Youth Protection Foundation North & Safe at Home Groningen opts for certainty, security and innovation in IT workplaces with Device as a Service

Organizations are continuously developing their IT environment and are increasingly looking at the situation of both the end user and the organization in a more specialized way. In line with these developments, Stichting Jeugdbescherming Noord & Veilig Thuis Groningen has opted for a Device as a Service (DaaS) to allow their employees, who provide care, to work optimally. Read more about the organization in this article and why they, in collaboration with IT creation, have opted for a DaaS solution from DaaS IT Now for Dell business laptops.

Interview with Joost Fokken and Michel Moes.

The case

Stichting Jeugdbescherming Noord & Veilig Thuis Groningen is an organization that is committed to the safety and well-being of children and families in the regions of Groningen and Drenthe. The organization offers help and support for problems such as domestic violence, neglect and child abuse.

Joost Fokken and Michel Moes are both employed as system administrators at the organization and are responsible for everything related to IT. With just two people, they run the IT department and provide support to the 265 employees working within the organization.

Stichting Jeugdbescherming Noord & Veilig Thuis Groningen was looking for a Device as a Service (DaaS) solution for 250 new laptops used by employees. In this interview they tell more about the organization, what the challenges were and why they chose the Device as a Service solution from DaaS IT Now, in collaboration with IT creation.

How do you experience being responsible for IT within the organization together?

“Keeping everything running with two people is quite challenging,” says Michel. “Because with ICT you are often very busy when there is a malfunction or when major changes need to be implemented.”

Joost agrees and adds: "I did it on my own for a while. That's almost impossible. I really had to walk on eggshells. Fortunately, Michel joined me later."

Why were you specifically looking for a Device as a Service solution?

Unburdening

Joost explains why they were looking for a DaaS solution: “We were mainly looking for some relief. Previously, we had a lot of outdated laptops under management and users kept coming back with questions and problems. Since most employees within our organization specialize in providing care and have less experience with ICT, this meant that we spent a lot of time providing user support. In addition, it was quite challenging to support 265 employees in this situation because we were constantly busy solving problems.”

“In addition to providing support, we used to repair the laptops ourselves if something broke. This also took up a lot of time because the laptops were outdated. In addition, we even had to physically clean the equipment when we took it in and check whether everything still worked. With DaaS IT Now, we no longer have to worry about this,” Michel adds.

Job satisfaction and employee retention

“Not only does outdated equipment increase the workload of the IT department, I also think that our users are losing job satisfaction,” says Joost. “Firstly, it is annoying for the user that you have to take a laptop out of your bag and embarrass yourself in front of the client.”

“Secondly, we have a dire shortage of employees in youth care. If equipment does not work properly, this causes a lot of frustration. Do you offer outdated equipment to your employees? Then this could certainly influence the choice of whether you continue to work for your employer, especially if you do have good equipment at your disposal elsewhere. In short, making a modern laptop available prevents frustration among users and can even lead to more job satisfaction and employee retention,” Joost emphasizes.

How did IT Creation help you select the right hardware?

“In the request for proposals, we specified the minimum requirements for the laptop. One of the main requirements, and this is actually quite strange, was that the laptops would be lightweight. The laptops we had before weighed about two and a half kilos. Since many of our employees work mobile, the weight of the laptop was the most common complaint. That is why the new laptop had to be light,” says Michel.

Tailored to the wishes and needs of our users

“IT creation also helped us a lot in selecting the right laptops. The work that our employees do on a daily basis on the laptop does not demand much from the hardware. Where other providers advised a heavier processor, IT creation really listened to the wishes and needs, which ultimately resulted in an interesting monthly price,” Joost continues.

In-depth knowledge makes the difference in giving advice

Michel continues his explanation: “What we also noticed is that it is nice to spar with an organization that has a great deal of depth in the solutions. For example, IT creation is a Titanium Partner of Dell Technologies in the Netherlands. You can assume that they know the ins and outs to arrive at the perfect choice without you having to spend too much time and energy on it yourself. And in retrospect, that is the right choice in combination with the proposed DaaS IT Now solution and the chosen business Dell laptops.”

Why did you choose DaaS IT Now?

Optimal innovation strategy

“Since we work in a non-profit organization, we prefer to spend the money on healthcare and hire employees to reduce the enormous case load. In the old situation, we tended to use equipment for a very long time and thus postpone the investment in new equipment and thus save money. However, the negative consequences of this should not be underestimated, such as the time and costs involved in solving problems due to outdated hardware,” says Joost.

“What I really like about DaaS IT Now is that we have the certainty that we will have new equipment again after a pre-agreed period, for a fixed monthly fee, without having to free up extra budget. This gives us as an IT department much more certainty that we can keep our systems working and all users satisfied.”

'Corona-proof' delivery and maintenance of equipment

“Finally, during the corona period, we were struggling with the delivery of the laptops and asked ourselves the question: 'How do you deliver 250 laptops to employees who are not allowed to come to the office due to Corona?' If one of us has Corona, there is a good chance that we will infect everyone. At that point, the entire organization would come to a standstill. That was one of the advantages that we came up with at DaaS IT Now, delivering the equipment to people's homes. In addition, Dell offered the option for the technician to come to people's homes for any repairs. So in that respect, we were corona-proof for both the delivery and the maintenance of the laptops,” says Michel.

Certified Data Wipe

“Data security is a hot topic within our organization. In our field, we deal with a lot of privacy-sensitive data. It is absolutely unacceptable for data from Veilig Thuis Groningen to end up at Jeugdbescherming Noord or vice versa, while the laptops can be used by both organizations. That is why it is important to us that this data is deleted in a certified manner after use. With DaaS IT Now, we have hired a party where we know for sure that it is done properly because they have all the necessary certifications. All these points summed up make us a very satisfied customer of DaaS IT Now,” Joost concludes with a smile.