In 2010 with a number of their IT servers reaching the end of life, together with a requirement to adjust to a new business structure the group IT service needed to rethink their Strategy. The business needed a new IT infrastructure that would achieve a number of goals.

Purley Park Trust is a not-for-profit Charity that provides support for adults with learning disabilities.

They support 80 people in 80 different ways in Care Homes Services, Supported Living, Domiciliary Care and Day Care services. Purley Park Trust are committed to ensuring that each of the people they support get an excellent service from the trust – delivered in a way that works for them. Help and support is offered through a team of 110 employees providing services to customers within West Berkshire, Reading and the surrounding area.

Increasingly their commercial clients require their contractors to comply with a whole range of specifications and requirements. In recent years there has been an increasing need for clients to be able to access information regarding their contracts online. In addition suppliers need to provide the necessary assurance that their business has a robust information and record keeping capability i.e. IT system.

With these new client requirements and the overall growth of the business Faulkners new Financial Director, Mel Faulkner, was looking to upgrade the level of support they were receiving from their IT service provider. They had been receiving support services with the same provider for 10 years which had worked out well but Faulkners now wanted someone to offer more than support. They needed a managed service company to be responsible for ensuring the on-going availability and development of the IT service; to help maintain but also develop and improve the IT service.

Mel Faulkner commented,

We depend on IT for just about every element of our business; accounts admin, record keeping as well as onsite service support and information sharing with clients. However, IT is not a core competence we have within the business or want to develop, so we needed someone we could rely on, trust and take ownership for the day to day running of our systems as well as its future development.

People 1st is the sector skills council for hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism. As a government recognised, industry-focused body it supports the development of skills and training across 24 industries.

Together they contribute over £63 billion in GVA each year, and employ approximately 2.9 million people in more than 419,000 establishments.

Their aim is to engage with as many employers and employees as possible within each of these industries, making the case for skills and productivity. The organisation provides three key services; research, vocational learning and training.

Employing around 100 people across a number of locations in the UK, People 1st is both growing and changing on a significant scale. Taking on new services and partnering with other providers has created a constant need to change and adapt to grasp new opportunities.

IT provides a vital backbone to all the services that People 1st provides, enabling access to numerous applications to users across the UK.

IT Challenges

In 2011, with growth continuing at a pace, People 1st made a decision to bring in additional expertise to help develop the existing infrastructure and ensure it could continue to underpin the business growth. Connexion was engaged to provide a fully managed IT service and advice on IT strategy.

Connexion, through their usual approach of undertaking an initial audit, created a development plan which encompassed the existing network of 9 servers and end user PC’s. In addition, it covered areas such as backup and disaster recovery, software configurations, software licence compliance and infrastructure documentation.

The key challenge was finding a way to transition the infrastructure onto a platform that would enable a flexible approach to growth whilst improving the efficiency of use at the same time as retaining stability and dependability.

The VELOSI Group, founded in 1982, provides Asset Integrity, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Engineering services to a number of leading national and multinational oil and gas companies, including BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, ADNOC, PETRONAS, PetroBras, ONGC, and Chevron.

The Velosi Group operates globally through five regional headquarters in the USA, the UK, Malaysia, South Africa, and the UAE and has 63 offices in 36 countries worldwide.

Velosi is a fast-growing engineering company with 63 offices in 36 countries. They were rapidly outgrowing their in-house email and intranet servers, which were struggling to cope with a growing headcount. They also needed to support a worldwide workforce and, of course, keep costs under control.

Velosi worked with Connexion, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to implement a solution using Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft SharePoint Online.

The new system has proved easier to manage with fewer IT staff. It provides easy, reliable access for staff around the world, including smartphone support. Above all, it has helped Velosi to cope with rapid growth while, at the same time, cutting costs compared with the in-house alternative.

Legal Rights Partnership (LRP) is a specialist immigration law practice that provides expert legal advice on all aspects of UK immigration, nationality, asylum and human rights law.

Based in Reading they are one of very few specialist immigration law solicitors’ practices outside London supporting both individual and business immigration needs.

In 2010, the practise opened its new office in Reading and required a complete IT infrastructure solution to support the business and ensure it met the guidelines laid down by the Solicitors Regulation Agency (SRA).

Solange de Carvalho, Partner at Legal Rights Partnership commented

“Of course it is essential for us to have a robust IT system within the practise; as with most businesses, everything from email, to accounts and record keeping is dependent on our IT. However, we also have to meet the growing requirements of the SRA in terms of data protection; ensuring the security of our client data is critical. We are now responsible for self-reporting to the SRA any potential breaches of our security from the outside, requiring both a robust IT security system and an ability to spot any infringements. In addition we also need a robust back-up and recovery system for business continuity.”