"Basis neerzetten voor de toekomst met stap naar de cloud"

*This is an article from Corporation Guide.

With the arrival of a new director-director and business plan in 2017, the desire to be able to do work anytime, anywhere was growing, Dirk begins. "Items like place- and time-independent working became a much higher priority. But it soon became clear that our then on-premise systems were not suitable for this, and our servers were also in need of replacement. So we looked at how best to make the move to the cloud."

Our data centres

One ICT platform

WSZ works with seven other housing associations in one ICT platform. "That way we can lean on each other and learn from each other. Similarly with the move to the cloud; one of the member corporations had been working with their cooperation partner Previder Corporations for some time. In 2019, we too started an outsourcing process with them and just over a year back, the migration was complete. The great advantage of Previder Corporations for De Zaligheden is that they have many corporations as customers, so they know what is going on in the sector as well as having inputs from the various sector-specific application suppliers. In our case, they also provide a single point of contact, so that a breakdown in one of these applications is handled by Previder Corporations. That makes the work for our employees easier and clearer."

Better collaboration

Once again, the move to the cloud proved to be the right choice when the corona crisis broke out at the beginning of this year. ‘Everyone was able to work from home without any problems,’ Dirk explains. "We did find out that while working independent of place and time was not a problem, “real” collaboration was a bit more difficult. Collaboration was already in our I&A plan for 2021 as the next phase, for example in the form of Office 365 with Teams and Sharepoint. WSZ therefore made the choice to bring forward the I&A planning a bit. In consultation with Previder Corporations, we chose to carry out the technical migration so that employees could quickly use video calls and meetings. And because cameras and microphones are very useful for this, we replaced workstations with docking stations and provided all employees with their own laptops. In the coming period, we want to focus on making maximum use of these new possibilities, for example through a training programme."

Great importance

When asked whether using the cloud has become essential anno 2020, Dirk says: "If you want to work anytime and anywhere, yes. But in addition, outsourcing also ensures that WSZ's continuity is secured, and we are relieved of support and management worries. And the latter is very important for the small to medium-sized corporation."

Hybrid solution

Dirk cites choosing a good automation partner that understands the organisation and thinks along with the solution as one of the success factors for the move to the cloud. "There are several options regarding ICT set-up. It is nice when your partner can guide you through what is possible. WSZ itself opts for a hybrid solution using public and private cloud."

Basis for the future

‘Through the steps taken, WSZ has laid a nice basis for the future,’ Dirk concludes. "In the coming period, the focus will increasingly shift to adoption and maximum utilisation of the applications. In this respect, bringing employees along is very important. They will have to get used to the fact that they have to keep developing in the field of automation, because developments never stand still."

Want to know more about our IT solutions for corporations? Check them out here!