In this Issue:Pages 2 & 3:Kevin Doran explores hosted solutions and explains what may work best for your business

Page 4: Meet SDC’s new Senior Business Development Manager, Lisa-Jayne Dowe

Page 5: Richard Barker and Antony Yiakoumi share their views on IT driving the supply chain process

Page 7: Read how Gateway Housing has selected Sovereign for a one-year infrastructure managed services contract

Corporate Value

Can IT still operate as a cost centre? As technology now underpins every aspect of business operation and performance, CIOs are under ever greater pressure to deliver and demonstrate quantifiable business value. However, this shift is far from straightforward. The pace of technology change continues to create new challenges and business demands for innovation and real-time services are escalating – yet CIOs are not being provided with the additional budget required to meet evolving demands.

With senior management demanding greater cost transparency, IT is increasingly being asked to demonstrate and justify the true cost of delivery – and that includes not only staff costs but also the cost of the data centre space and, critically, spiraling electricity bills.

Given that data centres can consume up to 100 times more energy than a standard office building according to figures from the US Department of Energy, it is more than reasonable for IT to take responsibility for energy consumption. Yet add these facilities costs to the IT budget and the cost/value equation is likely to look even less compelling for the business.

Service Model

Considering these pressures, it is no surprise that growing numbers of organisations are exploring a raft of cloud-based subscription models that offer flexibility, scalability and a manageable, known cost based. Yet while many organisations are familiar with the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS), indeed many have explored cloud-based applications for email, CRM and document management, growing numbers of organisations

in both the public and private sectors are now considering the opportunities for extending the subscription-based model.

As a result, Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are gaining significant traction across organisations of every size. According to Gartner, the worldwide IaaS market is forecast to grow from an estimated $3.7 billion in 2011 to $10.5 billion in 2014.

Understanding IaaS

So how does it work? IaaS is a provision model in which an organisation outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and networking components. This model can extend to include a number of aspects, including hand-held devices and Internet services.

The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running and maintaining it; while the organisation can retain control over operating system and applications, if desired. The cost is typically per user or usage volume basis – offering the business the benefits of scalability plus, typically, the lower costs enabled by the provider’s economies of scale.

The contract is based on a strict service level agreement that enables the business to focus on underlying corporate requirements – speed, user numbers, availability and resilience – rather than the underpinning technology elements.

Compelling Strategy

The model is compelling for a number of reasons. Firstly, five years into a recession that has severely constrained IT investment, many organisations are struggling to deliver the flexibility, scalability and resilience required by 24x7 global operations within

the current infrastructure. Add in the squeeze on IT staff – and the trend for many, especially in the public sector, to take early redundancy – and many IT departments are struggling to maintain business as usual.

It is, therefore, extremely tough to even consider how to support evolving strategic business goals with the current infrastructure. How can a shared services model be delivered for example? How can an organisation manage the risks associated with sharing infrastructure with another organisation? And what is the true impact on the IT cost base?

How can the automotive industry even begin to address the implications of the planned European Union removal of block exemption that will enable dealers to move away from the traditional one marque sales model and work with multiple manufacturers? How can the existing infrastructure be scaled to support this fundamentally different sales model without adding untenable cost or risk disenfranchising both dealers and customers?

The flexibility, scalability and, critically, cost transparency of IaaS offer CIOs a clear route forward, enabling accurate and reliable costs in response to new business needs, access to the latest technology components and, critically, the ability to confidently predict provisioning timescales.

Complete Solution

It is important to understand that IaaS is not just about providing high quality infrastructure components. With vendors offering cut price access to data storage, communications and Internet services, it may be tempting for organisations to shop around and piece together a range of cut price solutions.

However, the business risk associated with this approach is significant. Yes a service level agreement

can determine the resilience and availability of each element of the solution. But what about the flexibility of provisioning new services? Or putting in place the resources and expertise to ensure back-ups are handled continuous or ensure that hand-held devices used in warehouses to update stock information in real time are immediately replaced to maximise productivity?

These infrastructure components are not stand-alone; they are the fundamental building blocks of an IT model that not only reflects business needs but can proactively drive operational improvement. So while the quality of the data centre facilities and communications is critical, it is also essential to work with a supplier with a track record in delivering high quality outsourced services; a supplier with the depth of expertise and resources required.

Conclusion

In an environment of declining IT budget and escalating IT demands, IaaS offers significant benefits for CIOs and IT departments looking to reduce costs and speed up the provisioning of new services. By removing the data centre from expensive office locations and signing up for a subscription-based service that encompasses every element of infrastructure delivery, the CIO can immediately meet Board demands for cost clarity with the benefit of a flexible model that enables IT costs to scale in line with business usage and demands.

Critically, the adoption of a flexible model from a proven supplier enables unprecedented speed of response to strategic demands. IaaS truly enables the IT department to make the transition from cost centre to a centre of demonstrable corporate value.

Given the growing pressure on IT to deliver corporate value, it has never been more important to achieve a resilient, reliable and scalable infrastructure. Yet with organisations enduring declining budgets, under-staffed IT teams and aging technology, many CIOs and their departments are facing additional challenges in managing Business as Usual (BAU) let alone respond to business demands for strategic improvement. Add in evolving demands for true IT expenditure measurement that includes every aspect of the facility – from space to electricity – and the IT cost/value equation is looking increasingly unappealing at board level.

The shift towards subscription-based IT solutions – not only Software as a Service (SaaS) but, increasingly, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), provides access to key components such as storage, communications and networks in a flexible, scalable and affordable fashion. Indeed,

when compared with the true cost of an IT infrastructure – those costs that IT has traditionally chosen to overlook – the financial benefits of IaaS are truly compelling.

Richard Barker, CEO, Sovereign Business Integration Group, outlines the value of IaaS in delivering manageable, transparent IT costs, enabling the rapid provisioning of new services to meet corporate goals for business. improvement and demonstrating IT’s long-term value to the organisation.

