The challenge
- Provide the highest levels of customer service
- Always-on app and data availability
- Simplify application management and support
Our client is one the UK’s leading leasing, fleet management and vehicle outsourcing business. They employ over 700 people at three sites and deliver IT services to more than 20,000 customers each day.
A key differentiator in their sector is customer service. Any downtime or delay in the provision of IT services would severely impact the customer experience, and ultimately revenue generation.
If it takes ten seconds for an operator to refresh a screen while speaking to a customer, that’s ten seconds too long. We wanted to ensure that our client’s staff and customers had reliable, fast access to information and services wherever and whenever they needed it.
Three key objectives were identified to ensure that our client’s customers received the best service: deliver an always-on application environment, improve login times and overall desktop performance and simplify application management and support. And all three objectives had to be completed with a 3-month timeframe.
Our solution
- Corporate-wide VDI implementation on hyper-converged platform
Synapse360 were recognised by the client as virtualisation experts, having already completed a number of infrastructure projects for the company.
Given the requirements and following a full analysis of the company’s environment, Synapse360 proposed a virtual desktop infrastructure solution running on hyper-converged architecture. The solution, Workspace360, replaced expensive ‘fat client’ desktops with cost effective thin client terminals which could be managed and supported centrally, dramatically reducing end-user support overheads.
The result
- Reliable fast and secure desktops
- Active data protection
- Reduced End User support overheads
The nature of the solution meant that deployment met with tight project deadlines and Synapse 360 support services ensured the consolidation and migration went smoothly.
The hyper-converged architecture allied to all-flash storage provides blistering desktop performance and enabled the company to consolidate four data centres into two highly available data centres. The VDI software was a proven VMware solution, giving our client the ability to provide desktop access on any device.
As part of the project, Synapse360 were able to identify further cost savings by using an active-standby data centre protection solution which enabled the company to reduce expensive software licensing costs.
The outcome is that our client’s customers and staff have access to fast and reliable IT services, uptime is at 99.999% for key Oracle and SQL Server Applications.
“Staff now enjoy high levels of responsiveness from their IT, login times and desktop performance are much faster than before, almost instantaneous. This means our staff are happier and our customers are getting a better service. Workspace360 has transformed our ability to improve customer service and Synapse360’s capability in design, deployment and support has been exemplary.”
Head of IT, Leading car leasing company
