Not-for-Profit reduces IT costs by 50% using Chrome Enterprise

Chromebooks are modern devices that facilitate collaborative work at a distance and deliver impressive results with lower costs (compared to standard Windows devices). Moreover, when paired with Google Workspace, Chromebooks become highly-efficient in all sorts of industries.

Company Profile

Noah’s Ark Inc. offers a range of services and programs that support families who have a child with a disability or additional needs in Victoria, New South Wales, ACT, and surrounding areas.

Most of their services are delivered in a home or chosen environment (e.g. Primary School, Child Care, Preschool, Before/After School Care).

Their IT-Related Problems & Issues

The organization faced the challenge of supporting a mobile workforce while using a robust and cost-effective device. As such, they decided to a solution from a Google Partner who could offer expert advice and even help set up an Admin Console for all the devices they were using.

The Solution Offered by Onsite Helper

Since all the applications used by their staff are cloud-based, we considered that it would be more cost-effective and less time-consuming to migrate from a variety of Windows-based devices (SurfacePro and 2-in-1 Laptops) to Chromebook devices.

Problem Solved by Using Chromebooks

• Robust Devices It is quite a rough-and-tumble world out there (for devices) and there was a 10% breakage rate with existing devices. But Chromebooks build for educational purposes support some rough handling.
• Battery life Chromebooks have a 10+ hours battery life, thus allowing staff to work throughout the day without having to charge their device.
• Costs The cost of touch screen Chromebooks is 50% less than similar Windows-based touch screen devices (they are currently paying $344 per Chromebook).
• Security The possibility of managing the Chromebooks through Google’s Admin Console and the built-in security features provide a secure device. Moreover, this is a device where all software is up-to-date with the latest security fixes.
• Minimized delays The bootup time of a Chromebook with application updates is less than 20 seconds, which is significantly less than with Windows devices (which could take up to 10 minutes). The long bootup time of a Windows device was very frustrating for staff at the start of the day when they were trying to get out of the office and to a family visit.

Conclusion

We managed to provide Chromebooks for about 15-20% of existing staff and all new members of the staff are issued a Chromebook. Moreover, we had a pilot group for training and learned we must focus on teaching staff how to use Office 365 through a browser and not the Chromebook itself.

We also had to find the right print software, one that was compatible with the organization’s networked printers (DirectPrint.io was selected).

However, once we passed all these hurdles, the use of Chromebooks as the main device for the organization proved a wise choice. The activity is smoother, people don’t waste time waiting for their devices to boot up, and communication is far easier.

“the rollout of Chromebooks is meeting project expectations of:
1) mobile staff having devices that work for the whole day without need to recharge, and
2) provided cost savings greater than 50% to manage and maintain our fleet of devices.” Peter Davies, IT Systems Manager, Noah’s Arc.