DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH SPEED

MIGRATION WITH SPEED

This is the story of an organization that successfully migrated to the cloud, while securing its data, getting better insights from the data, securing its clients, keeping over 5000 staff members safe, and building better levels of productivity all while maintaining its position as a leader in healthcare. Pierre Wrogemann, Senior Technical Production Support Services Manager at AfroCentric explains that

The Covid-19 pandemic put many companies in a position where they had to change fast. As strange and as surreal as it may sound, the pandemic became the catalyst to an accelerated digital journey. Sello Mmakau, AfroCentric Technologies CEO, explains “the business had a Group Digital Strategy in place, but the Covid-19 pandemic had accelerated the implementation of this strategy. Before the pandemic, we had 90% of our staff working and collaborating from the office. When the pandemic hit, we had to implement technologies such as Microsoft 365 to ensure secure productivity. So, looking back it’s clear that the pandemic accelerated our digital journey.” Sello makes it clear that the primary mandate of the group’s digital strategy is to transform AfroCentric into a Health Digital Business. 

When hard lockdown levels were implemented in South Africa in March 2020, Microsoft was the most obvious solution for AfroCentric. It was clear that the business was in a race against time to ensure that business operations and productivity were not compromised. Microsoft was agile in responding to the request by ensuring that the entire workforce could harness the power of collaboration and empower their workforce beyond just communication but a hub of teamwork with real-time collaboration on a secure platform. Pierre Wrogemann explains how "normally deploying a new system is quite a long process and this time we didn’t have the luxury of time, though we were very fortunate to have a partner like Dimension Data who gave us a tremendous amount of support. To deploy the solution as quickly and as effectively as possible, we had different teams pulled together from networking, IT security, the Microsoft team, Dimension Data, and even the end-users got involved. We put together the solution in a secure way that would complement the business objective and staff value without blocking any of the staff members from supporting the customers.” 

REMOTE SECURE COLLABORATION

If one is looking for the definition of collaboration in the digital arena, that road will always lead to the Microsoft 365 suite. This is an incredible suite of applications specifically designed to add value to its users’ objectives. No matter where you are or what device you are on, you can easily share files, co-author in real-time, and be productive from anywhere with Microsoft 365. No more going back and forth with documents; this powerful suite improves workflows, ensures your team spends less time on mundane tasks, and adds value to the business. 

For a company like AfroCentric that relied heavily on in-person interactions, the productivity and collaboration that Microsoft Teams presented were mind-blowing. Pierre Wrogemann speaks highly of Microsoft Teams’ technical ability by explaining how they integrated video conferencing systems into Teams and how they started hosting all their Board and MANCO meetings on Teams. He shares that

On the importance of data protection and cyber security, Rebone Segoale, the Business Development Executive at Microsoft says, “with the acceleration of digital transformation, cyber security and data bridges have equally become a threat to operations and business continuity. Over the last 20 months, we have seen more people working remotely on more devices and more networks. Protecting data is no longer sufficient for businesses but a need for cyber resilience is critical”. We do need to understand that as much as collaboration is great but as people start working from home, organizations are now exposed to a new kind of threat. 

Most people do not have adequate network security at home or are simply not security conscious. If an organization lacks adequate data protection and end-to-end security solutions, the data and business integrity is at risk. Rebone is passionate about the security solutions offered on Azure and she says, “Microsoft Cloud services empower customers to build on top of trust, with end-to-end privacy and data protection solutions at your disposal, it empowers companies like Afrocentric who deal with sensitive data to operate in a secure environment with peace of mind”

MULTI FACTOR AUTHENTICATOR

Security and data protection is at the forefront of the AfroCentric digital journey, and it is only natural that they found ways to use Microsoft 365 to leverage their security. They used apps such as the Multi-Factor Authenticator which adds a layer of protection to the sign-in process. When accessing accounts or apps, users provide additional identity verification, such as scanning a fingerprint or entering a code received by phone.

MICROSOFT INTUNE

They used tools such as Intune which is a mobile device and applications management tool to control how their organization’s devices are used. You can also configure specific policies to control applications. AfroCentric have leveraged Intune so that staff members can use personal devices for business. This is great because, on personal devices, Intune has helped the business to make sure all data stays protected and can isolate the organization’s data from personal data.

MICROSOFT DATA LOSS PREVENTION

Microsoft Data Loss Prevention is a core element of Microsoft Information Protection that extends data protection to common points. Microsoft Information Protection is a built-in, intelligent, unified, and extensible solution to know your data, protect your data, and prevent data loss across an organization using the Microsoft 365 applications. It has empowered AfroCentric to monitor user actions, remedy policy violations, and educate users on the correct handling of sensitive data.

It Is Limitless, It is Big, It Is a Winner

The advantages of migrating to Microsoft Cloud Services are endless, you are given a massive platform to build solutions that will enable your business to scale with speed, by giving them deep insights into data. The platform enables companies to save time, instead of sifting through massive loads of data. Microsoft Cloud Solutions is a data-driven platform that empowers clients to make smart and effective decisions. Rebone Segoale reiterates the importance of the AfroCentric digital journey, “the Afrocentric mission and objective to become a Health Digital Business, is first and foremost the monetization of data to be able to use it for insights and actionable actions. The Afrocentric journey is an important story to tell especially in terms of how they used data to be able to respond to the customer’s needs.” This is AfroCentric’s mission, to become a Health Digital Business coming to light.