How ROCK enhanced the robustness of a commercial caterer’s IT infrastructure

At a glance

• 97% of time-sensitive orders dispatched on-time
• 33% improvement in client repeat orders
• All periods of downtime resolved within an average of 25 minutes

The situation

A large independent commercial caterer had suffered complaints – and lost clients – as a result of erratic IT infrastructure. The company had invested significantly in a large, remote customer service team in order to meet client requirements, but problems with infrastructure regularly prevented relevant employees from accessing company resources. Problems were particularly prominent at the start of the day; something that proved highly problematic as members of this team typically started early in order to fulfil time-sensitive orders received overnight.

ROCK was instructed to review existing infrastructure, identify likely pain points and develop more robust setups wherever possible. Accordingly, we undertook an audit, leveraging qualitative and quantitative methodologies to glean an understanding of not just their infrastructure but their practices and objectives, also.

Our audit revealed that internal infrastructure had been neglected and needed some updating. Additionally, we discovered that remote employees were using their own devices, many of which had not been updated and were configured in ways that did not marry with their employer’s infrastructure.

Recommendations

Prioritising a variety of alterations that needed to be made to on and off-site resources, ROCK made the following changes:

• Upgraded network infrastructure – including cabling – to enhance reliability
• Implemented unified endpoint management software to facilitate the remote management of external devices
• Began monitoring client’s infrastructure in real-time in order to rapidly identify and address shortcomings

Outcome

Thanks to improved network reliability, remote staff were consistently able to access key systems at all times of the day resulting in superior communication with CateringCo’s fulfilment team. In turn, CateringCo were able to dispatch 97% of their time-sensitive orders on-time. Prior to ROCK’s intervention, this figure stood at 81%.

Client satisfaction rose considerably as a result of these changes, with feedback the company gathered indicating that clients found it far easier to contact CateringCo’s representatives, place orders and have issues resolved. This has led to a 33% improvement in their client retention rate and subsequent orders.

By remotely monitoring the client’s network, endpoints etc. ROCK is able to keep CateringCo’s downtime to an absolute minimum. In the rare instances that their network has failed, ROCK have restored connectivity within an average timeframe of 25 minutes.

Additionally, having noticed that CateringCo’s accountancy team were placed under considerable burden as a result of remote employees using their own mobile devices for work purposes, ROCK recommended a solution. We sought highly-competitive business mobile contracts for relevant team members thus negating the need for finance to review multiple expenses claims each month. Alerts were also setup so that, should a user accrue charges, stakeholders are automatically informed.

*We value our clients and their right to a confidential consultation. While the name has been altered, the results are real.