Sussex based Microsoft Partner Extech Cloud has confirmed that it can move any server-based business-critical application into the public cloud. This is a significant step forward in the IT world, and one that will help many of the South’s professional services gain competitive advantage through reduced costs and improved remote working.
“When we talk about the cloud, we mean all IT in the Microsoft Cloud environment and all business-critical applications too,” explains Andrew Hookway, Managing Director of Burgess Hill firm Extech Cloud.
“We can publish any business-critical application in Windows Virtual Desktop, as opposed to hosted remote desktop sessions, which means each user experiences improved performance and seamless integration with other software applications” he confirms. “Where it may have taken about 40 seconds to open a business application in the office, users can now load a business application in fewer than five seconds from home.”
Extech Cloud recently carried out a cloud transformation for Hunters Law LLP - a multi-disciplinary law firm with practice areas for property, business, charity, family, and private clients. At the start of 2020, the team were brought in to assist with a new strategic IT direction.
Told by their previous IT company and software owners that it wasn’t possible to put their old apps on the cloud, Hunters Law was being pushed in to a “hybrid environment” where they were to be locked-in to a Data Centre. Although the company didn’t want to be tied down to one supplier, they thought they had no way out.
Hunters Law wanted an IT system and infrastructure that worked exactly how they wanted it to. With lots of applications, their whole system was increasingly slow, and they didn’t want to spend significant money on upgrades and licences for marginal improvements. Many of their PCs and laptops were also on Windows 7 which reached the end of its life in early 2020.
The full transition to the cloud was staged in tandem with their Citrix virtualisation software. Although some of their older applications were not fully integrated into the cloud initially, they were accessed as before. So, it was business as usual during the transition, but with greater speed and efficiency.
Now, Hunters Law takes full advantage of the benefits offered by Microsoft 365 and Azure, with the very latest security and exceptional performance levels. Four pieces of legacy software, including Tikit Partner 4 Windows, CCH Central, CCH Trust Accounts and BigHand now run on the cloud thanks to Extech Cloud’s pioneering implementation of Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD). Plus, WVD allowed Hunters to replace their Citrix platform, saving significant licensing and server costs.
If you need to take your whole business operation into the Cloud, Extech Cloud can help.
For more information, call the Extech team on 01444 443200 or email info@extech.co.uk
