The SHS Group
The SHS Group now have an up to date ICT infrastructure to cope with the rapid and dynamic growth of the company
Background
The SHS Group was founded in 1975 and employs a total of 800 people across the UK and Ireland. The company operates in the FMCG sector and provides a strong financial base and central resources for twelve autonomous businesses operating in four distinct areas: sales & marketing, brand ownership, corporate services and manufacturing.
The Group currently owns three leading sales, marketing, customer services, financial management and logistic solutions to manufacturers, suppliers and producers of fast moving consumer goods throughout the UK and Ireland. All three companies represent a number of blue chip brands including Douwe Egberts, Fox's Confectionary, WKD, Shloer, Tropicana, Jordons, Twinings, Johnson & Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser. Today the group is one of Northern Ireland's Top 10 Companies.
Business Challenge
Northgate Managed Services was requested to build upon a previous successful infrastructure project implemented for SHS over 3 years ago. This previous project delivered a centrally managed IT infrastructure operating across each of their 6 remote sites. Mobile staff also had the ability to connect via the Internet to the central system.
With an already sound foundation in place, SHS found the need to upgrade the existing IT infrastructure to one that would facilitate the rapid and dynamic growth the company was experiencing. The new infrastructure would also need to provide for the integration of additional IT systems and newly acquired companies; and have the ability to provide rapid controlled access of information to all users regardless of their location.
Additionally the new infrastructure would have to remain centrally managed and be implemented with no downtime or disruption to the users.
The Solution
Northgate undertook a detailed consultancy project examining the business issues affecting SHS and the structure of their IT. Once the requirements were identified, Northgate completed a comprehensive design and presented this to the customer. The design included accurate timescales and scheduling of each stage of the project, ensuring completion could be achieved with no disruption to the end user thus reducing costs and maintaining productivity levels.
Northgate upgraded the existing IT infrastructure in order to support additional systems and acquired companies. During the process of completing the project Northgate mirrored exactly the solution in another location to provide Disaster Recovery. Therefore in the event of a failure the system would continue functioning.
Key Benefits
The upgraded system continues to ensure centralised manageability of IT applications and information. It also provides a flexible infrastructure which additional systems can be easily added to in the future. Regular systems backups also ensure data is more secure.
Mobility is achieved through all remote staff having access to the central system from any location improving efficiency, communication and therefore productivity. Support times for addressing problems are also significantly reduced due to a more central system. All these factors ensure accountability through improved service delivery to the customer and reduced costs.
Key Benefits
- Flexible & efficient system for accessing information
- Improved accuracy of information
- Reduced staff time on support issues
- Improved communications
- Improved customer service
