the rise, a trend that was further compounded by the COVID lockdowns in March of the same year, leaving Maynard Heady struggling to accommodate secure, remote working for all staff.

With ageing on-premise hardware also starting to impact performance, the firm looked to their trusted partner Fusion to recommend a new system that would enable the rapid deployment of resources to remote users, whilst also helping to secure the confidential data that was now being accessed from multiple locations outside of their core network.

The Solution

Fusion proposed the use of Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop, recommending the implementation of Azure domain services, an app server and seven virtual desktop hosts. This cloud solution would provide a huge boost in performance by replacing their physical servers, enable full flexibility for staff to work remotely and improve security by ring-fencing all data in the cloud.

Fusion engineers managed the migration of 59 users to Microsoft Azure by building a development system that enabled the set-up of applications on the new platform in advance. Maynard Heady’s files were also securely copied and stored in SharePoint in preparation for the transfer, a process which was tested together with several users over a two-week period.

Just before the final migration date, Fusion prepared all user profiles and transferred their personal files, passwords and bookmarks to ensure all data was accounted for on the new system. The migration to Azure was carried out over a weekend to limit disruption and engineers were present on site the following Monday to provide assistance to staff and fix any issues should they have occurred.

Adam Cohen, Partner at Maynard Heady LLP

“Microsoft Azure has given our staff the flexibility to work securely from any location with an internet connection. The system is easy to use and easy to scale as our firm grows and develops. With all data stored in the cloud, the subscription model has also removed the need to constantly monitor server capacity and purchase expensive new hardware to keep pace with the needs of our business.

Fusion were really professional, we couldn’t fault them. They were supportive from the start and helped us to roll out the new system in small steps to allow our staff the chance to get used to it. When the day of the final migration came, they had two teams out on site to respond to any issues. We were up and running in just a few hours.”

The Benefits

A host of new benefits have been achieved for Maynard Heady by replacing physical, on-premise servers with a cloud-based system that stores all files and applications online.

Not only does Azure Virtual Desktop save money by removing the need for significant upfront capital expenditure, it also improves security and enhances disaster recovery options with all sensitive data ring-fenced in the cloud.

All staff now enjoy fully flexible remote working and, by running programs on a cloud-based network, this has reduced processing demands which means users are seeing greater performance even on ageing laptops. The system is also far easier to scale up (or down) and, with billing on a monthly cycle, Maynard Heady only ever pays for the resources it is currently using.

Key advantages of Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop

• Better performance and reliability of computer programs
• Greater flexibility with staff able to access their desktops from a range of devices
• Requires no significant upfront capital expenditure.
• Reduced costs with no requirement to maintain expensive on-premise server hardware
• Easily scalable as network resources can be easily deployed without the need to replace existing hardware or purchase additional equipment.
• Simpler to secure client data as no files are stored on desktop computers.
• Improved disaster recovery and business continuity.
• Improved security against data breaches, hacking etc.
• Simple migration for users – desktops look very similar when hosted in the cloud, so there is little acclimatisation or training required.
• Centralised updates as all software is hosted in one place