How Positive Steps removed single points of failure from its IT support

The client

A charitable trust delivering frontline services across Greater Manchester

Positive Steps is a charitable trust providing services for children, young people, adults and families. Its work includes careers and education, family support, safeguarding, youth justice and other community programmes across Greater Manchester. Read more about Positive Steps.

Its frontline teams rely on access to systems and sensitive information while working from different locations. IT therefore has to support service delivery as well as administration, reporting and safeguarding responsibilities.

The challenge

An in-house model built around too few people

Before working with Remedian, Positive Steps ran its IT service in house. The problem was not commitment. It was capacity. The organisation depended on the knowledge and availability of a very small number of people, so the skill base was limited to what those individuals could cover.

That created single points of failure. Annual leave or sickness could affect day-to-day support, while project work depended on one person finding enough time to take it on. In practice, urgent operational work usually won that competition.

Why Remedian

Recommendations from charities that had made the same change

Positive Steps spoke to several local charities before choosing a provider. Action Together and Mahdlo both recommended Remedian, giving the organisation direct evidence from charities it already knew and trusted.

That mattered because charities work differently from commercial businesses. Remedian already understood the sector, the sensitivity of the information involved and the pressure on organisations delivering community services. Positive Steps did not have to explain that context from scratch.

The transition

Moving from in-house IT to a wider support team

Positive Steps said the move from an in-house model to outsourced managed IT support was completed in a very short timescale. The main change was continuity. Support no longer depended on whether one individual was available.

A broader team also gave the charity access to more specialist skills. Queries could be picked up and progressed more quickly, while project work had assigned capacity instead of waiting for a quiet period that rarely arrived.

The work underway

SharePoint, onboarding, hardware planning and automation

The current programme covers five connected areas: day-to-day IT support, staff onboarding and laptop setup, migration of on-premise shared drives to SharePoint, a multi-year laptop replacement plan and early automation work around data collection.

The SharePoint migration is still in progress. Its purpose is to bring files into one controlled location, reduce information being spread across separate shared drives and make secure access easier for staff working away from the office.

The hardware refresh and automation work are also ongoing. Presenting them that way matters. They are planned improvements moving forward under the IT plan, not finished outcomes being claimed early.

Security and frontline work

Better control of sensitive information wherever staff work

Positive Steps holds sensitive client and safeguarding information. Remedian oversees the protective arrangements, while SharePoint is being used to improve visibility and control over who can access each set of files.

That sits alongside the organisation's wider cyber security responsibilities. Staff need secure access from different locations without returning to an on-premise drive, and frontline teams need issues progressed quickly when systems affect service delivery.

The outcome

More capacity for support and projects that now move forward

Positive Steps said response to issues had improved because a wider team was available. The largest difference was project capacity. Work that had previously waited for one in-house person to become free could now be planned and progressed.

The relationship is still developing. The client described the team as helpful, friendly and responsive, and highlighted James's openness to improving how both organisations work together.