Clugston Group - case study
The Clugston Group is a privately owned construction and industrial services company, established over 70 years ago.
Today, Clugston is a £120 million turnover group employing over 800 people in Construction and Facility Management, Distribution and Transport Services and Property and Estates.
The Group has a spread of complementary activities including building; civil engineering; property development, facilities management and a variety of industrial services including transport and warehousing. Clugston is equipped with in-depth management, financial strength and the capacity for both large projects and long term contracts.
“Clugston operate with a small I.T. team based in its Scunthorpe Head Office, but responsible for the entire group, supporting 350 users across 30 locations and also responsible for I.T. strategy and the selection and implementation of new systems. The company can only operate in this manner by having strategic relationships with I.T. partners with whom it can build up a relationship based on trust. We needed a local partner who could provide additional staff to the I.T. function on demand, in addition to being able to carry out project work and supply support services.”
Alf Spencer
Head of I.T. Clugston Group
Brief
Clugston Distribution had an aging I.T. infrastructure based around Windows 98 and Windows NT servers. The award of two key new contracts was the trigger to upgrade this infrastructure; unfortunately, this coincided with the rollout of a major thin client project to the rest of the organisation. Clugstons I.T. department overcame this problem by outsourcing the design, provision and installation of the new system to Intrasource. The network involved the provision of Windows 2003 servers and the provision or re-configuration of 30 desktop computers in the Head Office of Clugston Distribution. The network was delivered on time and to budget with minimal interruption to service in a business that has 24x7 operations.
Clugston needed to supplement its permanent I.T. staff with additional staff on occasion to boost numbers or provide specific technical skills. We were reluctant to dip into the unknown with self-employed contract staff and prefer to work with a provider who understands our needs.
Solution
Intrasource provided temporary staff who are employed by themselves and who have, therefore, already been through a selection process. The account management team at Intrasource understand the culture of the Clugston I.T. department and select people who fit into the department in addition to having the appropriate experience and skill level.
Intrasource can dip into the self employed contract market on behalf of the customer if they cannot provide a specific skill, but they will not put anyone onto site that has not been through a vetting process first. In addition to this, project work can create peaks in demand for I.T. resource within an organisation which cannot always be fulfilled internally. Projects also often create the need for specific skill sets which may not also be available internally. To cope with these situations projects may be outsourced by Clugston either completely or in part and, therefore, require partners who have a flexible approach.
Intrasource subsequently went on to provide a managed service with remote support of the 40 users at Clugston Distribution.
Benefits
- Comfort in the fact that additional I.T. resources can be provided at short notice and to a predictable standard.
- Clugston Distribution has a modern and reliable I.T. system.
- Support calls have fallen dramatically at Clugston Distribution.
- The managed service allows internal I.T. staff to focus on business issues.
- Softer benefits in terms of someone to bounce ideas off and information and advice on strategy.
Home
Contact
Sitemap
