Case study
GGZ inGeest
What can we do for you?
Accelerated transition to the cloud with lower risks and clear benefits
More Case Studies
"Cambrian brings a combination of innovation and experience to the table. They combine new possibilities with a strong track record. They also understand what it means to take big steps, to make innovations. This really appeals to me."
The customer
GGZ inGeest helps patients with a wide range of services in the field of mental health. It has over 2,000 healthcare professionals offering services at outpatient and inpatient clinics as well as homecare throughout the Amstelveen, Amsterdam, Bennebroek, Haarlem and Hoofddorp municipalities. Scientific research is also conducted at locations with the TOPGGz quality mark.
The challenge
Some time ago, the IT environment of GGZ inGeest needed a thorough modernisation. In the first instance, it was decided to invest in an upgrade of workplaces and infrastructure in the existing data centers. A direct move to the cloud was deemed unfeasible and therefore planned for the longer term.
When the renewal plan proved arduous and the new CIO raised several substantive questions, Cambrian was asked to investigate whether the principles and assumptions behind this plan were still valid and optimal.
The solution
The planned approach turned out to be riskier and more complex than initially thought due to an accumulated backlog in maintenance and investments. In addition, without substantive changes to the program, the biggest issues for healthcare workers would not be addressed in the coming years. It also became clear that the less agile architecture could hardly facilitate important, planned developments in healthcare: new working methods, further digitisation and e-health.
In contrast, a direct switch to cloud services turned out to be feasible. Not through a straightforward lift & shift but with the use of innovative PaaS services that enabled the retirement of the digital workspace based on Remote Desktop Services.
The alternative architecture has been supplemented with components that are already being used successfully elsewhere in healthcare such as Chrome-based workplaces and SaaS solutions for identity management, office automation and device management. The network shall also be simplified with a move to a SD-WAN which combined with the use of innovative network components will lead to a much lower TCO.
The results
The comparison of the new architecture with the original program yielded positive results: lower transition risks, inherently better quality and plenty of concrete opportunities for innovation. Various critical components of the new architecture – such as AWS Appstream 2.0 to host the existing electronic health records system – were already successfully tested in production by healthcare professionals during the strategy evaluation. In fact, they observed a clearly noticeable performance improvement. The comparison also yielded positive results with regard to the financials. The strong simplification in the landscape translated into lower operating costs. Not only will the number of servers to be managed be reduced substantially, but much less effort will be required to manage and support robust cloud services. Furthermore, GGZ inGeest shall no longer need to make periodic, substantial lifecycle investments and instead will be using variable pay-per-use services after the transition. Based on all these considerations GGZ inGeest decided to change course and implement the alternative modernisation strategy.Our partners
