Onboarded in a Month: Managed IT Support for the Association of Colleges

The Challenge

The Association of Colleges is the national voice for further education in England, representing and supporting colleges across the country. With 150 staff split between a London head office and four national branches, AoC’s work directly depends on reliable, secure IT - and on an IT partner who moves at the same pace they do.

That pace had accelerated sharply. Department for Education projects and funding were driving rapid growth, and the organisation needed to scale headcount and capability quickly. Their previous managed services provider wasn’t keeping up:

• Response times were too slow for a growing organisation running multiple concurrent initiatives
• Support quality was inconsistent, and users had lost confidence in the helpdesk
• Strategic input was missing - the previous partner was a ticket-taker, not a true advisor
• No clear ownership of infrastructure, leaving AoC’s internal team to fill the gaps

AoC didn’t need another supplier. They needed a partner who would take ownership.

Our Approach

We transitioned AoC onto our managed service using our 4 Blocks onboarding framework - the same proven method we use every time we take on a new customer.

Block 1: Discovery

We documented every system, every user, every device and every third-party integration in AoC’s estate. Nothing was assumed, nothing was skipped. This is the work that pays back every day afterwards in faster resolution times.

Block 2: Remote Management Rollout

We deployed our monitoring, patching and endpoint management stack across AoC’s devices with zero interruption to service. Users kept working; we quietly took over the plumbing in the background.

Block 3: Standardisation

We standardised AoC’s technology on Microsoft - Microsoft 365 for productivity, Entra ID for identity, Intune for device management. This gave AoC a consistent experience across all five offices and a single, secure foundation for every new starter.

Block 4: Ongoing Communication

From day one we set the rhythm that still runs today: regular reporting, monthly service reviews and quarterly business reviews. This ensures that no issue drifts and no strategic decision gets lost in the helpdesk queue.

Automating the Growth

AoC’s growth meant new starters were joining faster than the old process could cope with. As part of the transition we built a pre-agreed onboarding workflow: each new user is automatically allocated an email account, a corporate laptop and a corporate mobile, all pre-configured, secured and ready on day one. Every device is remotely managed and kept compliant for its entire lifecycle.

The Results

Within one month AoC was fully onboarded - with zero interruption to service and no drop in productivity during the transition. Over the first three months on our service, user satisfaction hit 100%, a number we’re genuinely proud of and that AoC’s team feel every day.

Longer term, the results are quieter but more important. IT across AoC is simpler, more secure and more predictable. Costs are down, downtime is minimised, and AoC’s leadership team have a strategic IT partner at the table - not a supplier at the other end of an email.

Looking Forward

We continue to work with AoC as their managed IT partner, delivering day-to-day support, strategic guidance and the kind of proactive service that lets their team focus on what they do best: championing further education in England.