A Berlin-based professional services firm with around 45 employees had worked primarily on-site with locally operated server infrastructure and a traditional on-premises phone system. Remote access was only set up for individual cases. There was no comprehensive remote working strategy.

When pandemic restrictions began, full working capability from home had to be ensured within days without productivity loss or compromises to IT security and data protection.

Challenges included:

• No access concepts for central data, applications, and ERP systems
• The phone system could only be reached on-premises
• Unsecured home networks and potential data protection violations

Working remotely ourselves, DaPhi designed a fully secured remote working architecture as part of our managed workplace offering:

1. Scalable VPN infrastructure setup: DaPhi implemented an encrypted VPN (Virtual Private Network) solution that securely integrated all devices into the corporate network. Authentication was multi-stage using role-based access concepts

2. Network access segmentation: Sensitive data areas were logically separated. Employees received only access-relevant permissions according to the "least privilege" principle

3. Virtualisation of business-critical applications: Through a Citrix-based virtualisation environment, DaPhi delivered central applications with high performance and optimised bandwidth. Processing power remained in the data centre; devices functioned merely as secure access points

4. Migration of phone system to cloud environment: The existing telephone infrastructure was virtualised and moved to a cloud environment. All extensions, call queues, and ring groups remained accessible unchanged, regardless of work location

The company now has a flexible, scalable workplace strategy and can work location-independently.

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