Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

In 2007 the borough became aware that as more and more of their support staff began to work remotely they needed to improve and streamline their remote working structure so that employees could securely access the main network with the minimum of inconvenience.

For eight years the borough had been using a token style authentication solution to enable its employees to safely access the boroughs network. This system consisted of a small token that the user carried with them. The token produced an access code for the user to input into their laptop or PC in order for them to access a given network from a remote location.

However, the token system had become impractical for the needs of the organisation. Russell Hookway, Network and Telecommunications Manager for the borough, explains the problem: “The problem with the previous solution was that it was a physical device. This meant that accessing the network securely was an extremely time consuming process. Our staff had to fill out a remote working access request form and then make a physical appointment to come in and pick up the token – we obviously couldn’t send them through the post. This created a large amount of administration for us and was time consuming for the users. We realised that we needed a more appropriate solution that better suited our work force. ”

A big advantage of the SecureAccess solution is that it cuts down on operating costs, but Russell is keen to point out that this was not the key consideration in his decision. “The borough already provides over a thousand of our employees with mobile phones, so we were able to utilise this existing investments as well as save money on the cost of purchasing physical tokens. However, it wouldn’t have mattered if SecurEnvoy had of been a similar price to our previous system because we were so keen on bringing in the technology.”

Russell was already aware of SecurEnvoy as a company that could solve the problems that the borough were experiencing. Having had the SecurAccess technology demonstrated to him during a trade show he was in no doubt that they were the right company to speak to: “The SecurEnvoy solution meant that we took the responsibly of looking after a token away from the user. In the past we had instances where staff misplaced the tokens or attached them to their laptops, which was not very secure and placed an unnecessary burden on the IT support team.

I thought the SecurEnvoy technology and usability was fantastic. People cannot wait for this solution to be brought in. We actually have people holding off putting request forms in because they want SecurAccess.”

The borough already provides over a thousand of our employees with mobile phones, so we were able to utilise this existing investments as well as save money on the cost of purchasing physical tokens. However, it wouldn’t have mattered if SecurEnvoy had of been a similar price to our previous system because we were so keen on bringing in the technology.

-Russell Hookway Network & Telecommunications Manager