Drinks logistics firm Tradeteam is able to deliver a
high-quality IT services to its users with the help of
Computacenter
- Business description Tradeteam is a logistics
provider to the drinks industry
- Business challenge Optimise current technology
to ensure that drink deliveries remain productive and
profitable
- Solution Source additional IT skills,
resources and remote management capabilities from an outsourcing
partner that can also help reduce costs
- Services Capacity management, installation,
request and change management, incident and problem management,
planning and design, remote management and fulfilment
As the role of technology within organisations has grown, so
have expectations over performance and service levels. Like other
business functions, IT departments increasingly have to demonstrate
how they deliver value to their organisations.
Customer satisfaction surveys, key performance indicators and
operational level agreements are now becoming commonplace.
Delivering efficient services across the entire IT spectrum,
however, requires access to numerous resources and skills. For many
companies it is simply not practical or cost-effective to fulfil
all these requirements in-house.
Instead, they opt to selectively outsource some IT services to a
trusted partner. Drinks logistics company Tradeteam has employed
just such an approach since the late nineties, when it began
outsourcing IT services, such as server administration and
desk-side support to Computacenter.
As a result of the partnership, Tradeteam has been able to
transform its IT service delivery and drive up the quality of its
services to end users. It also has made significant savings, with
the current cost per seat now nearly 10% less than it was two years
ago.
Tradeteam provides logistics services to the drinks industry,
and makes more than 50,000 deliveries across mainland UK every
week. A joint enterprise between supply chain management provider
Exel and brewers Coors, Tradeteam works with a range of customers,
including brewers, independent pub retail groups and social club
associations.
As Britain’s largest independent drinks logistics provider,
Tradeteam employs 3,200 people at more than 48 sites. Like most of
today’s companies it - and its staff – are extremely reliant on
technology, as Jim Davies, IS Support Services Manager at
Tradeteam, explains: “Our IT infrastructure is absolutely critical
to the business, and will become even more so as we roll out new
technology, such as our warehouse management system.
"The business expects IT systems and services to be reliable and
dependable, and to be delivered when and where they are
required.”
The suite of IT services now demanded by businesses such as
Tradeteam has become increasingly complex, and covers a range of
technology and disciplines, such as asset management, remote
support and server administration. Delivering such a broad range of
IT services requires a comprehensive set of skills and resources,
which are often impractical to provide in-house.
As Jim explains: “To provide the full range of IT services
in-house, we would require additional resources, which would mean
extra management, personnel and training responsibilities for the
IT department.
"By outsourcing a number of IT services to a trusted partner, we
are able to access a pool of quality staff and skills, thereby
freeing up our own time. We are also able to cope much better with
peaks and troughs in demand than if we were relying just on
internal resources.”
Remote services
Since the late nineties, Tradeteam’s chosen outsourcing provider
has been Computacenter, and in 2003 the two companies extended
their partnership with a new two-year contract. Under the contract,
Computacenter provides a range of IT services, including a
helpdesk, desk-side support, server administration and technology
sourcing.
These services are delivered using Computacenter’s dedicated IT
management facilities, such as its Service Support Centre and
Service Operations Centre (SOC).
The remote management technology available at the SOC enables
Tradeteam to cost-effectively monitor the capacity of its 40-strong
server estate, the performance of its backup systems, and manage
the availability of its infrastructure. Computacenter’s Technology
Support Group is also heavily involved in the management of
Tradeteam’s infrastructure, and provides a range of critical
services.
As David Carroll, Enterprise Consultant at Computacenter,
explains: “Email, is a vital communication tool for the business,
and any downtime can impact its operations. Therefore it is
essential that there is effective capacity management, and
anti-virus procedures in place. We help Tradeteam manage the
lifecycle of its email communications, ensuring that there are
suitable archiving and backup processes, and remotely monitoring
file sizes.”
First and second line support is also co-ordinated remotely via
a dedicated team of six agents at Computacenter’s Service Support
Centre. This team deals with around 250 incidents per week, by
either solving the queries direct or passing them on to relevant
third party resolver groups.
Utilising such remote service capabilities enables organisations
to address a number of IT service delivery challenges, as Neil
Meddick, Computacenter’s Remote Services Director, explains: “The
remote management and monitoring of systems enables businesses to
get more for less, which helps safeguard precious IT funds and
drive down operational costs.
"At the same time, remote services can help minimise employee
downtime and ensure critical applications are available to critical
people at the right time.”
Access to skills
Knowing it has IT services it can rely on is essential for
Tradeteam as it prepares to embark on a major technology refresh.
The company will be upgrading both its server and desktop/laptop
estate to Microsoft Windows XP, and refreshing some of its
hardware during 2004. “The breadth of Computacenter’s expertise
meant we were quickly able to scope both the technical and cost
implications of the refresh,” comments Jim.
The new operating system will give Tradeteam greater reliability
and compatibility with current technological products. It will also
enable more cost-effective support of its infrastructure.
Computacenter, which implemented the company’s last technology
refresh, will provide a range of services for the roll-out,
including installation, project management and disposal.
Tradeteam’s ability to draw on a pool of skills and resources
for specific project work is just one of the benefits of working
with Computacenter, according to Jim. “Computacenter’s multi-vendor
relationships mean we have a better understanding of the product
roadmaps and licensing arrangements of key vendors. Computacenter
also helps to manage specialist third party suppliers, which
removes this burden from the IT team, and as a result frees up
internal resources for more strategic activities.”
The management of these third party providers can prove critical
to Tradeteam’s business continuity, as Computacenter Service
Delivery Manager Dave Jordan explains: “Each Tradeteam depot has
printers for producing delivery notes for the drinks being
distributed that day. Deliveries are unable to leave without a
delivery note, so it is critical that the printer maintenance
service, which is provided by a third party and overseen by
Computacenter, is responsive and reliable.”
Transforming IT service delivery
Due to this criticality, Tradeteam and Computacenter are careful
to ensure that the company’s IT services are founded on industry
best practice and guidelines, such as ITIL (IT Infrastructure
Library).
“We are constantly striving to make the best use of our IT
resources and to deliver continuous improvement in the quality of
service to our customers,” comments Jim. “As Computacenter is fully
conversant with guidelines, such as ITIL, it means we speak the
same language and service definition is much simpler. We are also
able to provide feedback on Computacenter’s services through its
dedicated user groups, which help the raise the bar for effective
IT service management.”
He adds: “Computacenter’s services are critical. If the IT
systems fail, the business fails.”
Embracing IT service management best practice is a shared goal,
and has led to a number of joint activities outside the remit of
the contract, such as workshops on IT service delivery. “We take a
very common sense approach to IT service management, and believe it
is up to individual organisations to mould the ITIL principles
according to their environment,” comments Jim, who is a leading
regional figure for the ITSMF (IT Service Management Forum).
In addition to improving IT service management, Tradeteam has
enjoyed a range of value and cost benefits during its eight-year
relationship with Computacenter. As Jim explains: “The services
from Computacenter are demonstrably cost-effective. The cost per
seat is less now than it was two years ago, without any degradation
in service.
"Computacenter helps bring quality and best practice to IT
service delivery, and is flexible both in its approach and
resourcing. We view it very much as a partnership.”
This article was part of Computer Weekly's managed services
business channel, sponsored by Computacenter