Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp streamlines behind-the-scenes healthcare work with the Microsoft cloud

At a hospice center in Germany, a nurse gently supports an elderly woman as they walk through the garden, then reads a book aloud to someone nearing the end of life. The nurse also oversees medication to manage pain, responds to medical changes, and supports grieving families. Hospice work is equal parts medical expertise and compassionate companionship—and the same could be said of all Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp’s services. 

The nonprofit Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp has met the healthcare needs of people in Northern Germany since 1879. It runs inpatient, outpatient, psychiatric, hospice, and day care centers in 47 locations.  

Yet outdated practices—from paper-based communication processes to an extensive on-premise IT infrastructure—held back this historic nonprofit. With an IT staff of just five people supporting 2,000 employees across ten organizations, “we hardly had the know-how or resources ourselves to build the technologies we needed,” explains Arne Schnack, Division Manager of Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp. The nonprofit worked with Microsoft partner Orange Networks GmbH to upgrade its technologies and migrate to the Azure Cloud. 

Schnack adds, “We are the first proof that everything hospital systems need works in Azure, to our fullest satisfaction.” 

Embracing the agility of the cloud

At its most extensive, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp’s on-premise IT infrastructure included about 100 servers in a centralized data center. The hardware was nearing the end of its lifecycle and would have required an enormous investment to replace. The nonprofit completed a data protection impact assessment to ensure it could comply with stringent German and European data privacy laws, secured the board’s approval, and contracted Orange Networks GmbH to support the migration.

“The real goal was transitioning all products to be SaaS solutions,” Schnack explains, which would improve internal processes, streamline healthcare delivery, and move the nonprofit away from a resource-intensive datacenter. Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp was able to discontinue many applications by adopting the Microsoft 365 platform, which seamlessly aligned to Azure. Other systems—such as its hospital information system (HIS)—required more finesse. 

The nonprofit’s HIS runs on an Oracle database, and switching licensing was cost-prohibitive. So with Orange Networks GmbH’s help, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp migrated its Oracle healthcare database to a virtual server in Azure. Orange Networks GmbH navigated several challenges. “For example, Microsoft allowed us to quickly change our Azure region within a few hours,” explains Elmar Wesle, Senior Solution Sales Architect at Orange Networks GmbH. “That highlights how we were able to adapt to dynamic problems.” 

“Now everything just works—and a lot of that is because of working with our partner, who are worth their weight in gold,” Schnack says. 

By fully operating in Azure, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp has the flexibility to scale cloud resources up and down as needed. In the past, the nonprofit had to estimate how much server power they would need over the coming years—and sometimes ran out, leading to “massive bottlenecks,” Schnack remembers. “The Microsoft solution means the resources we have are just right: We can make ad-hoc adjustments and immediately get more resources, any time.” For example, when Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp consolidated ten enterprise resource planning (ERP) tenants into one, they spun up a virtual server to architect a solution, then decommissioned the duplicates once the infrastructure was complete.  

Ready-to-go Azure security services further free up the small IT staff. For example, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp uses an Azure Firewall to create and enforce security policies, block traffic to and from problematic IP addresses, and prevent malware and viruses from taking hold. “We had to answer the big question of how we could ensure security now and in the future,” Schnack says. “We outsource a lot of functions to this technology, giving my team the flexibility to concentrate on improving processes that benefit our organization and the people we serve. IT issues are significantly simplified with the help of Microsoft.” 

Boosting productivity through communication and collaboration

By now, it should come as no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this healthcare nonprofit’s digital transformation. What may be unexpected: Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp’s staff, even those who do not consider themselves IT-savvy, have enthusiastically embraced Microsoft productivity, collaboration, and communication solutions.  

Each organization within Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp has its own team, where staff can build community, keep their files organized in a SharePoint intranet, and collaborate on shared projects. “They log in just once and have everything they need in one interface. They immediately feel comfortable with the familiar experience and even have fun exchanging information,” Schnack says. Teams also connects to the nonprofit’s online learning resources and serves as an informal forum for employees to learn from one another, he adds.  

Using Microsoft 365, rather than licensing from a buffet of tools, makes economic sense, too. “That way we don’t divert more money from the nursing staff and other service teams,” Schnack says.  

Many employees spend their days directly serving clients, whether that means running a care center for adults with intellectual disabilities or comforting elders at the end of life. “I hear again and again that employees access all their apps and work everywhere,” Schnack says. “It’s been a quantum leap for us.” He is working toward fully replacing the nonprofit’s phone system with Teams Telephony and providing staff with smartphones to further free them from the desk. Working from anywhere and on any device, instead of returning to a desktop for tasks like messaging and documentation, reduces burnout and enables workers to spend more time with patients and clients.  

With so much success in its ongoing digital transformation, Stiftung Diakoniewerk Kropp is looking for even more ways that modernizing its technology can facilitate greater impact. “Innovation is a huge topic for us,” Schnack says. “We’ve seen a massive benefit with relatively little investment. Tech is moving us forward.” 

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