Background and issues
At the start of 2019, end-of-life servers and an outdated IT infrastructure prompted Von Rohr’s teams to consider a move to the cloud.
Having worked with Infologo for many years, the company naturally turned to our team to develop the new infrastructure.
Kathryne Bonvin-Bercel, Director of the company’s Career Transition & Coaching Practice, and Céline Duperrier, Service and Operations Associate, give us their impressions.
Founded in 1993, Von Rohr & Associates is the benchmark for outplacement in French-speaking Switzerland.
A singular, individualized and empowering approach has made the brand’s reputation, and for over 25 years it has been helping individuals find their true potential.
Von Rohr & Associates evolves and carries out its mission with strong human values.
Finding a new solution for aging equipment
The Von Rohr & Associates team’s approach was prompted by a technical question.
Indeed, of the 3 physical servers housed in the data center, one dates back to 2010 and is clearly at the end of its life.
The other two, dating from 2012 and 2013, have been out of factory warranty for several years, and the chances of finding replacement parts in the event of a problem are slim.
Finally, the entire IT fleet dates back to 2012, which suggests that it too has reached the end of its useful life.
Based on this technical observation, the question naturally arose as to whether to reinvest in hardware or migrate to the Cloud.
Particularly as, at the end of 2014, a choice of private Cloud with outsourcing to data centers had already been made, initiating the move to the Cloud.
Solution:cloud and managed services
Based on the company’s needs and requirements, the Infologo team proposed 4 solutions:
- A physical server ;
- A duplicate physical server in case of problems ;
- The private cloud;
- The public cloud.
Cloud, the ideal alternative Based on this study, Von Rohr & Associates’ IT department opted for the public cloud for the following reasons:
- Buying physical servers requires a major investment, and even more so if you need to duplicate them.
- Physical servers offer little modularity for adding or removing users as the business evolves.
- Machines quickly become obsolete.
As Céline Duperrier points out, “If you’re going to go to the cloud, you might as well go all the way.
This solution offers great flexibility, controlled investment and optimum security.
The Cloud also offers interesting prospects for the future, thanks to its collaborative aspect.
As Céline Duperrier confirms, “there’s still plenty of room for improvement if we are to use the full capacity of Microsoft Cloud solutions for our business“.
Infologo, the essential service provider
When it came to getting the project up and running, the Von Rohr & Associates team naturally turned to the Infologo team.
Indeed, thanks to our long-standing collaboration, there was total trust.
The migration of applications and data to the cloud was technically demanding.
It didn’t work right the first time, but solutions were found very quickly. With the migration to the Cloud, it was decided to set up an “all-inclusive” service with assistance, support, licenses… and even phishing campaigns to test employee behavior and ensure infrastructure security.
A good solution with few upsets
A solution in line with expectations Following the migration to the Cloud, little upheaval was felt in the company, as there were few changes to applications.
On the other hand, Von Rohr uses a particular Access application that was not migrated to the Cloud, but hosted locally pending its transformation to a Saas solution.
This has led to some slowness in the application, but “we already knew before the migration that we would have this problem“, says Céline Duperrier.
What if I had to do it all over again?
The Von Rohr & Associates team is satisfied with the solution provided and its deployment, but Céline Duperrier confides that they were“well informed of the impacts before the migration” and adds that despite this preparation by the Infologo teams, “You mustn’t neglect post-migration follow-up.
In fact, some users were a bit grumpy, because 2 or 3 days had been blocked to configure everyone, and in our case, as we have people who aren’t there every day, or even every week, it wasn’t possible to configure everyone on those days” . Infologo’s plus: the package includes an E-learning platform dedicated to Microsoft Office 365.
This solution offers customized content to build a learning path that’s easy to master and follow.
Customer testimonial
“We felt that the technicians didn’t count the hours, they were very responsive, there was no hesitation when there was a problem.”
Kathryne Bonvin-Bercel Director, Career Transition & Coaching Practice