Sovereign TimesIssue: 4February 2013

InFRASTRUCTURE as a SERvICE – FACILITATInG IT vALUE

T: +44 (0)20 8216 3333 | E: info@sovereign-plc.co.uk | www.sovereign-plc.co.ukSovereign Business Integration Group plc

Sovereign welcomes Kevin Hall as Applications Consultant to the Housing and Public Sector business division to continue to support the company’s successful delivery of IT solutions and consultancy services for clients and partners within this sector.

Kevin brings with him a wealth of knowledge in the housing sector having worked within the industry for over 10 years. Within his role at Sovereign, Kevin will provide ad-hoc systems consultancy, project management and applications support to a wide range of clients.

Kevin Hall comments, “I am looking forward to utilising my industry knowledge and skills within my new role at Sovereign and helping to be a part of the company’s continued delivery of an outstanding service to our clients. It is an exciting new challenge for me and I am thrilled to be working for a company so well established in the housing sector. I hope that my role within the team will continue to strengthen this footing even further.”

Charles Brooks, Principal Consultant, Sovereign, comments, “We are all very much looking forward to working with Kevin and I am sure that his experience in the sector will help us to continue the excellent service we provide our clients. This appointment is also part of our larger drive for growth and expansion and I hope that Kevin will play a significant part in this.”

Within the role of applications consultant,

Kevin will provide on-site support of core housing and financial systems, end user training, project management and facilitate workshops and group sessions.

Jacqueline Stoggall, Director of Consultancy, Sovereign, comments, “We are delighted to have Kevin joining our team. His past roles in housing will provide valuable insight into how we can further our working relationships and continue to deliver at the highest possible standard as an organisation. Kevin will be a tremendous asset to our company and the housing division and I very much welcome him to the team.”

FOCUS ON SOVEREIGN

Darren Smith, Service Delivery Manager, offer this issue’s readers ’10 Key Facts’ about the Sovereign Service Delivery team.1. Sovereign’s Service Delivery team is made up of 15

skilled personnel located at Sovereign’s Metro Point office as well as various client sites as appropriate.

2. The Service Delivery team offers client support in many forms, including day-to-day IT issues, building new infrastructure, design, implementation, software, hardware and any other IT-related projects that don’t encompass networking (handled by the networking Team specifically).

3. In keeping with Sovereign’s core client delivery mantra, the Service Delivery team provides services that best fit each client’s business requirements. Whether ad-hoc remote telephone support is needed, or a more all-encompassing service requiring personnel to be on-site regularly throughout the month, the Service Delivery team can accommodate.

4. Consistency and knowledge is key for the team. By deploying team members to site, clients benefit from a skilled, knowledgeable individual who knows and appreciates their business requirements. Furthermore, the whole team acts as a pool of resource, knowledgeable on each client’s infrastructure, meaning there is always someone available to help when required.

5. The team of individuals are highly skilled, very client focused and thrive on building quality, long-term relationships with clients.

6. I oversee the team and distribute the most appropriate resource effectively. My skills lie in handling escalated items or more complex issues and represent a high-level of resource for clients who wish to engage at that level.

7. Sovereign has invested heavily in its team recently, encompassing the Service Delivery team, with training programmes underway for all team members accommodating different levels and skill sets. nearly 20% of the team has been nurtured

internally through this training. These courses are mainly technical covering vMWare, CITRIX, ITIL, Prince 2 and Microsoft accreditations.

8. The ‘Sovereign difference’ is apparent within the Service Delivery team with everyone working to an ethos where they take immense pride in what they do and strive to deliver what is required from the client. They will happily go above and beyond to ensure excellent levels of customer service.

9. The Business Development team works collaboratively across all teams within Sovereign. From contributing to proposals from the Business Development team, to driving change – positively impacting on all business sectors, the team adds to the vast pool of knowledge within Sovereign, pulling in various and appropriate skills as required to add value.

10. As well as having a high level of technical expertise between them, the Service Delivery team is also a key voice back to the Account Management teams, passing on feedback, updates and project status information to ensure the whole Sovereign team involved in each client is up-to-date and further enhancing client relationships.

The Technical Advice Corner

Kevin Doran, CTO: What to look out for in hosted solutions

The buzz words of Cloud, Hosted, Virtualisation, SaaS and so on, can sit across blurred lines between what one offers above another and what is right for your business. Here, we look to provide some clarity on the different options available and how they could benefit your business most appropriately.

Hosted solutions in their entirety amount to the same thing as Cloud in some shape or form but there is a huge amount of choice for businesses when it comes to Cloud and the provision of infrastructure within a data centre or hosted facility. At Sovereign, we provide hosted solutions across a number of technologies.

Virtualised or DedicatedFor some businesses there are often still drivers for dedicated, physical equipment that can be hosted at a data centre and provides a client’s total or part solution. When you move away from the physical then the array of options and terminology is huge.

Clustered server solutions, also know as Private Cloud or even as IaaS when marketed as Cloud solutions by Managed Service Providers (MSPs), can be delivered on a number of platforms, each with different costs and associated benefits to the business. A number of brands with differing features are available for virtualisation software, with popular ones such as vMware, Hyper-v, XenServer and KvM being widely deployed. In selecting the right virtualisation solution, it is key for organisations to assess their business needs and expectations. Whilst these many and varied virtualisation solutions have the same basic function of managing virtual machines, if a customer requires high availability systems and recovery options then there is a tiered product that will suit them. However if their requirements and budgets are more modest then there is little point paying the price for a highly featured vMware solution when a low cost XenServer or KvM solution would fit.

