Quote:

“With the help of GMA we have slashed IT support costs by one third within the space of 12 months… if GMA continues as they are today, they will be the IT partner for Phoenix Electrical in 10 years time…”
                                                                               - David Jordan, IT Manager, Phoenix Electrical

Phoenix Electrical is a market leader in their industry. Currently operating with up to 200 staff over 9 major sites geographically dispersed around London and Southern England. Their IT has always been an important part of their operations, although according to Graham Braddick, Phoenix Electrical FD, they had “historically lacked a cohesive technology management policy”. Problems were often solved on a piece-meal basis leading to the significant investment of resources into problem solving. The decision was therefore made that a major overhaul was required leveraging IT to reduce costs and boost business efficiency.

Situation:

The initial scope was to:

• Significantly lower costs whilst also providing a more stable and innovative IT system which better supports the business and its employees.

• Provide a capable system able to cope with the expected future growth of the current sites and with additional new site acquisitions.

• Put in place a network and user support plan for their Head Office and all satellite sites. The support team being required to deal with issues quickly and effectively.

• Develop a cohesive strategy encompassing areas including but not limited to networking, security and anti-virus software, helpdesk, 2nd and 3rd line support and telecommunications.

• Ensure the IT Partner chosen would keep the management team up to date with market and technical developments that maybe useful to Phoenix Electrical in the future.

Phoenix Electrical felt the most effective solution would be to work with a single IT partner wherever possible. Initially, the general feeling was to choose one of the well known 'High Street' brands of system support with a national coverage. However, IT Manager, David Jordan felt that it would be a worthwhile exercise to contact smaller more local organisations as well. Local Microsoft Certified Partner, GMA was contacted and the selection period begun.

GMA pitched on an overall solution to IT, managing IT systems proactively and with a cohesive and measured approach. As a Microsoft Certified Partner, Phoenix Electrical could be sure that their work was going to be of the highest standard and their locality meant reaction time was likely to be higher. According to David Jordan, the management of Phoenix Electrical appreciated the sincerity of the GMA proposal combined with the increased personal element to be gained by working with a smaller, more dynamic organisation. Further, it was strongly felt that GMA would be better positioned to remain closer to their business keeping “one eye on the bigger picture”, something that had historically been missing. As well as being a Microsoft Certified Partner, Phoenix Electrical were aware that all technical staff within GMA are officially certified leaving little doubt about their technical capability. However, all this being said, there were some concerns over the smaller size of GMA, as compared to their larger competitor with national coverage, and hence their ability to cover all the satellite sites and technical problems that may arise simultaneously.

In light of all of this, Phoenix Electrical decided with GMA that it would be mutually beneficial to have a four week trial period to see if and how the relationship would work. Ultimately, the four week trial passed successfully for both parties and GMA was awarded the contract for upgrading the network across all sites and carrying out on-going network user support for all sites.

Solution:

The solution GMA implemented was:

• Installed Windows Small Business Server 2003 at Phoenix Electrical Head Office
• Installed Windows Server 2003 at a major satellite site
• Upgraded more than 60 PCs to Windows XP Pro
• All sites, including more than 80 PCs, networked to Head Office
• Remote server access both for employees and GMA - this allows GMA to monitor and fix problems remotely whenever possible
• Improved Virus and Security Protection across all sites
• Improved back-up across all sites
• A helpdesk made available for all users at all sites
• A Mobile Office solution has been implemented successfully utilising a combination of Smart Phones and BlackBerry devices

Benefits:

This solution has proven to be highly effective in achieving the original aims and Phoenix Electrical have been pleasantly surprised by the benefits gained by working with GMA. Approximately twelve months into the relationship the major benefits are:

ICT Support Costs to be Reduced by 33 per cent or £50,000

Following investment during the first year a more robust and stable network is now in place and this combined with GMA's support team fixing the majority of problems remotely has led to significant savings being expected in the second year. According to David Jordan, “with the help of GMA we have slashed IT support costs by 1/3, or £50,000, within the space of 12 months” - a fantastic saving for any organisation. A further measure of success is that ICT support calls have been reduced from over 100 per month to consistently less than 20, whilst the monthly IT report submitted to the Board of Directors has been significantly reduced from 2 ½ pages to just 2 lines. All of this indicative of the stability of the network.

Increased Flexibility and Communications

The mobile solutions encompassing Smart Phone and BlackBerry technologies have enabled improved communication capabilities with staff working externally much of the time. Further, the ability to connect to the server remotely has also proved hugely beneficial for some members of staff facilitating working from home.

Strategy and Future Planning

IT Manager, David Jordan appreciates the sound advice of their new partner as well, saying that “GMA's suggestions and recommendations that we put in place really do work for us.” Further, GMA employs a pro-active approach to technology management keeping their clients up to date with potentially cost saving or business enhancing technical developments. The management of Phoenix Electrical greatly appreciates “knowing developments are available to us even if they are not entirely relevant right now.”

Other Key Advantages

The IT network is now in a very healthy state following a period of investment. The network is more functional, stable, better protected and with full disaster recovery in place.

However, it is not only the technical aspects of GMA's work that has been noticed by Phoenix Electrical, with the staff appreciating the personal nature and approach of a company like GMA. According to Graham Braddick, FD for Phoenix Electrical, GMA has proven that they are a flexible partner who has “largely succeeded in being seen by many of the staff as actually being the IT Department and full-time employees of Phoenix Electrical”. IT Manager, David Jordan goes further to point out that the “staff at GMA are willing to put in the extra effort... they are sincere and helpful people”. Considering the excellent technical capabilities of GMA, combined with their locality and clear willingness to help the business of Phoenix Electrical, David feels that “if GMA continues as they are today, they will be the IT partner for Phoenix Electrical in 10 years time.