The Soil Association is a UK-based charity dedicated to transforming the way we eat, farm, and care for our natural world.
With a history spanning over 75 years, they have been at the forefront of promoting sustainable food systems, organic farming, and environmental stewardship.
The charity works tirelessly to build practical solutions from the ground up, recognising that food, farming, and forestry are interconnected and essential to addressing the challenges our world faces today.
Working with Nexus
For the past 15 years, Nexus has been a trusted partner of the Soil Association, serving as an extension of their in-house IT team.
With over 400 staff across offices in Bristol and Edinburgh, the Soil Association has relied on our expertise to ensure their IT infrastructure is resilient, efficient, and aligned with their mission of sustainability.
The Challenge: Modernising IT to Grow
As the Soil Association continued to grow and expand its impact, it became clear that their existing IT infrastructure needed enhancements to support their evolving needs. Key challenges included:
Unified Communications: A fragmented telecoms system that needed to be unified across all offices to improve collaboration and efficiency.
Cloud Migration: The goal to become fully cloud-based, requiring a strategic approach to migrating data from on-site servers to SharePoint.
Legacy Infrastructure: Outdated switching and Wi-Fi solutions that needed modernisation to support their digital transformation.
The Solution: An IT Update Project
Our longstanding partnership with the Soil Association has enabled us to provide tailored solutions that address these challenges and support their mission:
Unified Communications with Microsoft Teams and Azure SBCs
We implemented a unified communications solution, leveraging Microsoft Teams and Azure SBCs (Session Border Controllers). This upgrade streamlined their communication channels, enabling seamless collaboration between the Bristol and Edinburgh offices. By integrating their communication platforms, we helped the Soil Association improve internal coordination, reduce communication costs, and increase overall efficiency.
SharePoint Strategy and Cloud Migration
At the end of 2023, we began developing and implementing a comprehensive SharePoint strategy to support the Soil Association’s goal of becoming fully cloud-based. This ongoing project involves migrating all of their data from on-site servers to SharePoint, ensuring that their information is accessible, secure, and aligned with modern digital practices. Moving to the cloud will allow them to reduce their on-premise infrastructure, lower operational costs, and gain greater flexibility in managing their data.
Modernising Infrastructure
As part of their digital transformation, we are currently updating their legacy switching and replacing their Wi-Fi with a UniFi solution. These upgrades will provide faster, more reliable connectivity across their offices, improving day-to-day operations and supporting their cloud-based initiatives. The enhanced network infrastructure will also enable the Soil Association to better support remote working, a key consideration in today’s hybrid work environment.
Strategic Consulting for Cloud Journey
Once these projects are complete, we will continue to guide the Soil Association on their journey to the cloud, offering strategic consulting to help them decide between a hybrid or fully cloud-based model. Our role as their virtual tech advisor ensures they have the insights and expertise needed to make informed decisions that align with their long-term goals.
Client Testimonial
“Nexus has been a trusted partner every step of the way”
Working with Nexus has been instrumental in our ongoing digital transformation. Their expertise and strategic guidance have not only improved our IT infrastructure but have also ensured that we are future-proofing our operations to better serve our mission.
From implementing a unified communications system to supporting our cloud migration, Nexus has been a trusted partner every step of the way. Their ongoing support has been invaluable, allowing us to focus on our core work of transforming the way we eat, farm, and care for our natural world.
Nexus truly understands the strategic importance of IT in our mission, and we are grateful for their continued partnership.”
Mark Holland, Group Head of IT, Soil Association
Find Out More
Download the Soil Association case study here, for keeping and sharing.