It is important to ask, ‘what do you want to achieve?’ For those who want gold-plated fail over system with multiple features, functions and

integration, then vMware is potentially the most appropriate. However, for those who may have budget constraints or who don’t need the full features of vMware, with associated costs, then Microsoft Hyper-v may be more appropriate. Other, less gilt edged options may also be appropriate, in particular for development environments or other less critical services.

When customers move towards Cloud solutions then visibility of the underlying platform is not always available and hence the true nature of the solution may be obscured. Most of these tend towards shared, hosted server, storage and network solutions. Businesses are often looking for lower infrastructure costs, but do they really get what they need? Careful review of such a solution’s availability, performance and data integrity should be undertaken to ensure that they do.

Hosted and Cloud optionsUltimately, a company might not have too much preference as to which solution is doing the job but they will have functional requirements for the solution and SLAs agreed with the service provider, which will impact on which technology selected.

The Cloud solutions available today build on the virtualisation technologies discussed so far, essentially offering accessibility to the benefits that hosted solutions provide as a matter of course through presentation and management tools. This accessibility allows for self-service solutions over and above the usual virtual Private Server solutions and gives customers the ability to flex key infrastructure resources to deliver what they need, often on an attractive subscription basis.

Things are not always as they seem however, and in embracing any new technology or infrastructure change, there are bound to be questions over performance, security, whether it is right for the business or if it is providing value. Popular current use of shared Cloud infrastructure is for cheap, accessible resource that can be turned on or off for development platforms, staging or proof of concept solutions. Typically this can be accessed quickly, sometimes without the constraints of internal IT

provisioning processes or commitment to expensive infrastructure. For full production systems there is still some reticence in many industry sectors to move outside of hosted dedicated infrastructure, be it virtual or physical.

Increasingly, organisations are looking at flexibility of service. In a hosted environment these options are more readily available and incremental with service providers able to provide the customer with the information they need to scale up or down. Additionally, more businesses are starting to considerer the ‘hybrid Cloud’ approach, in particular organisations that are industry-related are showing signs that shared services are an appealing way to provide cost benefits by sharing infrastructure

It all comes down to making good business sense though. Cloud is a hosted environment and the value to the customer is derived from the quality of the service against the price. The highly commoditised space for public cloud services is certainly bubbling, but what are businesses really getting from it?

In summaryThere is a deep and wide choice when it comes to IT infrastructure and

selecting what’s right for your business. Sovereign always recommends a review of the current IT set up combined with a review of the client’s business and requirements in order to identify how IT productivity can be delivered. Only this can feed a greater understanding into the peaks and troughs of activity that will need to be supported by the infrastructure. The question as to whether the infrastructure is better hosted as a private environment, where critical information can be exclusively secured, or will it suffice on a public cloud or a combination of both can only follow on as an outcome of the review.

By reviewing IT delivery with the business, identifying requirements on a regular basis as well as continual assessment of quality, capacity and availability of infrastructure, you can be sure to select a hosted solution that will work best for you.

Sovereign welcomes Kevin Hall as Applications Consultant to its Housing and Public Sector business division

An insight into the Service Delivery team

2 Sovereign Business Integration Group plc

I wanted to begin by using this piece as an appropriate forum to say thank you to our clients who have continued to support us in 2012. We have certainly seen a huge shift in the way projects are being delivered over the past 12-months with companies keen to invest but with the very clear goal in mind of improving service and saving money in other areas. We have seen this across all of Sovereign’s business sectors but this has become especially prevalent in the Public Sector.

For Sovereign, this renewed focus but continued investment from our clients have aided our reflection on how we are delivering and adding value. We have recognised this by investing in our staff over the course of the year, providing more project management training in PRInCE2, as well

as programme management training and ITIL, and this has been reflected in the improved quality of service clients are receiving.

On comparing 2012 to the previous year, 2011 saw businesses take the view of ‘knuckle down and manage with what we’ve got’, which was appropriate at the time. However, more recently, there has been the realisation that businesses can’t be sustained in that way and the need to invest has become a necessity. At Sovereign, we have found that that investment can be wide reaching, particularly including customer relationship management and Electronic Document Management (EDM) systems. The need to become more efficient and adopt IT systems that will not only take the pressure off resource-wise

but also automate business processes for efficiency is becoming a paramount consideration for businesses looking to stay competitive and deliver a better service.

For Sovereign, we are evolving year by year. We never have been just a technical services business but more so than ever we are focused on being an IT integrator that bridges the gap between business and technology. For us, it is not about just investing in equipment, it’s about understanding how this will improve the business and service delivery for each and every one of our clients.

In conclusion, for Business Development, 2012 has been an interesting year of market shift but also investment and a re-focus on business priorities with all our clients.

It has been an exciting year for Sovereign in light of the data centre build project taking place and the forming of a new company to take this offering forward. This activity really acted as a catalyst for a strong marketing campaign to strengthen Sovereign’s messaging, linking the companies as a Group rather than separate entities – after all, each part of the Group works together with the same strong

customer-focused service and have often overlapped in our offerings. For example, providing recruitment support to IT services clients or taking a solution that has worked well in the Insurance sector to a Housing sector client.

Also tied into this campaign, was Sovereign’s brand ‘enhancement’. The company has grown considerably since the first design of the brand was created and we felt our projected image needed to grow with us. However, key in this change, was not to lose the existing style that our clients and markets recognised. IBM, Apple, Microsoft to name a few are brands which have evolved their logo without huge change and with great success and this aspect was key in the redesign.

We have also seen a huge success with our events. As well as sponsoring and exhibiting at conferences, Sovereign is now running its own seminars. Growing our presence in each sector; getting known and well-established builds our organisation as a familiar face and trusted provider. To get to this point has taken a good deal of invested time and commitment but we see this as key to build new relationships and to best

support existing clients. For example, through some of our seminars, we have been showcasing relevant technologies and business solutions to the sector, highlighting to people what’s available and gathering market knowledge on their behalf.

