Recruitment firm Reed has signed a €17m (£11.6m) deal
with virtual network operator Sirocom to support voice and data
convergence across its business.
The recruitment giant has 3,000 IT users working from 300
offices across the UK and Ireland and also runs one of the UK’s
largest online jobs websites.
The managed service contract is aimed at reducing the complexity
of Reed’s IT infrastructure and making more effective use of thin
client technology and IP telephony.
The recruitment giant is also seeking to reduce its IT spend by
20% over the first two years of the three-year contract.
Sean Whetstone, Reed’s head of IT services, said the firm had
chosen to use a virtual network operator as no single carrier could
meet its complex business needs for a converged network.
“Disruptive technologies like broadband have become business
grade and served as a catalyst for other cost-saving and
productivity-enhancing applications like thin client. Finally, VoIP
has become more compelling.
“To meet our needs we needed a blend of different services –
flexibility – commercially and technically to migrate and service
guarantees that no one traditional carrier could underwrite. We
quickly concluded that the VNO model could best satisfy our
needs.”
The VNO offered a single point of contact for all service
provision, as well as economies of scale, but having a “realistic
migration path to convergence” was a key factor in awarding the
contract, Whetstone said.