Vercity – Ensuring Business Continuity & Security into the Future

An award-winning and solutions-led business, Vercity provides a range of financial management and consultancy services. Their comprehensive, yet flexible approach provides a clear framework for optimising their clients’ assets. Vercity help define their clients’ lifecycle cost model, develop strategic partnerships and set out asset strategies. Vercity’s clients benefit from optimised value that identifies, manages, and mitigates risk while achieving cost certainty.

Vercity work across complex facilities on two continents and bring over two decades of knowledge and expertise to their clients’ business. By providing insights across multiple sectors, they help to convert valuable lessons into new opportunities. With a proactive management approach, Vercity provide peace of mind, delivering value for money and assurance on performance.

The Objective

With staff working in 47 different office locations (plus hybrid workspaces) across numerous projects, IT services are at the forefront of employee productivity and business functionality. Their busy in-house IT team therefore need to ensure business continuity into the future.

It was imperative to partner with a sustainable IT vendor able to provide industry insights and advice on technology roadmaps and business goals. It was also a requirement to keep both staff and customer data secure – vital for any asset management business whilst maintaining regulatory compliance.

The Challenge

With an insufficient in-house resource to provide the level of technical support and specialisms required, Vercity felt they had outgrown their predominantly on-premises focussed service provider, which had resulted in poor resolutions. As technology had moved on, Vercity engaged the services of a multitude of disparate point solution and service providers. However, they lacked the cloud-focussed, trusted provider and expertise to guide them into the future.

With numerous sites and time zones, and some staff receiving limited support, there was a need to centralise systems and resources to benefit from a standardised strategic IT approach.

Following the global pandemic and the increased cyber risk, Vercity recognised the immediate need for a far greater and improved security strategy.

The Solution

Central to the Espria solution was an excellent end-user experience provided across two continents, whilst delivering value for money. This was manifested through a Managed Service Solution which knitted together all the threads of previously separate services, consolidating the contact points and service provision.

Working to an agreed SLA, the specialist support requirements encompassed:

• 24/7 helpdesk, network, server, cyber security and Microsoft framework and licences
• Penetration Test and current state assessment result remediations
• Ongoing 6 monthly cyber security assessments
• Service Desk with agreed SLAs and Best Practise including Account and Service Delivery Management within the ITIL framework
• Monthly Service Reviews and Reporting
• Service Improvement Plan
• Transition Management
• A multi-level partnership with road mapping and strategy alignment
• Contract Management and Sustainability Review – Vercity asked that any solution be sustainable and that we highlight to them any opportunities to improve their ESG score.

Next Steps

Since the award of the contract and the ongoing development of a closer working relationship, Espria have continued to help form a long-term strategy identifying and implementing opportunity for automation, utilising Power BI, improving networking and firewall upgrades, security improvements, hardware and software licences, intranet strategy and implementation.

“Working with Espria has given greater depth and breadth to our IT strategy and enhanced the skillset of our ‘team’. In Espria, we have found a partner who not only understands the needs of our business, but who also works with us to develop future growth plans. Our Client Director, Andrew has always provided expert industry advice and is a great sounding board, as well as being friendly and approachable. I can see our business relationship extending far beyond the current contract scope and period as we collaborate so well together.” Nigel Keen IT Manager, Vercity