Communication with our key stakeholders is imperative. As such we have been raising our profile across the social media spectrum too.

https://twitter.com/SovereignPlc

http://www.linkedin.com/company/2512920?trk=tyah

http://www.linkedin.com/company/994734?trk=tyah

http://www.linkedin.com/company/71271?trk=tyah

Do join our LinkedIn groups and follow us on Twitter and let us know if there is anything you’d like to see from us or indeed, anything we can help you with.

FOCUS ON SOVEREIGN

See us at...Housing Technology 2013 Conference & Executive Forum, Oxford, UK.http://www.housing-technology.com/conference.php

Feb

21

See us at...

Automotive Logistics

Europe 2013 - Bonn,

Germany.http://www.automotivelogisticseurope.com/

Mar

12-14

See us at...Data Centre World – Excel London, UK.

Stand C65http://www.datacentreworld.com/

Feb

27-28

Sovereign’s band of men raise £420 for charity in Movember challengeSovereign’s male contingent made a gallant effort in Movember 2012, particularly employee Darren Smith who raised £420 for Cancer Research from taking part in the event. After losing his father to an eight-year battle with prostate cancer, Darren Smith joined the Movember band wagon to raise awareness of the disease. Over the course of the month Darren succumbed to much teasing from the office and grew a rather impressive Movember tash, raising the money for his chosen charity.

During november each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of the event is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

Movember has raised £184 million for Cancer Research since starting in 2004 and aims to change the face of men’s health across the world. The funds raised in the UK are directed to programmes

run directly by Movember and their men’s health partners, Prostate Cancer UK and the Institute of Cancer Research. They work directly with these partners to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes.

Well done from all at Sovereign Business Integration Group to Darren for raising the £420 and to all the other Movember participants! Same again next year chaps?

A year’s reflection with Joanna Sedley-Burke on Business Development

Service Ethos within the GroupLouise Barker, Marketing Director

After a great first year since launching our

publication, to further commit to our eco-

friendly values, we are maintaining the

move to electronic format with a more

streamlined look and feel. The next issue

of Sovereign Times will be published in

April. It will continue to include further

news on the benefits Sovereign’s clients

are achieving through working with us

as well as our divisional heads’ views on

the key industry issues you should be

addressing to maintain business success.

This issue and future issues are available electronically from Sovereign’s website, www.sovereign-plc.co.uk/newsandevents/times/.

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please email times@sovereign-plc.co.uk.

Sovereign Times is edited and published by neo PR Ltd (www.neopr.co.uk) with design by Tyga Marketing Limited (www.tygamarketing.com)

Next Issue:

Sovereign Business Integration Group Plc has successfully renewed its ISO 27001 certification that includes the data centre facility. Re-assessed this year and certified as meeting the requirements of the International Organisation for Standardisation/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27001:2005 standard, this certification acknowledges Sovereign’s commitment and the resources available to implement, manage and maintain a stringent and secure Information Security Management System.

IT is a fundamental business asset and need to be protected from security threats such as computer-assisted fraud, espionage, sabotage, vandalism, fire or flood. Located just 14 miles from the City, within the M25 and providing a low risk profile at 249ft above sea level, the data centre is conveniently located yet works to expel any likelihood of external threat. And with causes of damage such as malicious code, computer hacking and denial of service attacks now more common, more ambitious and increasingly sophisticated, the protection of data is key.

Richard Barker, CEO, Sovereign Business Integration Group, comments, “Our Data Centre was built with the upmost security and disaster recovery in mind. It has always been important to us that our clients know their data is secure and safe within Sovereign and this ISO certification allows us to further enhance the peace of mind of all our clients and prospects.”

The basic objective of the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 standard is to help establish and maintain an effective Information Security Management System, using a continual improvement approach. It reflects the principles of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidance on the security of information and network systems and implements the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model.

Steps taken to achieve the certification include:• Risk assessment to identify any threats to Sovereign’s assets,

the vulnerabilities of that asset and the likelihood of the threat occurring and the potential impact on business operations.

• Implementing the Information Security Management System to enhance the existing set of controls including policies, processes, procedures, organisational structures and software

and hardware functions.• The introduction of the role of Quality and Information

Security Manager to ensure all aspects of the Information Security Management System are maintained.

• Employees made aware of procedures, policies and responsibilities regarding information security and reporting security incidences if they occur.

• Continual search for ways to improve processes and procedures through internal and external audits.

• Implementation of effective Business Continuity plans in the event of a disaster, which may affect the running of normal business operations.

Richard concludes, “Sovereign’s achievement of the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification displays our on-going commitment to information security and independently reinforces how seriously we view data protection. It provides a level of assurance to our clients and prospects that the entire team remains aware and educated in the correct methods of handling their data appropriately.”

Sovereign Business Integration Group shows high levels of information security awareness after renewal of ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification

T: +44 (0)20 8216 3333 | E: info@sovereign-plc.co.uk | www.sovereign-plc.co.uk 3

Since the last issue of Sovereign Times, SDC has been busy with new clients populating the Data Centre as well as moving existing clients into the new facility. With each of our clients having different timescales and logistics needs to facilitate their move and minimise impact and risk to their business, SDC has been working with them individually to ensure we work to their specific schedules and operate in the best interests of their business.

The flexibility of our customer-focused service also extends to the level of support provided in addition to housing the racks and we are already seeing a number of different requirements from each client that we are more than happy to accommodate.

It’s nice to see that our bespoke offering appeals to the market place and can be utilised effectively to impact positively on business change.

Sovereign Data Connect welcomes Lisa-Jayne Dowe as Senior Business Development Manager Continuing its rapid growth and successful client acquisition plan, Sovereign Data Connect (SDC) has welcomes Lisa-Jayne Dowe as Senior Business Development Manager to continue to support the company’s thriving delivery of Data Centre services to new and existing clients.

