Case study - Industrial demolition company
Overview
Our client who specialise in hydro-demolition with a customer base that spans the whole of the UK initially engaged Impelling having worked with a couple of different IT providers that were unable to solve their most pressing IT needs.
The challenges
With a very remote head office, procuring a stable internet connection that could support the needs of the business was a challenge this client had faced for a number of years. The geographical location meant that speeds delivered via traditional copper in the ground type internet services were too slow to be of any use. Other companies had tried to implement wireless 4G solutions, which did offer improved speeds, but consistency and reliability were lacking, and hindering business operations.
With staff out on site, at multiple locations around the country performing complex work with strict safety requirements, effective communication, and the ability to send documents back and forth is crucial.
In addition to the connectivity challenges, as a result of working with a number of different IT providers, the client had a mixture of hardware, including an on premise server, and laptops and desktops of various ages running different operating systems and software versions. While this had much less of an immediate impact on day to day operations it did present some security concerns, and some concerns around being able to effectively share and collaborate on documents.
How we work together
Initially, it was clear the internet connectivity was the most immediate problem that we needed to fix, so we put together a three step plan to improve the internet at head office. The first step involved assessing the equipment already in place to see if any short term fixes could be made to improve speed and stability. The second was to explore other options and find a longer term solution that we knew was capable of supporting the needs of the business. The third step was to evaluate network usage at head office, and see if there were any efficiencies that could be applied alongside our improvements to further boost stability.
As it turned out, the equipment already in place was quite capable, but misconfigured. Our expertise and experience running a residential wireless internet network has taught us a thing or two about wireless internet, so with a few tweaks we ended up with a much improved internet connection, with what we believe to be about the best possible performance for a connection given the constraints provided by the area.
With a stable internet connection now in place, over the course of the first six months working with this client we have been able to implement a number of other improvements. Hardware updates have been rolled out to replace the mismatched collection that was in use, and a framework is now in place for any new devices that are purchased to ensure maximum compatibility with other devices and software in use at the organisation.
Security has been improved, with the implementation of a security strategy planned around the needs of the business. Improvements to the use of multi factor authentication, and the addition of a suite of security and monitoring products have vastly improved the base line level of security at the company.
As we move forward, we will continue to apply improvements to all aspects of this client's IT, seeking out projects and improvements to help support their growth in any way we can.