Salvation Army New Zealand battles poverty "anywhere and everywhere” using Surface devices

Joe Serevi, a Salvation Army New Zealand chaplain, spends his days helping people in difficult circumstances. He matches them with transitional or permanent housing, jobs, therapy to address substance use, and emergency resources. Just as often, though, Serevi and his clients simply have a conversation with an open heart and open mind. “They want someone to talk to them, to listen, and to care for them,” Serevi says. "The walls can be going down when we start to have that deeper connection. Caring for people, that’s what connection is all about.”

The Salvation Army New Zealand serves more than 150,000 people a year across New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa Territory. Its services range from early childhood education and addiction services to ministry and national policy advocacy, all with the goal of eliminating poverty.

“Since Covid, demand for our services went up, not down,” explains Mark Bennett, Director of Digital and Information Technologies at the Salvation Army New Zealand. “Meanwhile, the financial situation for many charities has changed, so we need to look for ways we can achieve more with less. That is the promise of technology.”

The Salvation Army New Zealand worked with Microsoft partner Cyclone to purchase and provision new Surface devices for its staff—on a budget.

“Microsoft were very easy to work with, meeting a price point that could make Surface accessible for the Salvation Army,” explains Thomas Smith, partner at Cyclone. While the cost of each device was slightly higher than other options, adopting Surface company-wide made sound financial sense because of the significant savings from operating efficiencies, improved security, and device lifespan, Bennett says.

He adds, “With this technology, we know we can deliver our work more securely.”

Working anywhere to serve everywhere

While the Salvation Army New Zealand operates in more than 300 locations, staff increasingly travel to the people they serve. For example, staff run addiction programs embedded within communities, “which helps people have success where they are,” Bennett says. Many staff also work from home instead of in an office.

“Our ability to connect and communicate really matters,” he continues. “To do that, we need devices that work anywhere and everywhere.”

Cyclone has so far procured and provisioned more than 400 Surface devices for the Salvation Army New Zealand’s staff. It used to take the IT team and Cyclone up to a week to get a new working device to an employee—a frustrating process that slowed down staff delivering family support, life skills programs, and emergency food access. Cyclone now uses Windows Autopilot to configure Surface devices from afar, based on settings and standards developed by the Salvation Army New Zealand team. After using their credentials to log in, staff can immediately get to work, without delays or lengthy calls with IT support. “Autopilot has been utterly transformational,” Bennett says. “We can onboard people immediately, and we’re saving all these operational and staff costs.”

The IT team looks for ways it can make employees’ jobs easier from afar. For instance, with the endpoint management system Microsoft Intune, they can update printer drivers remotely so staff don’t have to search through a long list to find the current driver. The IT team also uses Windows Autopilot to direct a user’s browser automatically to the organization’s SharePoint homepage and other Microsoft 365 applications, reducing the number of clicks to get to workers’ most-used tools. Small fixes multiplied over time and 3,000 staff lead to cumulative efficiencies, so employees can spend more time on what truly matters: fighting poverty.

Protecting clients’ privacy

“We work with vulnerable people and those with very little. We’re dealing with personal stories and, often, dire circumstances,” Bennett explains. “The sensitivity of the information we hold is a huge factor. People deserve their privacy.”

He adds that Salvation Army New Zealand is “doubling down on security” to protect this data, which enables staff to deliver on its critical mission. The organization has adopted a zero-trust stance by managing devices through Intune, which means if the device falls into the wrong hands, “it’s useless to any bad actors,” Bennett explains.

Firmware protection, encryption, and multifactor authentication on Surface devices provide interwoven layers of security. Intune also automatically applies updates and patches, so no one is using a machine with tools that are years out of date. “Right out of the gate, the Surface devices, security integrations, and Microsoft 365 increased our confidence. It’s gold,” Bennett says.

All Surface devices run Microsoft Defender, which protects users and the nonprofit from cyberthreats. If the Salvation Army New Zealand experiences an attack, Defender gathers threat intelligence, automatically alerts the organization’s security experts, and isolates the at-risk user or environment. “We get a single, integrated look at what is and isn’t happening across all devices, tools, and platforms,” Bennett says.

Employees who work with particularly sensitive data, or whose job puts them at greater risk of cyberattacks, use the Microsoft 365 E5 license. This provides them with even deeper security protections and enables the IT team to apply more nuanced compliance capabilities.

Advancing security through tech literacy

Salvation Army New Zealand staff all share one thing in common: “They’re people who want to make a difference,” Bennett says. Yet many employees have struggled with technology literacy. “We needed to focus on literacy and education, especially because a majority of attacks now happen based on user actions, such as clicking on something.”

Surface devices and Microsoft 365 have offered an intuitive, easy-to-understand solution, Bennett says. Single sign-on reduces confusion, and most employees use just two platforms: Microsoft Teams (which houses links to the organization’s SharePoint homepage) and Microsoft 365. With fewer tools to learn, staff become more confident, faster.

Now that Salvation Army New Zealand employees use just one device and, for the most part, one operating system, IT support has improved. When troubleshooting, IT staff know exactly what they’re dealing with and can walk users through a solution, click by click. “We’re answering more calls and fixing problems faster, and people calling in are happier. Having a single device and common settings helps us find resolutions to problems,” Bennett says. “With the efficiencies we have saved from integrated technology, we’re able to be more intentional about developing the team.”

They run Microsoft 365 security simulations throughout the year, which sends emails that mimic phishing and other common cyberattack strategies. The team provides training to those who do not follow best practices and praises those who do. This practice halved the number of people who were “compromised” by simulated phishing attacks in just nine months. “Positive reinforcement and education both lead to great conversations,” Bennett says. “We work together so that if people see something dodgy, they report it. That’s a win.”

IT staff also regularly host informal training sessions via Teams. Anyone within the organization can use Microsoft Bookings to schedule time with an IT team member to troubleshoot an issue or learn how to do something, such as working offline while they’re in the field. IT staff also share security tips and tricks on the organization’s intranet. Additionally, when Intune alerts the IT team that an employee is engaging in risky behavior (such as using a virtual private network to change their online location), they schedule one-on-one sessions to correct the behavior.

As Salvation Army New Zealand’s technology journey continues, Bennett acknowledges that integrated tools and devices have made a big difference. He says, “Leaning into technology makes it easier for our people to give support where it’s needed.”

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