Here, Lisa’s shares her views on the data centre industry, as well as how she hopes to play a major part in SDC’s continued success and growth.

With an extensive amount of Data Centre industry experience, Lisa-Jayne brings with her a wealth of expertise in the field as well as impressive credentials in Business Development Management for many other companies. At Sovereign Data Connect, Lisa-Jayne will play a vital part in managing and promoting the Data Centre proposition, solutions and services and delivering a significant proportion of new business revenue to SDC. She will be responsible for developing revenues from current and existing clients whilst providing the high level customer service offering that Sovereign strives to achieve across its companies.

Lisa-Jayne comments, “I am looking forward to sharing my past experience and knowledge of the sector within my new role at SDC. I constantly strive to meet the needs of my clients and prospects in any role and this is something that I feel is very in line with

the Group’s ethos. I am very excited to be working for a well-known and well-respected company with an impeccable reputation for customer service and delivery and I look forward to making the most of my new role.”

According to Lisa-Jayne, there has been a significant increase in demand for data centre space over the past quarter and it is increasingly important to keep ahead of the curve. She comments, “The facility was a huge draw for me as the Data Centre has been built to the accreditation guidelines from the Uptime Institute as well as the enormous passion that went into the build by the staff that are now running it. SDC’s parent company, Sovereign, is an IT services company which is service-driven with a solid reputation in offering managed services to clients prior to the data centre expansion. This was a huge influence on my decision to join SDC as the service driven ethos has continued through to the data centre services. Sovereign knows IT and knows how to provide customers with the best possible service for their business.”

She continues, “Many IT managers currently have a misconception that they need to be within very close proximity of their equipment, as they want to ensure their servers are close-by, often in-house in case of any emergency, but often in these circumstances businesses are putting their business-

critical IT at greater risk. Choosing to locate your servers away from the office but within a Data Centre like Sovereign’s – outside of London but within the M25 – can be a safer option not only in the event of an emergency but to also to provide on-hand 24/7 guidance and support for any issues that may arise. What is crucial is finding a data centre partner who is focused on being a support arm to your team.”

Joanna Sedley-Burke, Business Development Director, Sovereign Data Connect, comments, “I am confident that Lisa-Jayne’s experience will aid her in her role and will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the SDC team. I fully welcome her to the growing team and look forward to working alongside her to enhance SDC’s offering and continued growth.”

Safe Outsourcing Group will use Metro Point as

its primary data centre, moving its whole group of

company servers to the facility.

Safe Outsourcing, one of the leading providers of back

office and financial management outsourced services to

the recruitment industry, has announced it is to move

all its IT servers from its existing data centres and use

Sovereign Data Connect’s Metro Point facility as its

primary data centre location. Safe Outsourcing will move

all of the group’s subsidiaries and its own servers to Metro

Point, which will provide the company with a more flexible

and efficient IT process. Using Metro Point as a primary

Data Centre will afford Safe Outsourcing the peace of

mind that comes with knowing all the servers for each

business within the group will reside in the same place

under the secure and reputable management of SDC.

One of the first Safe Outsourcing subsidiaries to move

its servers into Metro Point is Xuper, a leading provider of

IT infrastructure services.

Peter Grogan, Managing Director, Xuper, comments,

“We looked at several data centres before we selected

the Metro Point facility. Many data centres have the latest

technology but what impressed me was the positive and

flexible attitude of Sovereign’s people. Xuper can now

offer a wide range of hosted and Cloud solutions from

Colocation to fully managed application hosting.”

Sovereign Business Integration Group, the parent

company of Sovereign Data Connect, has been providing

Safe Outsourcing with a hosted service since early 2010.

In February 2012 Safe Outsourcing decided to purchase

rack space in the new data centre, and it was the excellent

service the company received during this time that led to

the decision to relocate all existing servers.

As part of the secure service provided by SDC, the data

centre facility is monitored at all times, with restricted

access and locked racks. The servers are also located within

their own managed environment, with air temperature and

moisture ingress monitored and controlled. Sovereign’s

in-house engineers are available 24/7 to provide a rapid

response to any issues that may arise, preventing potential

incursions from escalating into a disaster.

On top of the data centre services that Safe

Outsourcing will receive, the company is also working with

Sovereign to provide managed services on a project basis,

offering Safe Outsourcing the flexibility they need.

Darren Bonnor, Service Delivery Director at Safe

Outsourcing, comments, “We have been working with

Sovereign for a long time and they have always provided

us with the upmost in service and IT experience. It made a

lot of sense to move our servers to a data centre that we

knew and trusted as security and service is very important

to us.”

He continues, “SDC has provided us with the

flexible and efficient service that we needed and has

given us the highest levels of support throughout the

process and even supplied us with physical help to

move our servers. I am very happy to be continuing our

relationship with Sovereign and to be introducing the

other businesses within our group to SDC and their data

centre facility.”

Safe Outsourcing Group selects Sovereign Data Connect’s Metro Point facility as its primary data centre

Sovereign Data Connect with Joanna Sedley-Burke

Sovereign Data Connect joins the Data Centre Alliance

Sovereign Data Connect (SDC) has become a member of the Data Centre Alliance; a body that develops the industry’s standard for best practice data centre design and operational management.

The Data Centre Alliance represents the data centre industry to the business world, the media, governments and the general public and is made up of experts within this industry.

In addition to representing the data centre industry and promoting the best practice design and operational standards, the Data Centre Alliance also has a primary role of acting as an accreditation body for these standards.

With its Data Centre facility, Metro Point, located just 14 miles from the City and within the M25, providing a low risk profile 249ft above sea level, SDC felt that becoming a member of the Data Centre Alliance was an ideal opportunity to showcase its offering to the industry and enforce its commitment to industry standards.

