Girlguiding
Girlguiding wanted to improve on their existing managed services contract.
Girlguiding was nearing the end of its IT managed service contract and was keen to improve the quality of service it was receiving. The service handles all its IT needs, providing infrastructure, applications hosting and support for its UK employees.
At a Glance
Girlguiding is the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, encompassing the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers. Through adventure, friendship and fun, it aims to empower girls to be their best as it has been doing for over 100 years. Girlguiding has half a million members and around 300 employees across five sites in the UK. This includes a distribution centre, shop, and training and activity centres.
Services Delivered
Technologies Deployed
Industry Sector
Business Driver
Challenge
With the charity nearing the end of its IT-managed service contract, Girlguiding was keen to improve the quality of service it was receiving.
Solution
Following a comprehensive tendering and selection process involving 12 suppliers, Girlguiding selected Total to provide a fully outsourced, managed service. This includes hosting and managing systems in Total’s data centres, which operate as a hybrid cloud with Microsoft services running in Azure, including Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365. Total also provides all service desk and IT support for Girlguiding, with weekend support as required, as well as on-site engineers at the charity’s two main sites in London and Manchester.
Outcome
As a charity, with around 100,000 volunteers, Girlguiding has a different way of working from a commercial business. Chris Lord, Head of IT at Girlguiding said, “Total understands this, and got to grips with our culture – they’re very flexible and able to adapt as our plans change.”
Total has put in place new systems to help users report problems, including by online portal, phone or in person, and everything is logged and reported on. As well as weekly management meetings, more formal monthly Service Review Meetings enable Chris and Martin Wilson, IT Projects Manager, to track progress and performance, which so far has shown that Total has hit all its service level agreements (SLAs).
Taking Care of Technology
There's a greater demand than ever for businesses to utilise technology and we are here to make that process simple.
Martin Wilson
IT & Projects Manager,
Girlguiding UK
We chose Total for two reasons. Firstly, the quality of its offer – we evaluated bidders using a scorecard, and Total came out best, helped by the fact that it had very clear processes in place.
Secondly, Total came in at a price lower than its competitors, and significantly less than the provider that ranked second for quality of the offer.
Total joined at a pivotal time, as we were just developing our 2020 strategy, and we needed a partner to help support that and underpin the strategic work. They've helped us with a number of transformative projects, which have all gone smoothly, including migrating over 400 mailboxes to Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online, and implementing a new cloud-based Mitel phone system.