Case Study

The following is a case study written and published by Lenovo about Onward Computer Systems in association with Helping Hands Street Mission. It has been edited to better suit a webpage format. See the original case study here.

For Onward Computer Systems, giving back to their community meant providing tech support for a local non-profit.

Onward Computer Systems is a Managed Service Provider (MSP) for small to medium sized businesses. They step in when companies begin to feel overwhelmed by technology and offer a full range of services including procuring equipment, providing support, determining the business needs, and coming up with solutions. They work with companies long term to help handle their technology needs, whether that’s hardware, software, data management, or working with the cloud.

Helping Hands Street Mission uses a network of volunteers to provide services for the homeless and underprivileged in Hamilton, Ontario. But because of their non-profit status, their tech equipment was sparse, outdated, and difficult for the frequently rotating cast of volunteer workers to use.

Onward Computer Systems stepped in to do an assessment of Helping Hands’ current setup and see what they might be able to streamline to get the focus back on helping those in need in the community.

The client needed to keep their data more secure, while maintaining an easily accessible system that their many volunteers could access.

John Krikke, Vice President at Onward Computer Systems, sat down with Alice Plug-Buist, the director of the Helping Hands, to get a handle on how they were sharing data with internal and external stakeholders. He found that the client’s email system wasn’t working very efficiently, they had concerns about the security of their data, and didn’t know where a lot of their data was being stored. They needed better systems for sharing and then rescinding access for volunteers, and were also concerned because their hardware equipment was very outdated.

Onward donated two Lenovo laptop to Helping Hands because the equipment in their office just wasn’t up to par to support their work. They consolidated Helping Hands’ data and uploaded it to the cloud, using the Microsoft 365 suite of software to establish better, secure email for the organization. Onward also built a SharePoint site that let them share their data with all collaborators using one secure portal. “One of the solutions we offer are collaboration portals, which also scales down for smaller organizations,” said John Krikke.

“The support of Onward Computer Systems to help us make the best use of the program as well as each of the work computers is invaluable to us,” said Alice. “They provided us with a much more reliable and comfortable technology experience, and as result lets us get back to focusing on our work supporting the friends in the Helping Hands community.”

For details on how Onward Computer Systems can help your business or non-profit, email sales@onwardcs.com or visit www.onwardcs.com.