Emerging Futures

Emerging Futures is an organisation focused on transforming lives by providing housing support and behaviour change interventions to individuals across the country, affected by homelessness, drug and alcohol problems and physical and mental health needs. Their mission is to help people build positive futures and contribute to their communities, making a significant impact on countless lives. With a growing network of almost 300 staff across multiple locations, and an increasing reliance on technology, Emerging Futures required a robust IT infrastructure to support their operations and ensure seamless service delivery.

The need for a new managed service provider (MSP)

By late 2022, Emerging Futures faced numerous IT challenges, including a lack of centralised device management and unreliable technical support. This prompted the search for a more proactive and dependable IT Managed Service Provider (MSP). Emerging Futures developed a tender process to find  a provider that could offer comprehensive services to provide a fully managed outsourced IT solution, factoring in support, development, maintenance and the management of assets. They were clear that they needed a supplier that could be flexible, could scale with the rapid growth of the organisation and could support Emerging Future’s multiple sites.

Choosing ramsac

After a robust tender process, Emerging Futures chose ramsac for several key reasons. Chris Moon, Head of Information at Emerging Futures, explains:

“We wanted an organisation whose values aligned with our own and we felt that ramsac fit this criterion perfectly. Partnering with someone whom we can trust and have faith in was almost more important than the services themselves. Further to this we felt that ramsac is very well run, meets our needs for expertise and advice, provides an excellent support service in totalIT, can scale with us as we continue to grow, and as such we are unlikely to need to move to another provider in the future.”

Advanced IT and security solutions

Since December 2022, ramsac has provided Emerging Futures with a range of IT and security services, including totalIT, KnowBe4 training and phishing testing, Cyber Resilience Certification (CRC), Cyber Essentials, and SharePoint. Key projects delivered include:

• A migration of shared files to SharePoint: Streamlining data management and providing real time collaboration.
• Improvements in device security and control: using Microsoft InTune to centrally manage laptops and mobile devices.
• Third party consolidation: managing the migration of multiple internet service providers across multiple sites, to one provider, reducing complexity and costs.
• Cyber Essentials Certification: establishing a roadmap to transition the organisation to a position where it could meet this best practice cyber certification
• Centralised Asset Management: Implementing a solution to centrally manage IT hardware, ensuring that new users receive laptops, and leavers equipment is properly managed.

Key benefits and successes

Emerging Futures chose ramsac’s ‘totalIT’ service for ongoing support, management and development of IT services.  Chris Moon highlights:

“The support team’s response times are excellent: usually immediate, and very seldom longer than a couple hours for low priority issues. We have full visibility of our IT estate which is a huge step forward for us (circa 500 devices). totalIT has reduced our level of risk significantly and completely removed the burden of endless worry about managing our IT infrastructure.“

Cyber Resilience Certification from ramsac

Emerging Futures also pursued a Cyber Resilience Certification with ramsac’s assistance. Chris Moon shares:

“The process was painless and clear from the outset, though somewhat nerve-wracking to see the results. The report is easy to follow, and intuitively categorised to help prioritise decisions. The certification was a useful benchmark to use as a starting point for planning the projects we did. It gave a clear picture of our security posture and therefore a position from which to devise a strategy to tackle the issues identified.“

Working with ramsac

The positive experience with ramsac’s team has been a standout aspect for Emerging Futures. According to Chris Moon:

“ramsac’s people are arguably its greatest asset. They are friendly and knowledgeable, willing to compromise wherever possible, and will happily share information and learning to help improve the skills of our employees. Our experience with our previous supplier wasn’t great, as our employees often came away from a support interaction feeling stupid, and as if they had done something they shouldn’t have. ramsac’s people are the polar opposite – always polite and friendly, always helpful and willing to go the extra mile.“

When asked if Emerging Futures is enthusiastic about recommending ramsac to other organisations. Chris Moon concludes:

“Absolutely. Although a daunting decision for us, it was one of the best we’ve made.”

ramsac’s partnership with Emerging Futures exemplifies the positive impact a proactive and values-aligned MSP can have on an organisation. By delivering comprehensive IT and security solutions, ramsac has not only addressed the immediate needs of Emerging Futures but also positioned them for continued growth and success in their mission to support individuals in recovery.