Sight Research UK is a Bristol-based charity working tirelessly to fund early diagnostics and scientific research into sight loss. Their mission is straightforward and urgent: stop the clock on sight loss and fund the revolutionary research that makes it possible.
Like many charities, their team is stretched. Every hour spent dealing with IT problems is an hour not spent on the research and relationships that drive their mission forward.
The Challenge
When Sight Research UK relocated to a new building in April 2020, the timing couldn’t have been more of a challenge, with the world was shifting to remote working overnight. Their existing IT setup wasn’t built for it.
They needed to move to the cloud, secure their remote working environment, and find a local IT partner who could provide ongoing support, without adding more complexity to an already stretched team.
No cloud infrastructure in place
Everything was on-premise and location-dependent, making remote work practically impossible without access to files and data.
Limited internal resources
The charity needed to keep running whilst undergoing a significant technology shift.
Remote working security had not been considered
There was no secure way for staff to connect, log in, or share data outside the office.
No dedicated IT support
Issues were reactive and time-consuming to resolve. Without a partner to call on, every problem fell to a team that had neither the time nor the technical expertise to fix it.
The Solution
A tailored migration, built around their mission, not just their tech
Nebula’s starting point was simple. IT should never be a source of headaches, especially not for an organisation doing work this important. The solution was designed to be manageable, secure, and built for a team that needed to focus on their research.
We ran a full cloud migration, moving Sight Research UK’s entire operation to a secure, accessible environment that worked whether their team was in the office or at home. From there, we layered in bespoke cyber security measures to ensure their sensitive data was properly protected.
Full migration to cloud
A full migration to cloud, ensuring secure access was possible, regardless of whether the user was in the office or working remotely.
Microsoft Defender endpoint protection deployed
Across all working laptops, every device was brought up to the same security standard.
Bespoke cyber security measures
Tailored to charity data requirements. Protections were built specifically around the sensitivity of beneficiary, donor, and research data.
Ongoing managed IT support
Proactive, not just reactive. Issues are caught and resolved before they become disruptions, rather than waiting for something to break.
Process streamlining
To reduce IT-related admin and interruptions.
The Results
Zero downtime. Complete peace of mind.
Since partnering with Nebula 5+ years ago, Sight Research UK have experienced zero days of downtime. Their team works securely from anywhere, their data is protected, and IT has gone from a source of disruption to something they simply don’t have to think about.
BUSINESS BENEFITS
- Staff work securely from anywhere, with no compromise on access or protection
- Sensitive beneficiary and donor data protected by design, not patched together after the fact
- Zero days of downtime since the migration, with issues resolved before they become disruptions
- IT-related admin and interruptions reduced, freeing the team to focus on research
- Predictable IT costs through a fixed managed service, with no surprise bills
LOOKING AHEAD
- Ongoing optimisation of security policies as new threats and requirements emerge
- Proactive monitoring across all systems, catching issues before they affect the team
- Regular reviews to keep IT aligned with the charity’s mission as it grows
- A long-term partner on hand for whatever the next challenge turns out to be
