Cloud-Enabling Baanbrekers Helps People Better Finding Their Right Place

Which licenses do we have, which do we use, which do we need, and which can be removed? Baanbrekers was looking for the most optimal license structure for the organization and its employees when deciding whether to renew licenses. After winning the project, SoftwareONE offered Microsoft Advisory Services (MAS) to gain insight into the existing IT and needs for developments in the longer term to provide appropriate licensing advice.

As a result, Baanbrekers essentially switched from an on-premises environment to the cloud. The new licenses enabled Baanbrekers employees to perform their work effectively and remotely. The scalable license structure means the organization can grow or shrink without issue in the coming years.

Baanbrekers is a trade organization that focuses on work and income. The objective is to help people with or without disabilities to do their jobs successfully. In this way, Baanbrekers fulfills a vital role in the regional society, both economically and socially. On behalf of the municipalities of Heusden, Loon op Zand and Waalwijk, Baanbrekers offers innovative labor market services as a public enterprise for work and income. The organization has an eye for both social and business challenges. The ultimate goal of Baanbrekers is to have people participate fully in society and at their jobs. It positions the organization as a partner in job placement for both, job-seekers and employers.

More information about the organization can be found at www.baanbrekers.org.

Baanbrekers started the process with SoftwareONE initially out of necessity. According to Marc Been, Automation Team Leader at Baanbrekers, 

“Our Microsoft licenses were due to expire in the not-too-distant future. Our IT team has quite a lot of knowledge, but it was too big a challenge to gain insight into which licenses would be most suitable for all employees. Also, a lot has changed in the past three years in terms of Microsoft's offerings. It takes more than one morning to get up-to-date, and it isn’t easy to see the forest for the trees. We wanted an online remote meeting tool and the ability to have scalable IT. So, we started looking for a specialist who could help meet those challenges.”

Although Baanbrekers' IT team was already familiar with SoftwareONE, the choice was not immediate. 

“Our branch organization CEDRIS issued a tender and evaluated various bidder proposals. SoftwareONE emerged as the best choice,” said Breen. “I can only say that I am pleased with that. We already had a good relationship with people at SoftwareONE. If we have a question or encounter a problem, the experts always quickly respond. It's very flexible, and I immediately had every confidence in the success of this project.”

SoftwareONE launched Microsoft Advisory Services in August 2020. The goal was to provide insight into the current licensing structure, and to build the best, most effective plan for moving forward based on the projected future needs of the organization. The first important step was Solution Alignment in the form of roadmap sessions. In these, SoftwareONE looked at the business and technology roadmap to link future needs with possible Microsoft solutions. Been says: 

“We knew in advance that the process would take three months. At first, I thought that was a bit long, but halfway through the first roadmap session, I realized that this was going to be a fairly extensive process, and we would need that time. What was very pleasant during these sessions was that the tough subject matter was explained in a very understandable way. The consultants visualized our Microsoft software installed and used, and knew how to answer all our questions.”

The next step was to define user profiles to determine the right technology for each persona. Been: 

“Our organization does not need heavy or complicated programs to do our work. So, we were able to complete this part quickly. SoftwareONE then reviewed various licensing options with us and explained the licensing structures and associated costs. We looked at Microsoft 365 E3, but Office 365 E3 with CoreCAL Bridge, and Windows VDA E3 turned out to be the best option for us. We did decide to leave our legacy system local for the benefits.”

“The sessions were all online because of COVID-19, but that was absolutely no impediment. SoftwareONE clearly outlined all the steps and made the process easy. Moreover, all documents were e-mailed to us so that we could prepare ourselves thoroughly in advance. SoftwareONE has everything in order. The experts know what they are doing, and you can see they have substantial experience with such projects.”

• Clear cloud strategy: By taking a good look at the currently-installed Microsoft software assets, and the needs and wishes from within the organization, SoftwareONE was able to establish a clear business and technology roadmap
  
• User profiles: Mapping out the user profiles made it possible to determine which technology was appropriate for the 250 users. This step was the starting point for optimizing the licenses.
  
• Optimization of licenses: Based on the roadmap, SoftwareONE outlined several different licensing models. After explaining the structures of these models and the associated costs, SoftwareONE made a recommendation, and Baanbrekers made its choices. The organization also gave due consideration to the legacy system remaining on-premises
  
• Negotiation process: After choosing the license model, SoftwareONE negotiated with Microsoft for the best possible deal, and Baanbrekers now only invests in what is needed
  
• A future-proof model: Baanbrekers has the proper licenses for the next three years at a favorable price. The license structure is also scalable to accommodate possible organizational growth