David Norris Analytical Laboratories

About David Norris Analytical Laboratories

David Norris Analytical Laboratories (DNAL) was established by David and Kirsty Norris in 2005 as a family owned and run company, based in Dartford in Kent. DNAL was created to provide a specialist service to the Agrochemical industry, helping customers meet the essential requirements for international registration of pesticides, biocides and other similar products.

DNAL provide high-quality analytical services for their clients, which can be tailored made to meet individual customer requirements. Since inception, the team at DNAL has grown significantly both in size and experience, allowing them to invest in a variety of new technologies and first-class analytical equipment.

The challenge

David Norris Analytical Laboratories were looking to modernise their IT infrastructure and move away from on-premises to Cloud-based systems. As the company grew organically over the years their IT infrastructure had expanded to match, and DNAL had reached a size where they required their architecture to be centralised.

Additionally, the company were looking to find ways to reduce their management and support requirements, and therefore wanted to go to market to explore alternatives to their existing support services to provide ongoing end user support to all users. DNAL were also interested in implementing a Microsoft Modern Workplace solution to allow for a collaborative and effective infrastructure without onsite restrictions.

DNAL had previously engaged with members of the team at Transparity, and were aware of their expertise as a Microsoft Cloud Partner with an in-house Service Desk offering. With a comprehensive service and the addition of managed support, DNAL decided they wanted to work with Transparity on this project. A number of collaborative sessions were held between Transparity and DNAL to explore the possibilities of centralising all of the company’s infrastructure, including email, files, internal file sharing, computer device management and security.

The solution

Transparity proposed a tiered support offering, consisting of support options from day one for the existing infrastructure, with a reduced support rate agreed once the Modern Workplace modernisation project had been completed. Designing the support in this way allows the organisation to keep their support services relevant as the complexity of their estate decreases.

The Modern Workplace solution provided via Transparity’s Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider agreement included Azure Active Directory, enabling DNAL to manage the access to all of their data and files remotely if required, whilst having the ability to collaborate on projects using apps such as Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. Microsoft 365 Security policies also ensure the protection of information and data for all users.

Utilising Microsoft’s Modern Workplace tools provided DNAL with a cloud solution with no reliance on server or storage hardware. Being fully integrated into the Cloud has created a secure and reliable system for DNAL to work from, meaning easy access to their data and files with a significant reduction in the management and servicing required.

The outcome

David Norris Analytical Laboratories now have a modern and secure IT solution underpinned by Microsoft Cloud technologies and all end user support is delivered easily and remotely.

The new environment also allows DNAL to operate without centralised on-premises server hardware, giving them the benefits associated with the Cloud whilst removing the responsibility of onsite management, maintenance and upgrades. This has helped the company migrate from a purely on-premises, server-based infrastructure to an efficient and secure serverless solution, providing a great foundation for DNAL.

DNAL can now continue to focus their efforts on delivering specialist service to the Agrochemical Industry whilst feeling reassured that technical support is on-hand. With these services implemented, this approach simplified the infrastructure so it could easily and securely be managed remotely if required.