About Sunbeam Fostering Agency
Sunbeam Fostering Agency is one of the largest and most progressive independent fostering agencies in the UK. Since its inception, Sunbeam has been dedicated to providing high-quality foster placements for children and young people. With several offices across the country, their mission is to provide a safe, nurturing environment for children in care while offering industry-leading training and 24/7 support to their diverse community of foster carers.
The challenge
As an organization handling sensitive personal data across multiple regional hubs, Sunbeam faced a dual challenge: mobility and security. Their legacy on-premise infrastructure made it difficult for social workers and support staff to access vital records securely while working in the field or visiting foster homes. Furthermore, their existing telephony system lacked the centralized control needed to manage 24/7 emergency support lines efficiently across various geographical locations.
The solution
Leveraging our expertise in secure public sector and healthcare-adjacent IT, we implemented a Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure and a Unified Communications (UC) solution.
We migrated their document management to a highly secure SharePoint and OneDrive environment, configured with strict conditional access and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies. This allows social workers to securely update case notes in real-time from mobile devices during home visits.
To streamline their support network, we integrated a Microsoft Teams Phone System with a bespoke call-routing architecture. This ensures that emergency calls from foster carers are automatically routed to the correct on-call supervisor based on the caller’s region, regardless of the time of day. We also implemented Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all endpoints to ensure that sensitive child safeguarding data remains protected at all times.
The results
Sunbeam Fostering Agency now operates with a truly agile and secure digital backbone. The agency has seen a marked increase in staff productivity, as social workers no longer need to return to a physical office to complete administrative tasks.
The new centralized telephony system has improved response times for foster carers, ensuring that support is always just one click away. Most importantly, the enhanced security protocols provide the agency’s leadership and local authorities with total confidence that all sensitive data is handled in full compliance with GDPR and safeguarding regulations.
“The transition to a cloud-based, secure infrastructure has transformed how our teams operate on the ground. We now have the flexibility to support our foster carers more effectively, knowing that our communication is reliable and our data is entirely secure. It has allowed us to focus more on the children in our care and less on the limitations of our technology.”
