Case Studies
Read more about how Cloud 9 has helped numerous business’s to increase productivity and save money…….just a few examples of where we have helped…
Athensis / Cloud 9
The challenge
Small growing business, lots of ‘things’ to deal with not directly related to customers or improving the business e.g. answering the phone, dealing with the post, premises etc. Resource constraints, lack of expertise in certain areas and financial constraints.
The solution
Bloxham Mill Business Centre - Virtual office solution
- Telephone answering/messaging
- Business address
- Post box
- Meeting rooms
- Hot desk
On-going challenge
- Lack of IT expertise
- Email solution
- Remote access
- Back-up of data
- IT support
- Business risk – loss of systems/data
- Cost
- Growth
Solution
Cloud 9 Microsoft Small Business Server & Exchange Email
- Remote and mobile access
- Pay as you grow (utility based pricing)
- Virtual server more costs effective than dedicated server Scalable
- Data stored centrally on virtual server, fully backed-up Data Centre provides security and resilience
- Business is completely mobile – can be based from anywhere IT systems are fully monitored and managed
CASE STUDY: Cherwell Finance / Cloud 9
Customer profile:
Cherwell Finance is a car and asset finance arrangement company based at Bloxham Mill Business Centre in North Oxfordshire. Established in November 2004, it provides finance arrangements for companies, covering any type of business assets they may want to buy.
Andrew Warman is the Managing Director of the company. As is the case with many owners of growing businesses, he has to juggle a number of roles concerning the smooth-running and growth of his business, IT being one of them.
IT challenges:
Cherwell Finance’s IT needs have changed significantly over the years as the company has grown and the team has expanded. Andrew Warman knew from the outset that he would need to find an IT resource that he could rely on to ensure that he had a reliable and robust IT set-up, as well as to minimise any downtime.
One of the specific business requirements that Andrew wanted to address as the business grew was the ability to achieve a greater level of flexibility with regards to working away from the office. In particular, he wanted to facilitate remote access to the company’s systems for staff wanting to work from home.
Solution:
Cloud 9 has been supporting Cherwell Finance from day one, as Andrew Warman explains: “Six years ago it was just me in the company. I was based in Bloxham Mill Business Centre as it provided me with a great range of business services including IT, plus the Cloud 9 team were on site and very accessible.”
As Andrew’s team has developed, so has the complexity and scale of the company’s IT operation. All staff rely heavily on online access and Cloud 9 has scaled up their support as the company has grown, from networking PCs, developing the web site and putting in place a robust back-up system.
In recent months, Cloud 9 has developed a virtual hosting solution for Cherwell Finance to facilitate a remote working solution. This can be used by any member of staff when they are off-site. Andrew explains: “I wanted to have the flexibility of being able to access my desktop and email wherever I am; plus from a security and resiliency point of view it was essential that my clients were assured that I had the capability to continue working if there was ever any kind of issue preventing access to the office.”
Cherwell Finance relies heavily on various banking systems to deliver the asset finance arrangements and Cloud 9 is on hand to deal with any issues that Andrew’s team may have in order to minimise downtime.
Results
Andrew comments on the service that he has received from Cloud 9: “From the very beginning when I was a one-person operation Cloud 9 have been able to interpret my IT needs correctly. I am an IT dinosaur and the Cloud 9 team are most definitely not! It has been a great support to be able to draw upon their expertise over the years, and to develop an IT strategy that has grown with the demands of my growing business.”
The Future
Due to the relationship that has developed over the past six years Cherwell Finance continues to rely on Cloud 9 for both proactive and reactive IT support. As Andrew concludes: “We have built up a strong working relationship with Cloud 9 built on trust and a reliable service and I look forward to that continuing.”
CASE STUDY: The Argument by Design / Cloud 9
Customer profile:
The Argument by Design is a website design and development company based in Bloxham, close to Banbury in Oxfordshire. Specialising in the environmental, ethical and academic sectors, The Argument by Design consults, designs and build websites to support its clients’ businesses and objectives. The company was founded by Director John Jackson, and employs specialist sub-contractors and consultants as required by project work.
IT challenges:
As an IT business itself, The Argument by Design needs its own back end IT to be as seamless as possible. Reliant on technology to make his business a success, it is incredibly important to John Jackson that his own IT provider offers a good service. He explains “Because I am selling website design and development to my clients, being safe in the knowledge that my own web servers and internet connection are reliable is imperative to my business.”
The Argument by Design hosts many of its clients’ websites after design and development, and uses a web server to do this. As projects evolve, John sometimes needs to upload additional work to the server at short notice, and requires a high level of control over the hosting service.
Disaster recovery is also important to John who says “should the worst happen, it is crucial that I know that my clients’ projects are safe – failure to do so would put my whole business in jeopardy.” Quick response times and high levels of service are key as John is keen to pass these features on to his own clients. As a small business, it is also important to keep costs under control and get the best value for money from service providers.
Solution:
Unhappy with his current internet service provider (ISP) due to the costs involved and level of service he was receiving, John reviewed the situation with Cloud 9 in mid-2010. He was happy to find out that the package on offer was not only cheaper, but also provided a greater level of customer support, and a better connection, meaning faster broadband and increased efficiencies in his business.
After visiting Cloud 9, John was very impressed with the data centre set up – offering secure, reliable storage along with IT support and disaster recovery. John decided to migrate his web server and mail server to Cloud 9, giving him complete peace of mind that his work was safe.
John explains why the change has worked so well for him: “The degree of control that Cloud 9 allows me to have is much greater than what I have experienced before – the Cloud 9 team are happy to work with me to get the very best set up for my business. Working in web development, I sometimes need to quickly install modules on the server or change server settings and with Cloud 9 it’s the case of a quick call and it’s done within half an hour - this is unheard of with other providers.”
Results
Through working with Cloud 9, The Argument by Design now has secure and more affordable IT support. Because of this, John has peace of mind that the IT and associated support upon which his business depends is completely reliable, meaning he can focus on the business itself rather than worry about anything going wrong. He explains “As a small business, there is no way I could have this kind of IT set up within my own business, but Cloud 9 does it perfectly for me, offering dependable IT which is so crucial for my line of work.”
The high level of service that Cloud 9 has given to The Argument by Design means that John is able to relay this on to his own clients. He comments “Because Cloud 9 is always fast to respond and reliable, it means I can quickly resolve any IT issues and reassure my clients. The level of service is fantastic, and means I have been able to offer new services to my clients that I couldn’t have previously, helping my business to develop.”
