MediaAgility was acquired by Persistent in May 2022 and its capabilities form the foundation for Persistent’s Google Business Unit. As a Google Cloud Partner and a strategic IT Transformation services provider, the Google Business Unit is focused on delivering transformational services with cloud-native solutions that enable businesses to stay relevant and benefit from the public cloud platform capabilities.
About the Institute
National Institute of Fashion Technology is India’s most reputed learning center for fashion enthusiasts. Established in 1986, the fashion institute was set under Ministry of Textiles, Government Of India. Headquartered in New Delhi, other popular centers are in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai followed by 10 other cities. Meanwhile, new NIFT Campuses have also been announced by the Government in Ludhiana and Punjab.
Commonly known as NIFT, it is an institution for design, management, and technology for the International Fashion Business. The institute offers regular/full time bachelor’s and master’s programs in areas of design, management, and technology.
Challenges
The institution at Hauz Khaz, Delhi was facing collaboration issues wanting to settle down for proactive communication rather than reactive. The makers of NIFT wanted to adopt a technology which was hassle free and simpler for the users and audience to accept. A set-up was required for secure browsing and something which was easy to install.
NIFT intended to eliminate all communication barriers within the college. The firm wanted to have a no communication or environmental barricade between the faculty and higher Management. Lastly, a cost-effective system was necessitated by the fashion establishment.
Idea envisioned
The IT department at NIFT realized the need for upgrading their existing infrastructure. With rapid changes in technology today, there was a giant scope of bringing in innovation driven by technology. The college wanted a closer collaboration between staff and students and was looking to revolutionize the way education was imparted traditionally to over thousands of students that graduated each year.
We proposed an idea to the educational institute of making a subtle switch to the cloud. It involved setting up Google Apps for Education for more than 12,000 users – students and faculty. Google Apps for Education edition includes attributes such as cloud-based messaging and collaboration implementation. Google messaging services consists of Gmail, Talk and Calendar while Google collaboration services comprises Google Docs/Drive, Sites and Hangouts.
Introduction of Google solutions has incredibly helped the staff, faculty, and college students in carrying out their daily schedules. With the help of Google Sites, students can manage their micro-sites for presentation while faculty has started exploring the idea of e-library. Google Drive has made it possible for the faculty members to directly share lecture notes and documents with all their students. All scholars can work on a single document with real time collaboration.
We also initiated a Google Apps training site having complete documentation on applications, its use, and functions. To further assist students and faculty on understanding the base and functions of Google Apps for Education, the training site contains Video Tutorials as well. Training sessions on the cloud domain have been delivered remotely/on-site to make new users fathom new Google Apps account and its features.
Our Google-certified deployment specialists ensured smooth deployment of Google Apps and a high level of collaboration.
With MediaAgility (now part of Persistent), it was a smooth transition to Google Apps for Education. Through reduced IT and maintenance costs, the company has brought innovative and useful solutions to our college. We are the country’s oldest and one of the most reputable colleges for Fashion Technology and hope to scale new heights with the switch to the Cloud
Professor Dr. Prabir Jana, Head – IT, NIFT, Hauz Khaz, New Delhi
