Office 365 – Case Notes
risual engaged with two territorial Police forces to assist in the implementation of a shared Exchange Online environment in order to provide calendar and contact sharing between the forces and reduce the infrastructure required by the forces to provide their messaging service. The force purchased Office 365 licenses on the E3 plan in a shared tenant that will be utilised by both forces. One of the Police forces currently operate an Exchange infrastructure running Exchange Server 2007, the other are currently running an Exchange 2010 infrastructure. To support the requirements of the Exchange Online Hybrid design, there is a need to provide an identity in the shared Office 365 tenant for staff from both forces to use when accessing Exchange Online and other Azure AD based services.
The territorial Police forces were looking for a strategic deployment, with cost-savings not so much of a goal for them as the statement of being the first force in the UK to move to the Cloud. Naturally, there is a great deal of security and preparation involved in this sort of project, with risual’s top consultants assisting on the migration. The project has not gone unnoticed with other UK Police Forces paying close attention to its success, as this deployment could be seen as a potential kick-starter for others to follow suit.
The biggest benefit for the forces, is the major efficiency savings, which will provide their officers with access to information on mobile devices. This will be a fully secured service and give the officers confidence that they’re in a secured environment. Police officers can switch between devices as and when needed, be it switching smartphone, desktop or tablet; all will run with seamless functionality. This is especially important over the busy Summer months when the area experiences an influx of tourists. This forces the Police Forces to take on more officers to cover the Summer season. Mobile police stations are set-up for more officers, so it’s critical that these mobile stations can have ease of access and the collaboration required. Officers stationed here can easily spin up within a user-friendly environment and switch between their devices quickly.
In terms of work carried out pre-deployment, risual could bring a wealth of experience working with secure agencies and Police forces on previous projects. risual have got proven experience and an understanding of the police market, coupled with their extensive portfolio of Office 365 deployments. risual gave the territorial forces confidence that even though no other police force had taken the leap of migrating to the cloud, they had the confidence and experience to guide them through it.
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