Technology Record - Issue 22: Autumn 2021

181 PUB L I C S E C TOR The CTO reviewed all the industry-leading cloud suppliers to find the best provider and chose Microsoft Azure as it met all of his criteria. He also appreciated that Microsoft understood the value of operationalising the firm’s technology and services. The team was pleased when Open Systems was invited to help support implementa- tion and provide additional insights. Microsoft and Open Systems provided the chief information security officer (CISO) and their staff with a clear vision of what the IT team could expect. They demonstrated howMicrosoft’s 365 E5 and Azure Sentinel would work together to improve the business’s overall compliance, data protection, and security posture. The Open Systems team also identified opportunities to replace monitoring tools with Azure Monitor and consolidate compliance and security data onto Azure Log Analytics, which would reduce the number of suppliers and lower costs. “Working hand-in-hand with Open Systems, we implemented a new cloud reality for this industry-leading clinical research organisation using Azure,” said Michael Perriello, account director ofUShealth and life sciences atMicrosoft. “This demonstrates how we can jointly help other healthcare providers in migrating to the cloud.” To keep the cloud journey on track, Open Systems and Microsoft performed a cloud read- iness and economic assessment using the cus- tomer’s real-world costs. The customer’s teamwas interested to learn that the Azure implementation would result in $2.5 million annual savings by eliminating existing applications and unnecessary data centres. Moreover, by optimising Microsoft 365 E5, several existing tools could be replaced by E5 tools, resulting in annual savings of $400,000 and a further reduction of suppliers. The CTO, CISO and IT team have replaced a mishmash of solutions with an operationally effi- cient cloud platform. All compliance, data protec- tion, and security services are now cloud based with Azure Sentinel, Azure Log Analytics and Azure Monitor. Microsoft 365 E5 is optimised and the customer is realising all the benefits. The new platform supports it worldwide and ensures that services are uniformly applied and centrally managed. Administering all the services with the new platform is simpler, and the IT team has more time and resources available to focus on more strategic issues and plan for the future. The team is confident in the new platform and plans to use it to support next-generation clinical trial applications. It’s now full cloud ahead for the CRO’s vision to be 100 per cent cloud-based and transform the clinical trial industry. “We have a vision for reinventing clinical trials,” said our customer’s vice president of IT opera- tions. “Now we have a cloud platform that is mak- ing our vision a reality.” Paul Keely is chief cloud officer at Open Systems and 12-time Microsoft Most Valuable Professional