McLean Care is a non-profit aged care provider based in Regional New South Wales. With more than 320 staff serving clients across the widespread community, their in-home and residential care programs set the standard for high quality aged care.
Choosing a Provider
A Google search led McLean to Huon IT, McLean requested a strategic review from Huon IT, who have special expertise in the aged care industry, providing IT support and services for various facilities across Australia.
Although McLean is located in a remote rural area, Huon IT executives travelled to McLean’s facility multiple times to assess needs, make recommendations, and present to the Board of Directors so that McLean could make an informed decision.
“Huon IT really took the time to understand our needs. Their recommendation addressed our short, medium and long term goals, and set out a clear path to get there,”
Nikole Seagrott, IT Manager at McLean Care.
Their story
Approaching the expiry of McLean Care’s contract with their existing IT service provider, they commenced the search for a new provider. “Our solution at the time was working with two to three different providers simultaneously,” says Nikole Seagrott, IT Manager for McLean Care. “It led to confusion having multiple people trying to manage us. We wanted a more efficient system.”
The challenges
“Huon IT really took the time to understand our needs. Their recommendation addressed our short, medium and long-term goals, and set out a clear path to get there,” Seagrott explained. The solution was fully customised to suit McLean Care’s goals.
Short-Term Goals
- Improve system performance.
- Restore confidence to users.
- Upgrade virtualisation platform.
Medium-Term Goals
- Lower IT operational expenses.
- Implement DR and BC plan.
- Review in-house resource requirements.
Long-Term Goals
- Proactive network monitoring.
- Develop in-house IT resources.
- Implement true ‘thin client’ solutions.
The solution
Flawless Implementation of a Unique IT Solution
Although the media often touts hosted cloud computing as “the way of the future,” it isn’t always suitable for everyone. In this particular instance, due to McLean’s remote location and business requirements, Huon IT suggested an on-site solution to maximise performance, security, and ROI.
Because McLean is a 24×7 care facility, there had to be minimal downtime. Huon IT took special care to transfer data and equipment from McLean’s previous datacentre in Brisbane to their site in Inverell, five hours away. With careful planning and in cooperation with their incumbent provider, Huon IT successfully deployed the new system by working in both locations to ensure no downtime.
“This potentially risky move was planned meticulously. Huon IT consultants worked through the nights to ensure the migration was completed in one weekend. Their dedication to the job was extremely impressive!” says Seagrott.
The custom solution consisted of…
- Nimble SAN Storage, utilizing the latest in hybrid-flash technology.
- Dell PowerEdge Servers.
- HyperV hypervisor.
- Citrix XenApp.
- Veeam backup.
- Huon IT’s Dawn Patrol Proactive Monitoring.
Support and Hands-on Training
In addition, Huon IT provided Fletcher with extensive hands-on training, including a day at Huon IT headquarters in Sydney so that she could be prepared to manage the new system moving forward. McLean Care also takes advantage of proactive monitoring and helpdesk support.
“Huon IT works with us as a partner to manage our environment,” Seagrott says. “They’re more than willing to share their knowledge, they’re straightforward, and they answer all my questions. It provides a lot of peace of mind knowing that if anything goes wrong, they’ll help us at any time of the day or night.”
“We’ve had a huge positive impact from our relationship with Huon IT,” says Seagrott. “There are no drop-outs anymore – users can work without problems. The month-to-month costs have been lower, and the system overall is just more efficient.”
The results
- User experience consistency.
- Reduction of risks associated with hardware vulnerabilities.
- Personalised service.
- On-Premise Cloud solution dramatically improved system performance.
- Lower ongoing expenditure.
- Empowerment and support of in-house IT.
