Intelligent SME.tech Issue 05 | Page 45

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// END-USER INSIGHT // suppliers ,” said Honan Insurance Chief Operating Officer , Laurence Basell .

“ The service levels of our incumbent provider weren ’ t matching our expectations resulting in challenges and disruptions for the organisation . We needed a partner that understood the growth path we were on and the service levels and vision that we required .
“ A series of network outages brought the situation to a head . We knew it was time for a change and so we began the task of searching for a new managed service provider who could partner with us in our quest for international growth , while providing us with optimal customer engagement .”
The solution
The Honan IT team undertook a formal request for proposal process with a range of market-leading service providers . A shortlist was created with a small number asked to make presentations to the executive team .
The plan was to find a fitting new provider and transition smoothly over time , however , while working through the RFP process Honan suffered several major outages through its incumbent network provider , accelerating the need to find an alternate solution .
Honan needed a supplier with the depth of technical capability and capacity to assess , troubleshoot and fix the issues , which included a requirement for expertise around connectivity and firewalling , including its data and Wi-Fi network which was suffering regular outages .
Honan looked to blueAPACHE , one of the shortlisted managed service providers , for its expert guidance . The company ’ s knowledge in handling networks meant that it was well placed to resolve the technical details and provide Honan with the support so that service disruptions would no longer impact the organisation .
blueAPACHE ’ s success in dealing with legacy issues and the critical value which the company was able to provide was so successful that
Honan subsequently looked to blueAPACHE for advice on a whole of WAN transformation , including its international sites , all before a master service agreement was signed .
At the end of the tender process , a decision was taken to sign an agreement with blueAPACHE for the deployment of its emPOWER portfolio of managed services due to the energy , synergy and technical competence which the company was recently able to demonstrate .
“ We could see from the outset that blueAPACHE understood our business and our specific requirements ,” said Basell . “ They were able to showcase their value before we signed them on . They really took the time to determine where we were going as a company and what we would need to get there , and this was a compelling factor in moving our whole of business to blueAPACHE .”
Overcoming office move challenges
An initial challenge came in the form of an office shift in Sydney . The company ’ s incumbent telecommunications service provider was unable to establish data links into the new premises in time for the planned move .
“ Rather than having to delay our office move , we were able to stay on track and be operational from day one ,” said Basell .
Basell says blueAPACHE was also able to overcome some significant application latency problems that had been troubling staff for an extended period . Once this was fixed , users reported a noticeable improvement in performance .
Working closely with the Honan IT team , blueAPACHE also undertook a migration to its emPOWER cloud platform for improved performance and stability which resulted in an immediate uplift in end user experience and confidence .
In addition , the organisation is using emPOWER Managed Services , emPOWER WAN , emPOWER IaaS and DRaaS , with
Previous page : Laurence Basell , Chief Operating Officer , Honan Insurance

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