This upgraded cloud-first architecture with Microsoft Azure will enable Nuffield Health to continue to serve customers digitally, which is especially important during the current pandemic, as well as build on its future plans to meet the demands of an increasingly digital customer base.
Nuffield Health needed to modernise and consolidate its digital services on a cloud platform and made the decision to migrate the entire stack to Microsoft Azure, to future-proof its infrastructure. Microsoft recommended a “lift & modernise” migration with its partner Node4 to meet these requirements.
Before this, the IT team was faced with purchasing hardware for any scale-up, due to the capacity limits of the legacy technology. Now, with Microsoft Azure cloud services through Node4, the company reduces total cost of ownership by only paying for services and capacity it needs and uses. Nuffield Health also benefits from more dynamic scaling, with an elastic infrastructure that reduces cost and can scale up and down along with demands.
Ian Edmunds (pictured), head of digital, customer & fitness solutions at Nuffield Health, explained “It was important for us that we worked with a trusted Microsoft partner for our migration to Microsoft Azure and Node4 fit the bill perfectly. From initial introduction, it became clear that they were never going to be the kind of company that would lift, shift and run away. Node4 took the time to understand our problem statement, our deadlines, cost constraints, and treated us like a known customer from the get-go. They continue to support us whenever we need them.
“The project went smoothly with a first-time, flawless cutover of all digital services in a single overnight maintenance window. This was thanks to rigorous testing beforehand and through choosing the best options based on Node4’s honest and expert recommendations. The team at Node4 were really flexible, waiting until we were ready and ensuring we met challenging deadlines.”
The modern, cloud-first infrastructure significantly improves Nuffield Health’s ability to provide services for its members and patients. In response to the pandemic, the charity has quickly adapted a number of its service lines to a virtual offering. With Microsoft Azure cloud services, Nuffield Health can support virtual initiatives with confidence. Utilising the new cloud-first infrastructure, the organisation has been able to quickly build new digital services including enabling the brand new online workout platform; Nuffield Health 24/7.
Paul Bryce, chief commercial officer at Node4, added, “Now more than ever, organisations like Nuffield Health need a stable environment to support their customer base. We are honoured to be working with Nuffield Health to deliver on their commitment for a renewed cloud-first approach that will evolve and grow with the changing demands of their customers. Our goal is to help every organisation we work with achieve further transformational milestones and leverage those technology solutions that will pave the way for vital digital initiatives."