Lisa-Jayne Dowe, Senior Business Development Manager, Sovereign Data Connect (SDC), comments “I am delighted that SDC has taken the decision to join the Data Centre Alliance, and we are all very much looking forward to working with the organisation as well as our fellow members and partners of the DCA. This represents an excellent opportunity for SDC to be involved in developing and supporting all areas of interest that are vital for the growth and development of the Data Centre industry as a whole.”

SDC’s full service offeringSDC’s Data Centre has been conceived and built on the premise that efficient, secure and high-performing technology should be a given.

With the last five years having witnessed the increasing commoditisation of the data centre industry and an explosion in facilities all seemingly providing improved Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) ratings and boasting the latest energy efficiency and cooling technologies, SDC provides a unique service offering at its data centre.

A valued service is not just about power, racks and data storage, it is about commitment, advice, business sense, flexibility, scalability and agility. The difference comes from providing the right advice about the level of facilities required; to how the data centre services

will link into the rest of the IT infrastructure; combined with the skills, experience, ability to scale, resources and business understanding that are the key criteria for ensuring business continuity.

Born from a managed IT services company, SDC is a service-driven organisation that provides Colocation, hosted services and outsourced IT services. With teams of technical and multi-disciplined staff are available on hand to offer support 24/7; SDC can deliver a dedicated transition team to manage and support a seamless transition, allowing clients to focus on their core business. Offering flexibility as standard, on-going support can be tailored to meet a business’ precise specifications or as business growth demands.

About Sovereign Data ConnectFrom our Metro Point Data Centre, a secure facility close to London,

which can be a primary facility or a disaster recovery site in the

event of critical problems experienced at your business premises.

For the vast majority of organisations the data centre is a mission

critical operation. SDC has built a facility and – more precisely – is

providing a service that is, very simply, designed to truly support

our clients’ business from providing the right

advice about the level of facilities required;

to how the data centre services will link into

the infrastructure; combined with the rest of

the ICT experience, ability to scale, resources

and business understanding that are the key

criteria for ensuring business continuity.

4 Sovereign Business Integration Group plc

Supply Chain & Logistics Antony Yiakoumi

Our client base at Sovereign has always been built thorough relationships; something that can never be done on the end of the phone. Therefore, as well as going out to meet clients, we value the industry conferences as a great place to catch up with people in a relaxed environment and to hear the latest industry views.

Sovereign attends industry events like these where relevant exactly for this reason and although many of the same issues crop up, we have seen a change in the market over the last nine months in recognising that investment does need to be made in IT, but it must be done wisely.

Businesses are understandably remaining conscious of spend, but also recognising that technology can aid processes without meaning a dramatic cost to the business - often with a return on that investment. We look forward to working with more businesses in the sector in ensuring that technology drives their business.

Business sector understanding: supply chain & logisticsWith over 30 years’ experience in the IT industry spanning many different industry sectors, including Supply Chain and Logistics, Richard Barker, CEO of Sovereign gives his perspective of the industry as it stands today and the issues facing the market. Together with Account Manager, Antony Yiakoumi, who recently joined Sovereign and brings with him high-levels of industry knowledge gained through both experience and academia, the pair discuss the importance of business-appropriate IT, new technology and just how key it is for those operating in the Supply Chain and Logistics sector to be able to rely on an IT partner who can offer a level of industry expertise that will deliver to the needs of the business.

Industry-specific and IT experience

Richard: The whole premise upon which Sovereign was set up was to be a service provider that understands our clients’ businesses, focuses on the business and drives things within those businesses to give clients a competitive advantage and reduce their costs. In order to do this, the appropriate infrastructure is needed – not just from a technology perspective, but from a people and skills perspective – however, many companies just do not have the budgets available to be able to employ large teams of highly skilled, experienced IT professionals. In fact, in some cases you tend to find that the IT department can be half the size of the Board; imagine, could the business run for a couple of days without IT? Most probably not compared to running a couple of days without the Board. It is key that businesses acknowledge just how critical IT is to their business and how they need the correct level of support for them.

Antony: With this in mind, having acknowledged that IT is critical and you need the correct level of support, it is then paramount that the right amount of support is being delivered by a provider who knows your business. Every client rightly feels that their industry is unique and their business within that is also unique. At Sovereign, we appreciate that completely. We see it as an integral part of our working relationships with clients to ensure that they have confidence in us to deliver a service that is appropriate to their business and sympathetic to the industry in which they operate. The knowledge we hold in the Supply Chain and Logistics sector – and across all our business sectors for that matter – helps us to bridge the gap between IT and business success. Without that integral knowledge of the intricacies of the sector, there is less of a

chance a project can be successful. We rely on our experience to be able to build confidence, develop relationships, advise appropriately, ask the right questions and present scenarios that will, in turn, all accumulate to end business benefits. From our clients in return we get the best information possible to do our jobs, as we are able to communicate at the same level, knowing they understand that we understand. This can be key to a long-lasting and beneficial relationship.

Richard: This is fundamental. In the majority of cases if, as an IT partner, you start discussions with, for example, a compound manager on the subject of IT, ADSLs, vPLS, and so on, their eyes will most probably glaze over. However, we like to approach the conversation on a business level, talking about logistics, practicalities and how you manage cars in the compound in a timely and efficient manner. It is about being able to have a constructive conversation, talking about the business, not the IT and getting better results on what is required. This way, a compound manager is able to easily report back to their senior management knowledgably and communicate the business benefits to all.

Antony: This is very true. Sometimes it is all too easy for those in IT to overlook levels of technical knowledge of others. They often try and do what they think should be done technically, rather than look at the wider picture of what the business actually needs. It is important to remember that IT is there to serve the user not to dictate to them. Industry experience counts for so much in this way. At Sovereign, we’ve been to the compounds, ports and factories taken a good look around and taken the time to understand the intricacies of each process. For our clients, we are a visible and integral part of the team – on-site, with them, listening and helping.

