College Overview
Inner Sydney Montessori School (ISMS) is a leading educational institution with approximately 250 students and 70 staff members. ISMS takes a unique approach to technology integration, balancing traditional hands-on learning methods with modern business operations. The school maintains a distinctly non-technical learning environment in alignment with its educational principles, while ensuring robust IT infrastructure supports administrative and teaching staff.
The Digital Transformation Challenge
ISMS identified the need to modernise their technology infrastructure to better support their growing operations. The existing Google Workspace environment presented limitations, with staff working across mixed productivity platforms including Google Workspace and legacy Office versions. Following a comprehensive security review, the school prioritised implementing enhanced security controls and comprehensive backup protection for critical business data.
Key drivers for change included:
- Unified productivity platform – Replace mixed systems with single integrated solution.
- Enterprise-grade email capabilities – Professional email management for business communications.
- Enhanced security framework – Robust security controls following data exposure incidents.
- Comprehensive backup strategy – Reliable SaaS backup protection for critical business data.
- Seamless system integration – Advanced automation and workflow capabilities.
- Regulatory compliance support – Enterprise-grade tools for educational sector requirements.
“Google may be suitable for children in education, but it’s very difficult to run a business with the Google suite,” explains Patrick Dowers, IT Manager at ISMS. “Gmail is not an enterprise email service. We had limited email management capabilities and needed more robust security and backup solutions.”
The Solution: Microsoft 365
After careful consideration, ISMS partnered with Digipro IT to implement a comprehensive Microsoft 365 solution, complemented by Barracuda email protection and cloud-to-cloud backup services.
Digipro IT’s approach provided ISMS with flexible engagement options, allowing the school to determine their level of involvement based on available resources and capacity. The solution included:
- Migration from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365.
- Barracuda email security with impersonation protection, SPF (enhanced email protection), DMARC (verifies sender and integrity), and DKIM (handles failed authentication).
- Deployment of Barracuda cloud-to-cloud backup solutions.
Patrick valued Digipro IT’s scalable service model: “The approach gives me options to determine our involvement and provides costing around those scalable options. I find that really handy, especially for a small school with limited resources.”
Implementation
Digipro IT executed a carefully planned migration during the school holidays to minimise disruption. The implementation took approximately one month from project initiation to completion, encompassing the creation of a new Microsoft 365 tenant, domain setup and Azure AD configuration, complete email migration from Google Workspace, and a staged document migration approach to support change management. Staff training on the new platforms was provided at the start of term to ensure smooth adoption.
“The actual physical migration probably took a day or two,” notes Dowers. “Digipro IT’s Solutions Specialist was in contact for about a week during the technical implementation. The process was very seamless with no unplanned issues or business-critical problems.”
The Benefits: Enhanced Security and Productivity
The Microsoft 365 implementation has transformed operations at ISMS. Key improvements include:
- Deployment of Barracuda cloud-to-cloud backup solutions.
- Significantly improved email security with dramatically reduced spam and malicious content.
- Successful implementation of automated workflows for staff expense claims, professional development applications, and Working with Children Check verifications.
- Unified productivity platform replacing fragmented legacy systems.
- Reliable backup solution with seamless restore capabilities.
- Enhanced staff collaboration through Microsoft Teams.
“The biggest improvement has been the automation and workflows around Microsoft Power Automate,” states Dowers. “Everything that used to be paper-based is now automated through email and forms. It’s been wonderful – we truly cannot praise it enough.”
Ongoing Strategic Technology Partnership
Following successful implementation, ISMS continues partnering with Digipro IT for ongoing support through their block unit purchasing model. The school is working toward Essential Eight Maturity Level 2 compliance and planning future infrastructure improvements, including a planned Wi-Fi refresh.
“Digipro IT has a proven track record, not just in our school. I know of Digipro IT’s work in other schools, and that gave me the confidence that they could design and execute a solution that would suit not just the current, but the future needs of ISMS,” concludes Dowers.
