Housing authority moves to the cloud so clients can access data 24/7

The Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority (LMHA), based in Toledo, Ohio, decided to move its IT operations into the cloud, rather than replace its aging hardware infrastructure. The organization, whose goal is to create quality housing opportunities, reasoned that a move to the cloud would reduce costs, simplify operations and help enhance its service to the community.

Craig Patterson, acting chief information officer of the housing authority, explains, “The goal for Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority was to get more employees out in the community and to enable more clients to submit applications without physically coming into an office. This goal required mobility and the cloud, along with the confidence that personal information required when completing federal and state forms would remain secure.”

Patterson says that LMHA decided that Citrix Cloud from Citrix, built on Microsoft Azure Government, was the right solution for the organization. “Enhanced by Microsoft Azure, the Citrix Cloud is easier, faster, more affordable and simple to understand,” Patterson says.

“In the short time since we’ve adopted Citrix Cloud, our analytics have already shown change is happening,” he continues. “For example, although conventional wisdom said that lack of access to the Internet would keep our demographic from using online applications, we’ve seen that a majority of seniors and young people favor accessing LMHA services via mobile devices regularly. Change can happen if you put your mind to it.”

According to Citrix, LMHA staff members are leveraging its cloud environment in several ways using mobile devices that can work anywhere, are secure and are device-agnostic. For example, employees can bring their own device and use a complete Windows desktop on any mobile device, including Apple products running iOS.

Staff members can take their office to the field since they no longer need to complete physical paperwork. Employees can work more efficiently and community members receive services easier and faster, according to Citrix. Clients can access apps and data 24/7 without having to travel to an office location, which had posed a hardship for some.