“Working with Plan over the last 20 plus years has been a great collaborative success. Our teams have got to know each other well, providing Plan value through our existing site and IT configuration knowledge, which has reduced time to deliver business solutions. It’s been a successful relationship.”
Sector
Charity
Users
10,000
Solutions
Consultancy & Support
Founded in 1937, Plan International is a global charity working in over 80 countries to improve the daily lives of women and girls whilst actively working with boys and young men to champion gender equality.
With around 10,000 users, Plan runs a significant IT infrastructure in co-located datacentres and Microsoft Azure, as well as various cloud services, including Microsoft 365.
Evolving With Plan
For over 20 years, Silversands (now part of the Chess Group) has been Plan’s trusted Microsoft partner, delivering comprehensive services tailored to its evolving needs. Our collaborative approach involves working alongside Plan’s in-house IT team to provide flexible IT services, ranging from strategic Microsoft-focused consulting to hands-on implementation and support.
However, while we’ve historically offered a full suite of managed and insurance-based support services, we’ve recently adjusted our offerings to better meet Plan’s current requirements. This shift reflects the increased reliability and redundancy of Plan’s IT systems, allowing it to effectively manage routine issues with minimal business impact.
By aligning our support services more closely with Plan’s specific needs, we continue to provide valuable expertise and ensure its ongoing success.
Supporting Plan’s Digital Transformation
Leveraging a hybrid datacentre architecture, Plan benefits from a robust and flexible IT environment. Our team plays a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and supporting this infrastructure, which is built primarily on Microsoft technologies, including:
- Infrastructure: Microsoft Azure & Hyper-V
- Operating Systems: Window Server
- Management: Systems Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) & Microsoft Intune
- Security: Microsoft Defender & Certificate Services
- Collaboration: SharePoint Server & SharePoint Online
- Productivity & Collaboration: Microsoft 365
- Identity Management: Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta Workforce Identity
Since not everything Plan uses is in our skillset or is a third-party product, we also collaborate closely with other Plan partners when required to ensure comprehensive support across the entire infrastructure. This collaborative approach enables us to address complex issues spanning, for example, multiple services integrated with Microsoft Identity Manager.
“As the Head of IT Infrastructure at Plan International, I have valued the reliable support and flexibility provided by our long-standing IT partner. Their expertise has been essential in guiding us from a traditional on-premises setup to a flexible, cloud-based infrastructure.
Over the years, they have worked closely with us on several key initiatives, particularly in the areas of identity management and Azure cloud services, where their insights and support have proven invaluable.”
A Flexible Support Arrangement
Within the current support service, we are still supporting the same solutions and infrastructure as we always have, but the contract is now configured as a flexible ‘points-based’ call-off service. For this contract, Plan has purchased a set of ‘points,’ which are used as payment for support and services covered under the agreement. All the usual benefits of a support contract are available, including 1-to-16-hour SLAs and break/fix resolution.
All calls are raised by the Plan team, and a response level is agreed upon depending on the impact and severity of the issue. We resolve the issue, and the requisite number of points are deducted from the available pool, depending on the SLA selected and the type of resource needed, whether an admin, a second-level engineer or a third-level consultant.
Of course, the difference between this type of service and an insurance-based contract is that there is no upper limit to the cost of a resolution in a points contract. In contrast, the previous insurance-based contract would not have accrued any additional charges, regardless of how long the resolution took. Nevertheless, the increased flexibility, a low number of calls, few ‘big issue’ incidents and 100% in-SLA resolution rate mean the points contract offers a best-value support service.
A Partnership Built On Trust And Expertise
For over two decades, we’ve been Plan’s trusted IT partner, guiding them through numerous architectural, service, and solution transformations. From a traditional on-premises datacentre to the adoption of Azure and cloud services, we’ve consistently delivered the right level of support.
As Plan’s systems have become more reliable and resilient, and cloud services have matured, the frequency and complexity of support incidents have decreased, and our commitment to flexibility has enabled us to adapt our services to align with Plan’s evolving requirements.
Recognising the changing landscape, we collaborated with Plan to create a new support contract that better aligns with its current needs. This optimised approach provides exceptional value while ensuring Plan’s IT operations are fully supported as always.
“Silversands commitment to flexibility and close collaboration has made them a highly valuable part of our IT operations, and I look forward to continuing our partnership as we advance our technology goals.”
Bhavin Patel, Head of IT Infrastructure, Plan International
