Notting Hill Housing Trust (NHHT) has contracted Advanced 365 to deliver a private cloud managed IT service for four years with the option of extending it for a further two years. This outsourced IT service contract at 7.43m, will be key to supporting NHHT's growth plans and flexible working environment. It will also enable improved communications between NHHT and its tenants. The outsourced IT service is being delivered in a phased approach with the final phase due for completion 31 March 2012.
NHHT currently runs and supports its IT systems in-house. However NHHT's plan to increase its housing base by 40% over the next few years cannot be achieved using the current in-house IT infrastructure.
The decision to move to an outsourced solution was also driven by NHHT's need for an IT platform that supports flexible working and enables tenants to communicate with NHHT anytime, anywhere and using either a wide variety of internet-enabled devices or a mobile SMS service. Advanced 365's cloud managed IT service will provide NHHT with the cutting-edge, flexible and cost-effective IT platform it requires.
Martin Carpenter, Head of Central Services from Notting Hill Housing Trust, says, "Advanced 365's outsourced IT service will support our growth aspirations and deliver a range of benefits, from flexible anytime and anywhere IT access for staff through to improved service for tenants. We also anticipate cost savings up to 20% per annum compared to delivering this in-house."
NHHT will be provided with a range of new managed and hosted applications including Microsoft email, an instant messaging solution to be rolled-out to both staff and customers, a new customer relationship management (CRM) solution and a SharePoint solution. As the IT applications will be hosted at two different data centres, this will ensure disaster recovery contingency. Advanced 365 will also be deploying a range of shared managed infrastructure services including storage, back-up, monitoring and anti-virus infrastructure.
Advanced 365 will be contracted to deliver service desk support and to ensure 99.5% service availability. As part of the contract, NHHT's IT infrastructure team has been transferred across to Advanced 365.
Carpenter adds, "The Advanced 365 outsourced solution will provide us with an excellent foundation for the future. Staff and customers will have ready access to flexible, reliable and efficient IT systems and we will be able to quickly and easily take advantage of new and emerging technologies, ensuring that the Trust remains at the cutting edge of service delivery."
Add a Comment
No messages on this article yet