hSo & Wilkinson Eyre – Designing the Perfect Solution

• Working Partnership Reduces the Burden on Over-stretched Internal IT resources
• Flexible, Scalable, Multi-Service Platform Supports a Growing Business’ Future Needs

About Wilkinson Eyre:
As one of the UK’s leading architectural practices, Wilkinson Eyre has twice won the UK’s most prestigious design award, the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling prize. Its work includes globally renowned projects such as Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, and closer to home, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

Wilkinson Eyre works from its office in central London on schemes worldwide, with current projects throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

The Challenge:
A series of large project wins led to a growth in staff numbers in London, forcing Wilkinson Eyre to relocate to more spacious offices. The move presented the perfect opportunity for the firm to make a number of long-desired changes. These included increasing their Internet connectivity, replacing their outdated phone system, and improving the resilience of their platform.  

Wilkinson Eyre is a successful international professional services firm, which operates using a small internal IT department; catering to the business’ demands without over-stretching internal resource was a major concern.

Furthermore, a scalable network was crucial, Chris Poulton, Associate at Wilkinson Eyre comments that, “working in a project-based environment such as ours, it is as important to have the flexibility to downsize at moment’s notice, as it is to upgrade.

Wilkinson Eyre needed:

• A working partnership with a supplier they could trust
• A flexible network that could grow or contract with their business
• Scalable bandwidth that could support a VoIP solution
• An IP PBX which was feature-rich but required little maintenance by their own IT staff
• High server availability, backed by 24/7 support, so staff in different time zones could access their files at any time of the day or night
• A high quality solution that worked within their budget

Why hSo?
Wilkinson Eyre asked a number of providers to tender bids for their communications upgrade project; already impressed by hSo’s high levels of customer service they invited hSo to submit a proposal too.

The architects made the decision to work with hSo for a number of reasons:
Flexible service platform – the proposed solution allowed for quick upgrades and down-sizing on tap

Customer service – hSo were already providing a responsive and personal service
24/7 support – a necessity for Wilkinson Eyre, operating offices in multiple time zones
Managed Services – thereby reducing the load on in-house resource
Value for Money – hSo’s solution was competitively priced

Wilkinson Eyre’s key requirement was a high level of Customer Service. They had been let down by their previous ISP, whose “horrendous service” and lack of responsiveness had caused them problems in the past.

Chris Poulton goes on to say, “Although hSo came in with an attractive price, cost was by no means the deciding factor… we’d had our fingers burned before and this time we wanted a more personal service.”

The Solution:
hSo used a number of services to create a bespoke solution that would meet Wilkinson Eyre’s needs:

hSo:CO-LOCATION: secure rack space in a world class data centre
hSo:SECURE+: managed firewalls with a 10Mbit/s VPN from their offices to a secure data centre
hSo:ACCESS: 4Mbit/s dedicated to Internet Access with the remaining 6Mbit/s for additional services
hSo:MANAGED VOICE+: a fully managed end-to-end telephony solution with a feature rich IP PBX; ISDNs for added resilience; SIP Trunks to carry their telephone calls; and competitive call rates.

The Benefits:
hSo’s solution has offered Wilkinson Eyre a multitude of benefits:
A flexible multi-service platform that allows new technologies to be added when needed
Scalable bandwidth providing additional capacity when needed  
The features and functionality of an IP PBX
Exceptionally high levels of customer service – available 24/7
A resilient voice service with significant call savings

When asked for any conclusions, Chris Poulton stated, “At Wilkinson Eyre we have a small IT team; our partnership with hSo allows us to focus on our own internal requirements with complete peace of mind. As we grow and new technology comes online we use hSo’s expertise and advice. With work of this nature (projects regularly stopping and starting) a flexible and scalable network is key; hSo’s cost effective managed services have given us the competitive advantage that a business like us needs.

To find out more call us today on 020 7847 4510

hSo, Epworth House, 25 City Road, London, EC1Y 1AA
http://www.hso.uk.com

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