The security of enterprise networks is a critical priority for all organisations across the public and private sectors, as they are forced to contend with an increasingly turbulent cyber threat landscape. As a result, network teams increasingly find their roles overlap with their organisations' cyber security strategies, with numerous siloed elements now converging.
Whatever sector you operate in and whatever your long-term business goals, your network is the foundation of your future success. With the distributed workforce now firmly established and customer interactions taking place over an evolving range of channels, business is now truly interconnected, with seamless, secure dataflows its lifeblood.
Although digital transformation amongst Legal firms has typically been comparatively slow compared to other sectors, the journey has picked up speed over the course of the last decade.
The Finance sector has always been one of the most dynamic, rapidly evolving industries, and this shows no signs of changing any time soon. But while shifts in the landscape may well open new opportunities, they will also come with new challenges, and it is the organisations who are ready and able to face these head-on who will continue to thrive in the years ahead.
Manufacturing workflows are evolving at an unprecedented rate, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. The increasing effectiveness and affordability of 'smart' technologies and the Internet of Things means IT and OT are increasingly interconnected, with increasing volumes of data flowing between sites and devices on an ongoing basis.
The past few years have been challenging for the global Manufacturing sector, with both Brexit and COVID-19 creating a wide range of operational disruptions whose impact is still being felt. Indeed, as recently as January 2023, we saw UK manufacturing shrinking for the sixth consecutive month1.
The Carey Group, established in 1969, is a leading multidisciplined construction and resource recovery group, operating across the UK and Ireland. Careys deliver innovative, safe and sustainable solutions to the most complex challenges.
They are unique within the construction industry as they have in-house specialist capabilities in asbestos, demolition, civil engineering, dry lining, house building and resource recovery. Their combined service capabilities means they can deliver consolidated programmes with reduced project costs, consistency and effective management of construction risks.
To fulfil The Carey Group's primary IT requirements Exponential-e was tasked to move their data across to a platform that used a combination of our private, secure Cloud platform and Microsoft Office 365. We were able complete the project in just 3 months whilst ensuring zero downtime during the transition period.
Our team of Professional services managers successfully completed the transition from start to finish, ensuring that everything went smoothly and impressing the Carey Group with their high levels of support and competence.
The fact that Exponential-e already supplied their 100GigE low latency WAN solution to Careys meant that they had the confidence in us to design and implement a robust technical solution that was aligned to their IT strategies.
Our solution was underpinned by our resilient Network - ensuring that Carey's had the best base from which to launch their Cloud and email platform.
By using an outsourced model managed by Exponential-e, Carey's made cost efficiencies as they eliminated the time internal IT staff traditionally spent managing their email systems.
The change from a capital expenditure to operating expenditure model has allowed Carey's to directly apportion a predictable monthly cost to the service.
Equally with the scalability of the solution, the cost of operations has decreased and the overall system is far more cost effective.
Faced with ageing internal email infrastructure that they were unable to fully manage and support, the Carey Group looked to find a solution that would allow them to move their data to a private Cloud platform whilst also utilising Microsoft Office 365. By outsourcing this service to Exponential-e they were able to ensure that they had a secure and resilient solution that was scalable and fully met their business needs.
The Carey Group's primary challenge was how to move their email data for their 1000+ users across to the new platform whilst ensuring the implementation was completed swiftly and smoothly to avoid business disruption, yet maintaining data integrity.
With their existing WAN provided by Exponential-e they looked to us to provide the professional services to make both a successful data transition and also ensure ongoing support for the day to-day management of the solution.
Exponential-e offered us a complete WAN solution that was technically superior to anything else we looked at, backed up by plain speaking people who have made the transition from a complicated in-house solution far easier than we ever envisaged.
Matt Coniam Head of ICT, The Careys Group.
An introduction to digital transformation across the AEC sector
01 A comprehensive guide to Exponential-e's portfolio of solutions and how they support the AEC sector's journey to full digital transformation
02 Proven strategies and processes, drawn directly from Exponential-e's experience with AEC leaders and numerous other sectors
03 Technology that drives future scalability, flexibility, and innovation, while allowing for full visibility and cost control
Formed over 60 years ago, the Vita Group operates internationally, supplying a vast range of foams for applications ranging from transportation, general industry, construction, furniture and bedding to packaging.
With 36 sites in 14 countries, they work with their customers to create innovative, quality products. Their aim is simple - to be the best in the markets in which they operate.
With a new and improved WAN being a key requirement for the Vita Group, this was one of the first things that they looked to tackle with Exponential-e. Migrating to a WAN on the Exponential-e Network enabled them to access a wider range of services, and is supported by 24 / 7 x 365 proactive customer support - therefore meeting all the requirements that the Vita Group had for their migration.
Not only did this move assist in enabling the business to transform the way in which it worked, but it also provided it with the flexibility to grow its business and transform its IT - both now and in the future. Moving to an Opex model also meant that the Vita Group could look to spend money that was previously tied up in hardware on manufacturing equipment instead - something that was key for the businesses' success.
Of course, a major change for the Vita Group was a transition to the Cloud. With a strong desire to move to virtualised services the company was prepared for the change, and working with a provider such as Exponential-e who are an expert in Cloud Services further provided them with the support and trust required to make the leap.
With an initial time frame of making the move to Cloud within two months, after just two weeks it became clear that this could be done much quicker and so the changes were made faster than expected. This gave the Vita Group more time to adjust and settle in to the new systems.
With 36 sites across 14 countries a key for the Vita Group was that they were able to work collaboratively across the globe, with secure and reliable Connectivity – something their existing supplier was unable to offer them. They wanted to move to a new WAN which gave them the functionality and collaboration that they required.
Particularly with such a number of sites, the company found that they were simply spending too much time in-house managing suppliers and processes. Being able to offload this to an external body would mean that their IT department could instead focus their efforts on key business requirements, rather than the day to day running of the business.
With several different hardware platforms and vendors, and a distinct lack of proactive support, the Vita Group wanted to streamline processes and so began to look for a supplier that could meet all their requirements whilst providing a single SLA underpinned with proactive customer support.
An interest and desire to move to the Cloud meant that the Vita Group required a supplier that could provide all of these things, plus the ability to transition to virtualised services.
This search led them to discover Exponential-e.
The Cloud Verified badge signals to customers that Exponential-e offers a service running on top of the complete VMware Cloud infrastructure. Through Cloud Verified partner services, customers attain access to the full set of VMware Cloud Infrastructure capabilities including integration and interoperability, cost optimisation and flexibility.
Exponential‐e, the British Cloud and Network provider, today announces that it has secured a considerable number of additional positions within the G‐Cloud 11 Digital Marketplace. These cover three categories: Cloud Hosting, Cloud Software and Cloud Support.
