Business: Large Private Golf & Beach Club
Sites: Darien and Stamford, CT
Keeping a private club running and members happy has its IT business challenges. Whether a power outage due to extreme weather or a security breach on a server, all operations come to a halt. The Point-of-Sale (POS) systems would go down, no wireless connectivity, no access to the club management system (CMS), and more.
Woodway Country Club in Darien, CT understood those challenges being on a coast that has had its share of hurricanes and nor’easters. Its operations are spread over a clubhouse, golf course, and pool in Darien, and its beach club on Shippan Point in Stamford, CT. Like almost all private clubs, there is no IT staff onsite to spring into action when needed.
“If the staff have any complaints or hear them from members, I hear because I'm the lead person here at the club when it comes to technology.” Said Pat Premdas, Woodway CFO.
Stock photo by mk. s on UnsplashWoodway addressed that challenge by moving its NorthStar CMS, Microsoft Office 365 applications and file storage to the cloud. Now, there is no server on the club property, and every location connects to the cloud services without the need for access via a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
With cloud-based infrastructure, they don’t need to maintain and replace servers, upgrades happen automatically, and NorthStar and Microsoft provide back-up service for their applications and files.
Woodway also expanded their Meraki cloud-based wireless infrastructure to assure seamless connectivity across all buildings. “Everyone who walks in the clubhouse has a smartphone, from children to adults. When they sit down at the table for dinner or they're at the beach club or pool, they're using their smartphones,” said Premdas.
The staff also has uniform access to Internet connectivity for their wireless iPads and the laptops that access NorthStar applications.
"I highly recommend migrating to the cloud. For one, business continuity and the true test, would be a result of a power outage. The whole country, including Amazon Web Services, would have to go down for us to truly be affected." Continue reading.
The cloud-based infrastructure simplifies the maintenance and management of Woodway’s IT systems. With managed services support from Flagship Networks, help is just a phone call away, plus Flagship staff monitors Woodway systems remotely to provide proactive support.
"It doesn't feel any different than if we had the server in the office," said Premdas.
As the CFO, Pat Premdas also appreciates the financial benefits. “We don’t have the obvious capital cost layout of buying new hardware and having to maintain support agreements, and then replacing servers every 5-6 years,”
The migration was seamless, and operations didn’t miss a beat. The staff didn’t notice the change. “Flagship did a really, really good job of narrowing down our challenges, detecting potential issues and putting stopgaps in place,” said Premdas. “We didn’t lose any time (during implementation).”
