Aros Architects upgrades tech infrastructure with Inevidesk

London-based architecture practice Aros Architects migrated to Inevidesk’s hosted solution in March 2021 to support more flexible and collaborative working practices, as well as enable the firm to accommodate its growing team in its current office and even sublet some of the space.  

Like many AEC organisations thrust into remote working during the pandemic, the team faced connectivity and performance issues when connecting to workstations located physically in the office through VPN. But, even when the team could work back in the office, they continued to face challenges. 

The firm’s ageing server was grinding to a halt and couldn’t cope when architects needed to work within Revit models or share project data from home. Even those physically sat in its Southwark-based studio struggled to effectively collaborate with colleagues because workstations were fixed to an assigned desk – preventing staff from easily coalescing around their current project team. 

Director Mark Limbrick said “The studio is a very important place for Aros, for the collaboration of our teams and sharing of ideas but we’re also really passionate about giving employees a good work/life balance and that means empowering them to work effectively from home or the studio whichever is best for the task in hand. With our server reaching capacity and packing up, we knew we needed to pursue a different IT set up. We were first recommended Inevidesk from contacts at Hutchinson & Partners and we contacted friends at GRID Architects to see their operation, who shared very positive reviews of the virtual desktops.” 

The endorsements lead Aros to speak to the Inevidesk team about the capabilities of VDI, and shortly after the firm took on four pods despite only needing three at the time, with the view of supporting future growth plans. 

Since starting its journey with Inevidesk’s VDI, Aros has been able to power more flexible working for its team as staff can operate Revit models and work on projects wherever they are – in the office, at home or when travelling. They can connect straight to a fast, secure and high-performance server and don’t have to sync information locally. 

Aros also chose to host its infrastructure off-premise in Inevidesk’s London data centre. This was due to a number of reasons. The studio is based in an old Victorian school building and was at the time often susceptible to temperature problems, so wanted to relinquish responsibility for managing a server in these conditions to limit downtime and team frustrations. The hosted solution also gives the team more confidence in knowing that their data is being securely and safely stored and managed. 

From an aesthetic perspective, getting rid of its on-prem server created a better working environment for employees in the office. And since more could work from home successfully through VDI, Aros could cut down the number of physical ‘assigned’ desks in the office and now operate a full hot-desking policy, whilst also freeing up space for subletting.  

The shift from physical workstations to VDI has also helped the practice optimise IT costs. Limbrick said, “Inevidesk gives us more value for our money. Previously, we’d employ a new team member and then have had to buy a workstation, a laptop for home working, and licenses on top of that. Now, a pod of seven users is equivalent to the equipment we would have paid for two to three people. Added to that, Inevidesk gives us the ability to scale easily and quickly when we need to, without the concern for on-site spatial or environmental constraints.” 

To-date, Aros Architects has 37 team members using vdesks. And has just acquired a sixth pod to support its growth to 42 team members. Without Inevidesk, the firm would have needed to introduce more physical desks, requiring it to move out of the building in Southwark which it has called home for almost 20 years. 

“Buy it. Just do it”, Mark Limbrick said. “Inevidesk is excellent and has significantly improved our flexibility and the experience of our team members whether they’re working remotely or in the office. There is no question that it has brought tangible benefits to the company over the past two years.” 

Get in touch if you’d like to find out how to improve the flexibility and performance of your IT infrastructure. Email us at info@inevidesk.uk or call us at 020 3747 3012.