Case Studies
Corkills Car Dealership Drives Better Customer Service with hSo MPLS WAN
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- New bandwidth-hungry application drives need for network upgrade
- New MPLS WAN delivers reliable flexible future-proof solution
- Cost effective solution makes network upgrade affordable
About Corkills
Corkills is one of the largest independent car dealerships in North West England. Founded in 1991, it has grown to employ 120 people across four sites. Corkills is an authorised dealer for Porsche, Volkswagen and Alfa Romeo.
The Challenge
Over the last four years, Corkills has grown rapidly, opening new premises in Wigan, Southport and Chester. The company had a VPN based solution utilising ADSL technology, but this was unreliable and did not provide connectivity between all sites.
Corkills needed a reliable, high-quality, high-bandwidth network which could connect all three sites and enable them to share data and applications. When VW introduced a new, bandwidth-hungry dealer management application for accredited dealerships, the need for a new network became more pressing, so Corkills sought suppliers that could deliver a new reliable, high-bandwidth Wide Area Network (WAN).
As Corkill’s IT Manager Gavin McMillan explained:
“Given our need for reliability, bandwidth and multi-site connectivity, a solution using MPLS technology seemed logical. Like any fast-growing business, we had a fixed budget and wanted to ensure that the solution we chose delivered best value for our current needs, but wouldn’t restrict us in the future in terms of being able to support new applications.”
Corkills’ three key requirements were to find a solution that would:
· Offer them high levels of reliability
· Free up internal resource from day-to-day network management and direct their focus elsewhere
· Be affordable, both in terms of implementation and ongoing running costs
Why hSo?
Corkills approached its incumbent network supplier for a quotation, along with two other vendors, but found the process cumbersome and time-consuming. As Gavin McMillan explained, “During the search for a supplier I came across hSo’s online quotation tool which gave me instant pricing and meant I wasn’t waiting around for pricing. It made the whole process so much simpler.”
Having found that hSo could deliver at a competitive price, McMillan approached hSo to ensure it could deliver technically. He was reassured by hSo’s experience delivering services to big-name organisations such as Camelot and the Salvation Army and felt that hSo had demonstrated:
· An ability to deliver a highly robust WAN using MPLS.
· Experience in deliver a fully-managed service with a 24/7 pro-active network operating centre.
· Cost-competitiveness and value for money.
The Solution
hSo’s fully-managed solution delivered:
· A fully-managed MPLS WAN linking three locations with high capacity dedicated circuits.
· Internet access in the cloud, delivered over the WAN, and shared between three sites.
· A managed firewall hosted in the cloud protecting all of Corkills’ sites.
· Proactive 24/7 network monitoring & management by hSo’s Network Operating Centre.
The Benefits
Reliability:
· The new network provided a much-needed boost in reliability, as Gavin McMillan explained:
“Modern cars have embedded computer systems that monitor the engine and help our servicing teams diagnose problems with the vehicle. If a network problem occurs when we’re halfway through updating a car’s software, it can immobilise the car! Luckily, such problems are now a thing of the past, thanks to the reliability of our new network”.
· Corkills’ network is proactively monitored 24/7 to ensure round-the-clock availability and provide Corkills’ management with data about how the network performs at different times.
· If the connection to any of Corkills’ sites were to go down, the other sites would still be able to communicate.
Improved Staff Productivity:
· The network is fully-managed by hSo, freeing Corkills’ staff from day-to-day network management tasks.
· The bandwidth upgrade has enabled Corkills’ to speed up data transfers and make full use of an impressive (but bandwidth-hungry) dealer management application that VW is rolling out to authorised dealers.
· The network’s reliability has ensured there are fewer immobilised cars to be fixed!
· The solution lets senior management access their corporate WAN securely from home.
Affordability:
· Corkills’ looked at solutions from four different providers. hSo’s was the most competitively priced.
· Internet access is delivered centrally, in the cloud, at the WAN’s hub, allowing Corkills’ to pool the internet usage of its three sites.
· By hosting the firewall in the cloud, the number of firewalls needed dropped from three to one.
· By delivering the Internet access over the WAN, some of the money that was previously spent on Internet access now subsidises the cost of the WAN.
Flexibility:
· New sites can easily be added to the WAN, as Corkills’ continues to expand.
· The WAN can carry phone calls, should Corkills’ decide to link the phone systems on its different sites. hSo’s MPLS solution enables VoIP traffic to be prioritised to ensure Corkill’s would get the business-class call quality they need.
· Each site’s bandwidth can be upgraded independently.
· The amount of Internet access can be upgraded rapidly if required.
· The pooled Internet access allows sites to borrow unused capacity from each other, bursting when required.
“The hSo team have all been absolute stars and I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone. The team kept me informed of what was happening throughout the implementation and all in all, it was a thoroughly pleasant experience!”
– Gavin McMillan, IT Manager, Corkills