State of the nation

Richard: The Supply Chain and Logistics industry is currently under huge pressure to reduce costs. This is evident from speaking to many organisations at industry events. The mistake, however, when looking to cut costs is that people tend to look at processes in the supply chain and not how technology can marry with these processes and help deliver cost efficiencies. With Sovereign’s experience in knowing industry processes and knowing the technology, we can play a key role in making this happen.

Antony: The other thing we’re seeing in the market is the transition from Software as a Service (SaaS) to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which is leading people to be much more service driven rather than provider driven. Given this, we are seeing a lot more acknowledgement of the need for IT in the business and the need for the IT team to be involved, which is very positive. IT is in a good position to advise of business benefits required and changes that may need implementing – they work across the business, seeing every department and gaining an insight into all requirements. It is key to acknowledge their view but similarly, it is also key for IT to step up and be more equipped to discuss the business issues to make an impact on the business.

Richard: This is where our strengths lie at Sovereign. As an IT partner, we are able to take that objective view too. We also have the ability to talk to many different teams across the business and use our internal expertise here to do that. Our entire team is service delivery focused – from our finance team, to admin, HR, business development and marketing, they all have a role in integrating with each other and participating in what is best for our clients. This is so advantageous to us and our clients and gives us the ability to, for instance, pull our CFO into a client meeting for advice that is in line with the bigger business issues not just about finance. This provides our client with not only their day-to-day team but with the whole of Sovereign at their disposal and many, many different touch points throughout the company.

It’s all in the delivery

Richard: Fundamentally all companies have Service Level Agreement (SLAs) to adhere to in their contracts but at Sovereign we see our commitment as above and beyond that. For us, it is about being there with our clients at any time as and when needed but also proactively to keep projects fresh.

Antony: Flexibility is paramount to the success of projects. We need to readily adapt to changing scenarios along the way. Sector knowledge can help hugely here too as well as appreciating that technology can’t stand still; it needs to meet the needs of the business at the time but also needs to evolve with the business to meet long-term objectives and remain in line with the business plan.

The uncertainty about RFID in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry is still surprisingly rife with many still unsure of how best to implement it, what solution is right for them and how much it is likely to cost. What is also not clear though are the potential cost-savings RFID can bring to the business if implemented and integrated appropriately.

Types of tags

RFID tags come in passive and active form. A passive tag has no electrical source to it but an active tag contains a battery source and omits a stronger radio signal turning it into an almost ‘proactive’ tag, the signals from which can be picked up from a distance. Deciding which one is right for the business depends on what functionality is required.

Uses of RFID

There is talk in the industry of using RFID tags to store information, however, there are some considerations to look at before this is put into practice – what if tag is destroyed and the information on it is then lost? What security issues does this present and how can the business handle this? Would it be better to feed the information straight back to a central system? There are many options and considerations.

RFID can be used to identify ‘ownership’ in terms of where the vehicle is and when it arrived/ left its

location. GPS has always been mooted as a more cost-effective alternative to RFID but in terms of tracking, size and budget, it really comes down to what the most cost-effective option for the business is, rather than cheaper initially. For instance, RFID might be a more costly investment up front but the savings in the long-term may work out as advantageous.

Benefits

RFID can bring many benefits in cost-savings and efficiencies. In allowing for a more automated process, RFID can save on resource, increase accuracy and timeliness of data and provide a certain audit trail of events, backed up by a data log. It is positive technology.

Integration

RFID and tagging technology can be applied to Sovereign’s EML solution. In fact, the solution was designed with tagging technology – including RFID – in mind. It’s been this way since its very conception, however, only now is the industry catching up and looking to potentially embrace this form of technology.

Ultimately, it comes down to what’s right for each business and complementary to the current infrastructure and processes in place. In order to apply the technology though, it must be understood and embraced to allow it to further the business and make a difference.

The key to RFID: start with the business need

About Supply Chain & Logistics

The foundations of the Sovereign finished vehicle supply chain experience lie with a number of bespoke systems developed by manufacturers, carriers and software houses.

This special blend of over 25 years’ sector expertise and experience has played a key role in the development of ‘EML - Event Management Logistics’. EML was developed to address and meet the challenges of ‘Global Manufacturing’ for the finished vehicle supply chain, which improves service, efficiency, revenue and profitability.

Our software with a service model recognises that the software always needs to be on and working, it needs to adapt readily to process change and respond quickly to business needs without the worry of how. With a SwaS model, the supplier is always available to ensure the system is working to best support the client’s business at any time; enabling the client to continue to concentrate on their core business.

T: +44 (0)20 8216 3333 | E: info@sovereign-plc.co.uk | www.sovereign-plc.co.uk 5

Recruitment is about managing people and bringing likeminded parties together; those looking for people and those looking for new employment or contracts. It is easy to forget that changing jobs is for most people a life changing event that affects them and their family. As such, SBR believes in having a social and corporate conscience and ensuring that the people we work with we do the best possible service to ensure they find the right positions and our clients receive candidates that genuinely want to work for them.

That is why Sovereign spends time understanding a candidate’s career aspirations and ambitions and helps to introduce them to organisations that match that cultural fit. Getting it right at the start is fundamental to a successful service from SBR.

A bright future for SBR Theo A Michaels, Managing Director of Sovereign Business Resources, reflects on business in 2012 and gives his views on what 2013 has in store for the company.Can you give us an overview of 2012 and what 2013 may bring?

The last year has been a testing time for businesses, with the pressure of recessions and budget cuts swallowing many companies. However, with a new Year upon us, SBR sees a good time ahead for businesses, especially our company, as we commit to investing in the business and growing as a division alongside our parent company Sovereign Business Integration Group.

Businesses across the world should see 2013 as a time to stop surviving and start thriving. SBR is starting to see a lot of more optimism in the market and is equally optimistic about our own growth potential with the introduction of new staff and an increase in revenue.

