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Agreements (SLAs). This gives customers transparency; they can see the standards and targets set for delivery – performance is currently exceeding an average of 98%.
Future-proofing through cloud solutions
Another significant area where Blue Chip differs from traditional resellers and adds value to customers is its cloud services offering.
The company has already made a substantial investment providing cloud computing services, reducing overall costs for customers, whilst increasing performance and productivity. The number of customers migrating to one of Blue Chip’s hosted services or choosing a hybrid of on premise and hosted provision has more than doubled Blue Chip’s original forecast. As a result, Blue Chip is investing a further £1m over the next three years to facilitate the increased demand. Green explains: “The decision on which cloud partner to work with cannot be taken lightly and our offering is right – we have the financial stability, technical capability and proven track record of delivering cloud services which is why we have been inundated with businesses choosing us as their cloud partner.”
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides customers with the latest generation of virtualised infrastructure, hosted in a secure, resilient facility, whilst negating the long-term costs associated with running, maintaining and replacing on premise hardware and IT Infrastructure and the need for virtualisation and storage skills in-house. Last year Blue Chip announced investment in its cloud offerings including building an extensive computer platform to enable the business to deliver IaaS and online backup to customers – the latter for which Blue Chip has just won the EVault European Award as Best Service Provider.
This investment means customers of any size, from SME to Enterprise, instantly benefit from Enterprise Class Infrastructure technology – without the usual up-front CapEx expense. Blue Chip provides a guaranteed, secure, robust service with connection to multiple datacentres giving improved disaster recovery, all connected by a private network. The securely housed facility has uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) with backup diesel generators, finger print access and 24/7 CCTV.
Customers also buy into the flexibility that enables them to quickly up or downscale their IT Infrastructure to meet the changing needs of their business. Existing customers are already adding users, sites and new applications to their environments, quickly and cheaply. This flexibility enables customers to restructure the size or shape of their business at any time and adjust their IT cost instantly. This has never been feasible with physical IT Infrastructure investments.
With an established demand from customers, Blue Chip is increasing its datacentres from two to four, with the addition of two new significant IaaS platforms, tripling its overall capacity.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – FEBRUARY 2014
www.businessmag.co.uk
Blue Chip's datacentre
Testimonials
Blue Chip is already working with SME and Enterprise customers such as Sovereign Housing Association and Pitmans across the Thames Valley who are enjoying better value for money, whilst receiving service from a highly-skilled and experienced team.
Sovereign Housing Association
When the owner and manager of c.33,000 homes across the Thames Valley region and employer of 1,000-plus staff needed to upgrade its IT systems as part of a wider strategy to meet ambitious growth plans, it turned to its ‘partner of choice’, virtualisation experts, Blue Chip.
Dudley Spicer, IT manager for Sovereign Housing Association said: “We had already selected Blue Chip as our preferred IT supplier because of the gold accreditations they hold with the key vendors in our business – Microsoft, EMC, VMware and Cisco. Blue Chip provided plenty of consultation throughout the planning phases. We worked to a stringent budget; the support and the planning of all phases were good and Blue Chip were a key factor in the success of this.”
A full video testimonial from Sovereign on working with Blue Chip is available to view online at:
www.bluechip.uk.com/about-us/resource- centre/videos
Pitmans
Disappointed with the support from its existing IT provider, the largest law firm in the Thames Valley evaluated 17 companies and invited eight to tender for its IT managed services. Blue Chip was shortlisted in the final three and was ultimately selected on criteria that exceeded the brief.
John Hargrave, financial director at Pitmans, explains: “From the start Blue Chip’s offering went above and beyond our brief, understood our requirements and impressed us with their vision and ethos. While Blue Chip ticked all the boxes in terms of technical experience and expertise, qualifications, vendor relationships and accreditations – and of course the ability to deliver – we were looking for a provider to partner with in the long term as we grow and enhance our services to clients. We met with the owners and directors of the business who demonstrated the financial stability, progressive and innovative approach and commitment to developing and delivering first-class business services to customers, as well as their long-term relationship mind-set.
"Not only that, Blue Chip provides an excellent full managed service for us at a lower cost than the previous provider. We are delighted with the transition and the positive impact on our users, productivity and resilience and therefore our delivery to clients.”
Details: 0845-034-7222
www.bluechip.uk.com
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