Sostenuto reaches its Apex
“We looked at other service desk and external support systems in terms of functionality, price, speed to implement, but it wasn’t even close – Sostenuto was the clear choice.”
Aiming high
Apex Computers International Limited provides IT infrastructure to some of the UK’s most successful businesses, including HMV, Debenhams and the Arcadia retail group. The nature of its business means that customer IT support is critical to its success, and to retaining valuable clients.
In 2007, the Board at Apex took on a new challenge – to increase revenue to £20 million per year. The service department, including IT support, was tasked with generating 50 per cent of this figure.
Stuart Bulley, services director for Apex Computers identified that to achieve this target, the external support offered to customers through the service desk would need to be of the highest possible standard. “We wanted to be able to show customers the system we use to manage calls, how we can track the call, track the asset, handle the managed service, monitor, record and report exactly how we were dealing with their issue,” said Bulley.
ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) best practice was integral to this vision, as it would not only help define processes the service desk would use, but also act as a marketing tool, proving the quality of the external support on offer. “We had already adopted ISO 2001 and Prince2, the only area of the business that didn’t have any official stamp of approval was the service desk – which also happened to be the area with the biggest business potential,” said Bulley.
The right tool for the job
ITSM tool Sostenuto from Sunrise was selected because it had the right functionality, ITIL credentials and offered “phenomenal value for money,” according to Bulley. He continued: “Sunrise assured us that Sostenuto could be used for external support and it was true to its word. We looked at other service desk and external support systems in terms of functionality, price, speed to implement, but it wasn’t even close – Sostenuto was the clear choice.
Implementation was rapid, helped along by the fact that Bulley is one of Apex’s directors. “From the time we started talking about it to the point that it was installed was about four months. The slowest part of the process wasn’t the implementation, it was signing off the budget.”
“Sunrise did a good job adapting the system to our requirements, and now we’re extremely happy with it.”
Above and beyond the call of duty
Sostenuto has gone beyond ‘just’ IT support in its work for Apex. Because Sostenuto is able to track third parties, Apex now has the tools to monitor subcontractors’ performance. Similarly, the ability to accurately track assets and handle change management is helping to better manage customer implementations.
“The majority of customers like Sostenuto, and find their calls are better managed, prioritised and actioned,” said Bulley.
Sostenuto’s web portal, Chameleon, allows the sales team to view the status of their customers’ problems from any location with an Internet connection. It also allows the customers themselves to see what’s going on: “We are using Chameleon to offer customers a web portal into our support system. The combination of logging and tracking the progress of their issues has reduced the volume of calls, and as a result has improved customer satisfaction. We’re well on the way to achieving our revenue goals.”
About Apex Computers
Boasting a client list which includes HMV, Admiral Insurance, the Arcadia Group, Apex supplies IT infrastructure, from the point of sale right through to the back office. As one of the most highly accredited IBM Premier Business Partners, a Cisco Premier Partner and Microsoft Gold Partner, Apex provides the very best enterprise-class products and services.