The Beginning
Asteria Services engaged Evocate in 2019 with two needs: a modern intranet to replace fragmented internal communications, and a replacement for their legacy Dknet platform. Evocate delivered both: theHub intranet rolled out in 2019 alongside the Dknet replacement, and a sustained SharePoint SLA was established to support the new environment.
What started as a discrete platform replacement has, over six years, become one of Evocate’s most comprehensive ongoing NFP partnerships.
The Work
Across the partnership, Evocate has delivered:
Foundation (2019-2020)
- theHub intranet build, Asteria’s central employee communications and resources platform
- Full Dknet platform replacement
- SharePoint SLA covering ongoing platform support
- Microsoft Teams rollout across the organisation
Platform consolidation (2022-2023)
- IT systems review and strategic planning sprint
- Multi sprint migration of Asteria’s terminal server environment to SharePoint Online
- Azure AD device join program with MAM and MDM policy implementation across the device fleet
- Staff Onboarding/Offboarding automation built on the SharePoint platform
- Unlimited Remote Support Help Desk and MSP arrangement providing dedicated ongoing IT capacity
Infrastructure modernisation (2024-2025)
- Office relocation including wireless network design, equipment procurement, and on site coordination
- iPad fleet rollout, 20+ devices procured, configured, and deployed with rugged cases and storage carts
- Workstation refresh including HP all in one units and Dell Latitude laptops
- Network infrastructure refresh including Ubiquiti gateways, switches, and access points
- Continuing support and ad hoc consulting including a payroll system upgrade engagement
Why the Relationship Endures
Asteria has stayed with Evocate for six years because the partnership covers the full breadth of what a national NFP actually needs from its Microsoft platform partner: intranet, document management, collaboration, identity, device management, helpdesk, infrastructure, hardware, and strategic IT planning. There is no part of Asteria’s technology environment where they need to engage a different vendor and re explain the operating context.
For an NFP operating with a lean internal IT footprint, that breadth in one partner model is the difference between technology that supports service delivery and technology that distracts from it.
What This Means for Other Clients
Asteria demonstrates how Evocate’s Microsoft delivery model works for a national not for profit operating at scale. The progression (from theHub intranet, through platform migration and security uplift, into infrastructure and managed services) is a pattern other NFP organisations can adopt as a roadmap. The point is not that every NFP needs everything Asteria has. The point is that as needs emerge, the partner is already in place.
