SV Partners, a leading firm in the financial advisory sector, faced significant challenges with their existing infrastructure, particularly in remote desktop environments. With operations spanning across multiple states in Australia, they encountered performance bottlenecks and limitations in user experience, hindering productivity and efficiency. 

With a reliance on an entirely remote desktop environment, SV Partners legacy infrastructure was creating performance bottlenecks due to its inability to keep up with their current IT requirements. This led to inefficiencies and operational challenges for the business as remote desktop performance relies heavily on network bandwidth and latency, especially for hardware-intensive applications. Staff also encountered difficulties with essential business functions such as Microsoft Teams video and audio calls, as well as productivity loss due to slow logins and limited customisation options.

SV Partners engaged with Huon IT to assist in modernising and addressing their technology challenges. The first steps involved the utilisation of Microsoft licensing and services as well as accessing their current IT policies. Huon IT was also involved with the procurement and deployment of enhanced endpoint hardware across their business.

By leveraging Microsoft’s licensing suite, Huon IT introduced solutions such as Intune, FortiClient, and ManageEngine to facilitate laptop provisioning and management, ensuring a high level of security and ease of ongoing support. In order to enhance operational efficiency and system performance, Huon IT conducted a thorough review and cleanup of over 700 computer policies, ultimately reducing them to an essential 50. 

Staff were also experiencing poor performance in their standard operating environment, due to their applications, such as Microsoft Teams, needing more computer power than their aging IT environment could handle. The decision was made to demote the use of remote desktop services to a minimum and update their fleet of workstations, ultimately moving to a VPN remote working environment. The implementation of always-on VPN, coupled with device whitelisting, significantly improved remote access for staff, enhancing both flexibility and security. Through Microsoft Autopilot, SV Partners seamlessly deployed all new devices across seven sites in four states in Australia, ensuring minimal disruption to operations.

The implementation of these solutions resulted in significant outcomes for SV Partners.  

By transitioning from remote desktop environments to laptop PCs, SV Partners extended the life of their core infrastructure by 2-3 years, reducing future costs and resource requirements. Staff performance barriers were removed, providing a smoother user experience and increasing overall operational efficiency. The new technology stack performed better with platforms such as Microsoft Teams, supporting essential functionalities such as video and audio calling. The optimised infrastructure left SV Partners in a stronger position for future scalability whilst reducing the size and cost of core infrastructure upgrades. Moving to a VPN remote environment not only empowered employees with better tools but also ensured a more connected and secure working environment, facilitating smoother and more efficient operations across the company. 

In conclusion, SV Partners’ strategic initiatives in infrastructure optimisation and user experience have not only addressed immediate challenges but also positioned the firm for sustainable growth and efficiency.