LMS Group, Lakeside House, Quarry Ln,
Chichester PO19 8NY
CASE STUDY – Automotive Industry Charity
Strategic Consultancy for automotive industry charity
Approx. 350 users
Head office at Lynwood Village in Ascot, with additional sites in Rugby, Norham (Berwick-upon-Tweed) and Coventry.
Ben is an independent charity and dedicated partner to the automotive industry, focused on delivering care and support to enable total health & wellbeing through working and later life.
www.ben.org.uk
The Client
Whether supporting someone in crisis, providing high quality care or working with automotive industry partners to improve the health and wellbeing of the workforce, it is the mission of Ben to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
Key Outcomes
• Achieved 60-month savings of over £200k
• Consolidation of telephony and connectivity vendors and systems
• Vendor and contract management within the telephony space
• Implementation of internal IT helpdesk systems and processes
• Technology & IT Budgeting and financial forecasting
Find out how LMS Group will help your business. Call us on 0330 088 2565
The Challenge
At the time of engaging with ourselves, initially for a short-term consultancy period of 10 days, Ben had a permanent, but outsourced, on-site IT resource. The newly appointed IT Director at Ben approached LMS Group as they felt that they weren’t getting the support or guidance from their IT provider and chose to instruct LMS Group due to our vendor accreditations and industry expertise to carry out an audit and review.
It soon became apparent that the IT infrastructure, systems and cyber security controls had been neglected by the incumbent IT provider. There had been little to no vendor management in place and Ben were paying for services from a multitude of suppliers across IT, telecoms, connectivity and software unnecessarily. Furthermore, there had been no forward-thinking or strategic planning for the development of the network and systems considering planned future building works, let alone the IT landscape or overall IT Strategy for the organisation.
“LMS have been invaluable to Ben. They have always appreciated the exceptionally tight budget we need to work to and as a result, have been innovative and creative without introducing something so customized we couldn’t possibly go somewhere else – the key issue I had when I went to LMS in the first place! LMS helped us understand from the outset exactly what results we could achieve with the money we had in the pot and never overpromised. They brought their learning to us which helped us avoid the pitfalls of not just unnecessary spend but also pointless technology. They’re not only an excellent fit for us, they value our relationship and work hard to help us deliver a great value IT service. I wouldn’t go anywhere else!”
Sharon Gordon
Director of Business Transformation & IT,
Ben – The Automotive Industry Charity
The LMS Group Approach
LMS Group worked alongside the IT Director to assess, evaluate and plan the following key areas:
• Expenditure across technology provers
• IT system design and purpose
• Cyber security strategy
• Unified communications, telecoms and connectivity estate between the four sites
• Development of a cloud strategy
Over a period of 18 months, LMS Group embarked on a vendor review/replacement/consolidation project working on behalf of Ben. As part of a pragmatic ‘joined-up-thinking approach’, new vendors were selected to replace the historic providers that were found to be working in the interests of themselves rather than in the interests of Ben. An internal IT department was recruited, and a new IT management system implemented to take over the IT support function from the incumbent IT provider.
LMS Group also provided value in assisting with the budgets and forecasts of the IT and technology function of the organisation, along with developing together the IT Strategy for a 3-year forecasted period.
We also provide consultancy and resource for major projects, such as system upgrades.
The Outcome
Ben and LMS Group have been successfully working together since January 2017. Throughout this period, we’ve enabled Ben to scale its own IT department, reduce costs and have clarity over the IT estate and landscape of the organisation.
Alongside the internal IT team, we’ve helped to increase efficiency within the department by offering problem resolution, both in and outside of normal working hours.
Special Projects
LMS Group have recently completed the successful rollout of new Cisco Security Appliances at each site along with the implementation of an SD-WAN solution that provides Ben with a future-ready network for the deployment of SIP, Virtual Desktop and teleworker.
Across these projects, we’ve provided additional resource, assisted with the physical moving and setup of equipment, and restructured internal layouts.
We’ve helped to ensure that Ben has met project timescales and kept downtime to a minimum.
Contact us
To help your business thrive and to answer any questions about your technology needs, please contact us below.
Get in touch
Address:
Phone:
Email:
hello@lms.group
ICO Registration Number: Z3394162.
Registered in England and Wales No: 7125975