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Google Workspace Brings Security and a Seamless Workflow to the City of Roanoke, Texas

When Blake Gore stepped into the role of IT manager for the City of Roanoke, TX, he knew they had concerns about IT vulnerabilities. A few months prior, the city had experienced a security incident and was already seeking solutions to increase cybersecurity. Added to the security concerns were workflow slowdowns. Because their IT was fully on-prem, they had no easy way to facilitate collaboration: no instant messaging capabilities, documents had to be emailed back and forth, and they were limited on who could host video conferencing calls.

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The Problem

When Blake Gore stepped into the role of IT manager for the City of Roanoke, TX, he knew they had concerns about IT vulnerabilities. A few months prior, the city had experienced a security incident and was already seeking solutions to increase cybersecurity.

Added to the security concerns were workflow slowdowns. Because their IT was fully on-prem, they had no easy way to facilitate collaboration: no instant messaging capabilities, documents had to be emailed back and forth, and they were limited on who could host video conferencing calls.

With the previous on-prem system, every month the IT team had to implement manufacturer-issued security patches. Email vulnerability had become too great to keep operating safely on-prem.

Seeking solutions and a trusted partner

Blake previously had helped the City of Longview, TX, transition to Google Workspace (GWS) to address similar concerns and bring IT benefits the city hadn’t realized they were missing out on.

He pitched the GWS solution to the City of Roanoke and began the process of finding the right partner for implementation. Resultant’s 2022 Google Partner of the Year for Public Sector award grabbed their attention, but it was our plan for implementation and training they were most interested in.

About the Client

Roanoke is a city in Denton County, Texas, United States and part of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. The population was 5,962 at the 2010 census. With a 2020 population of 10,537, it is the 236th largest city in Texas and the 2991st largest city in the United States.

The Outcomes

  • Full collaboration capabilities including document and file sharing, instant messaging, and full-access video conferencing
  • Eliminated Barracuda spam filter license and FileCloud file-sharing licenses
  • Significantly reduced Zoom license quantity
  • Eliminated police department intranet server and Sharepoint server
  • Flexible plans and pricing to pay only for what they use
  • Full end-to-end encryption for security
  • No additional future training costs to onboard new employees or concerns about employee turnover impacting data security

Addressing Known Concerns

With the previous on-prem system, every month the IT team had to implement manufacturer-issued security patches. Email vulnerability had become too great to keep operating safely on-prem.

In addition to closing the email vulnerabilities, the police department needed to share encrypted evidence securely in compliance with the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy, which they had been doing with a fully separate (and siloed) intranet server. The police department posed a further question based on their auditing process: can you have fully encrypted email in the cloud? The answer is yes.

Quick Facts: City of Roanoke

Population: 10,000

City employee users: 174

City employee groups: 80

Departments: 16

Implementation and training

The GWS transition was split into two phases of implementation: early adopters and then the full organization. Training and change management was an important part of keeping city business running smoothly.

  • Tech-savvy early adopters helped spot issues, requested changes, and weighed in on ease of operation.
  • Early adopters had access to a Resultant training site even before their first meeting with our trainer.
  • The Resultant trainer facilitated change management aspects of the transition.
  • Special administrative training was provided to the IT department.
  • Two training sessions were available in the week leading up to the citywide go-live.
  • New hires will have access to recordings of those trainings, plus the Resultant training site.

Collaboration, cost savings, and security

 

By transitioning to GWS, the City of Roanoke was able to reduce or eliminate several third-party licenses they’d implemented to get around their lack of collaboration solutions. They strengthened their security and are now well-prepared to bring on new employees.

The full transition took about a month and a half and has been relatively smooth, even for those who had to adopt a whole new way of working. Every agency in the City of Roanoke now has collaborative capabilities, a seamless work environment, and full end-to-end encryption that meets all compliance requirements. They can also easily share documents with the public.

Here are their main benefits from the transition:

  • Full collaboration capabilities including document and file sharing, instant messaging, and full-access video conferencing
  • Eliminated Barracuda spam filter licenses
  • Eliminated FileCloud file sharing licenses
  • Significantly reduced Zoom license quantity
  • Eliminated police department intranet server
  • Eliminated Sharepoint server
  • Flexible plans and pricing to pay only for what they use
  • Full end-to-end encryption for security
  • No additional future training costs to onboard new employees
  • No concerns about employee turnover impacting data security

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