Client story Perpetual Boosts Efficiency with Scalable and Secure Azure Virtual Desktop Migration

Facts at a glance

Client industry:

Financial Services

Challenge: 

Perpetual was looking to modernise its on-premises systems by migrating them to Microsoft Azure. It was concerned that its on-premises environment was no longer fit for purpose and unable to scale, resulting in performance and compliance issues. The company hoped the migration would improve the user experience of staff and IT support contractors, who required access to a range of Perpetual’s applications for their work.

Solution:

• Perpetual migrated to Microsoft Azure, enhancing performance, scalability, and security while reducing costs
• The deployment improved user experience, security, and cost efficiency, successfully migrating 150 users with plans for 250 more.

Results:

• Perpetual's Azure Virtual Desktop deployment provided a consistent user experience across devices, improved flexibility by allowing resource allocation based on needs, and enabled secure access for external contractors 
• The solution allowed Perpetual to scale up or down based on demand, optimise costs through a consumption-based pricing model, and reduce expenditure on physical infrastructure and company-issued devices

The company hoped the migration would improve the user experience of staff and IT support contractors, who required access to a range of Perpetual’s applications for their work.

In particular, Perpetual was looking to:

• Increase the number of users that could utilise the virtual desktop environment to run their individual desktops
• Become more flexible by improving the scalability of its underlying hardware and consolidating its data centres to prepare it for a transition to a cloud environment 
• Reduce the costs of secondary physical infrastructure, especially for disaster recovery purposes.

Perpetual had already engaged Insight as a trusted partner for a range of digital transformation projects, so it asked Insight to develop and run a pilot Azure Virtual Desktop migration.

Insight provided Perpetual with a framework to deploy Azure Virtual Desktop using automation that complemented the company’s existing implementation processes. Working with Perpetual’s Modern Workplace team, Insight designed a technical solution that aligned with Perpetual’s complex set of architectural and compliance requirements.

"Our vision for our modern workplace is to achieve flexibility without compromising on security. We want our digital transformation to deliver intuitive and intelligent ways of working for our employees. The Azure Virtual Desktop deployment in particular enables us to scale end user compute quickly, enable flexibility and user experience consistency for our staff across all devices, and achieve security compliance.” Hugh Roberts Workplace Collaboration Lead, Perpetual Limited

The deployment has yielded several benefits for Perpetual, including:

Consistency: Users can log in to their virtual or corporate desktops and have a consistent experience across devices.

• Flexibility: Perpetual has been able to create a fit-for-purpose solution by allocating and configuring resources according to its needs.
• Scalability: The solution can be scaled up or down depending on changing demands without having to invest in more equipment.
• Security: Perpetual has utilised Azure Active Directory to enable multi-factor authentication, auto-enrolment in Microsoft Endpoint Management and conditional-access policies.
• Cost optimisation: By switching to a consumption-based pricing model, Perpetual no longer pays for stand-by resources when not powered on. It has also been able to optimise costs by leverage existing investments in Microsoft 365 licensing.

Perpetual has migrated 150 users from the on-premises environment to Azure Virtual Desktop and plans to migrate 250 more users by the end of 2023. After completing the pilot migration, Perpetual asked for a specialised ring-fenced business unit for external contractors. Insight was able to deploy an extension in a matter of days following design sign off, highlighting the modular and scalable nature of the solution.