Servo has been chosen by Greater Merseyside Connexions to plan and implement its IT and communications network upgrade. Servo has migrated Connexions onto a secure Citrix thin-client platform, enabling support advisors to quickly access client data wherever they are, without compromising the security of client data. The company also upgraded Greater Merseyside Connexions’ Wide Area Network, to increase bandwidth and some remote users to communicate wirelessly with Head Office via notebooks fitted with a 3G card.

Connexions is the UK government's key support service providing information, advice and guidance for all young people in England between the ages of 13 to 19. The Greater Merseyside service has 700 staff working in 30 branches, serving approximately 130,000 young people across the region.  Connexions’ personal advisors work in a range of settings, including schools, libraries, community centres and colleges and need to be able to remotely access clients’ information wherever they are working. However, because advisors have access to highly sensitive data, ensuring secure remote access to client data is of critical importance. 

Servo advised Greater Merseyside Connexions to move to a thin-client model to maximise flexible access and achieve cost and time savings, while ensuring data security. Following a successful pilot, Servo implemented Citrix Presentation Server 4 at Greater Merseyside Connexions. Owing to the fact that all applications and data are hosted on a centralised server, Citrix Presentation Server 4 allows centralised control of IT security; user authorisation updates and software upgrades, which would otherwise involve time-consuming installation on each machine across all 30 branches. Servo also deployed the Identrica Managed Service to secure remote access from any location, using two-factor authentication via a password and physical token.

Mike Hughes, ICT Manager at Greater Merseyside Connexions commented: “The work Servo has done over the past year, has not only provided improved security, functionality and higher levels of resilience across our systems, but has also helped to drive down costs.

Applications can now be deployed more quickly, with reduced overheads, to more locations, and costs for on-going maintenance will be vastly reduced.”    

Paul Russell, Head of Consultancy at Servo said, “When sensitive client data is being accessed across several branches there is absolutely no margin for error when it comes to data security. We were able to apply our in-depth knowledge built up over more than five years working with Greater Merseyside Connexions, to advise them on the most cost effective, secure and flexible infrastructure and platform for their needs.”