What would you say are the on-going goals of SBR?

At SBR we are hugely ambitious. We are very keen to move into other areas of recruitment and expand our mix of permanent and contract placements in order to service new clients and offer our existing clients a fully rounded suite of services.

What is SBR’s mission?

It is important to us to provide a fluid, respected and efficient service that allows our business to make the recruitment process easy for our clients. It no longer needs to be a painful process to hire staff and at SBR we take that away and constantly add value to the clients that we service.

We want to help our clients to grow their business through talent acquisition and placing the right staff in the right roles. It is important to us that we use our consultative approach to provide genuine value to the businesses that we work with.

In summary; our mission is to provide a fluid and respected recruitment service.

How is SBR going to grow in the future?

At SBR we look at three core things when it comes to our overall growth.

• Structure

• Specialism

• Services

Structure

It is important that we empower our staff and provide them with the tools and structure that will inspire them to take hold of the opportunities to build a career with us. Many agencies will tend to have a hire and fire strategy but at SBR I really wanted to change that, I wanted to help our staff

achieve their own career goals within SBR and in essence become true masters of their own destiny.

With this in mind we have just started a new mentoring scheme in order to provide each member of staff with the opportunity to mentor a new member for whom they will be responsible. This mentoring scheme will provide our employees with a real platform for career growth within SBR and will hopefully lead to an increase in talent development within the business.

Specialism

Specialism is also key and we pride ourselves on the knowledge and understanding of the market that all our staff have. We are a business partner to our clients with long-term contacts and experience in the industry. It is important to us that we are able to share our knowledge of what is happening in the sector with our clients and enable our consultants to help them via knowledge and experience with their overall business strategy.

It is very easy to say that we are business partners but it is another thing to actually deliver this.

Services

This is where the services that we provide are based on a platform of trust. At SBR, we work with integrity and place candidates honestly and effectively within the correct positions. This is what builds trust and the partnerships that many other recruitment agencies strive to achieve.

Can you summarise SBR’s position and what makes the company different from the rest?

We believe that the clients we work with are passionate and ambitious and therefore would like to work with suppliers who are equally as driven. Our clients work hard to maintain and improve their success and I believe they get peace of mind knowing that SBR is working just as hard to provide them with a service that is going to enhance their overall business performance and support their growth and success.

SBR is growing fast and we are now reaching unprecedented size – it is an exciting time to be a part of a business growing as quickly as SBR!

Through growth we can gain more benefits and our staff and clients know that we are a company where we are empowered by the long-term relationships that can be built when you invest the time to get to know your clients business and their specific requirements.

This is what we rely on and this is what sets us aside from everyone else.

Focus on InsuranceTheo A Michaels gives a brief overview of SBR’s work in the London Insurance market…

At Sovereign Business Resources (SBR), we know that people are a fundamental business asset. We also know that finding the right-fit for a new role is often a difficult and frustrating process.

That is why SBR works closely with clients to gain an exact understanding of not only the job description and the desired skill-set but also the company culture and their professional values.

For the candidates that we source, we seek to know them as individuals; their key motivational triggers, professional aspirations and what makes them tick. This is all done to enable SBR to bring together not only candidates that can successfully fulfil the role but to ensure true longevity of employment with our clients.

For shorter term, contract roles, SBR’s success lies in the ability to tap into a stable network of London Market contract professionals in which SBR has spent many years investing. This culminates in the fast delivery of the right skill sets, in budget and on time; be it for a one day or one year contract.

Mark Breen, Director of Insurance Services at Sovereign, comments, “very often when I am talking with clients about future plans for their

business, one of the challenges they identify to carrying out change is often an internal IT resource issue. Fortunately Sovereign’s ability to complement its range of technology services with its own dedicated recruitment business provides our clients with the support to take the next steps by being assured that we are running the recruitment for them. This enables Sovereign to strengthen our relationships which is invaluable from my perspective.”

SBR has been delivering quality staffing solutions to London Insurance market organisations for the past nine years for contract, interim and permanent staff. SBR has excelled in the London Insurance market; treating every vacancy as critical and urgent knowing that just finding the right candidate is not enough, finding the right candidate in the right time is paramount to success.

SBR understands that people are the most important asset to any business and therefore invests the time in sourcing the right people so those in the insurance industry can concentrate on what they do best for their business, rather than worry about recruitment.

Jason DickensJason joins SBR with approximately 10 years experience in recruitment and over 6 years of working specifically within the Oil & Gas sector. Jason is tasked with developing an Oil & Gas desk with

ambitions to build this as a substantial part of SBR’s growth plan.

Cliff KempA seasoned recruitment specialist Cliff brings eight years of recruitment experience to SBR with several years working within an IT recruitment environment. Cliff is focussing on the Business

Intelligence Development market coupled with senior permanent posts both within the UK and international. SBR is excited by the experience and success Cliff brings to the team and holds high hopes for a long and prosperous future together.

SBR Appointments:

About Sovereign Business ResourcesSovereign Business Resources (SBR) was established in 2003 to provide high quality consultative recruitment services, specialising within both technical (IT) and engineering staffing across all industry sectors.

We understand that people are the most important asset to any business; thus we work closely with our clients to gain a true understanding of not only the job description and the desired skill-set but also the company culture, character fit and their professional values.

Equally for our candidates we aim to get a real understanding of them as individuals, their key motivational triggers, professional aspirations, who they are and what makes them tick. SBR is experienced in working with clients throughout the UK, Europe, Middle East, and South Africa for both contract and permanent positions.

Recruitment with Theo Michaels

6 Sovereign Business Integration Group plc

Social Housing Enters new Era of GovernanceOnce again the social housing sector is tackling an upheaval in both regulatory climate and strategic direction, from the Homes and Community Agency’s self-regulatory model and emphasis on financial performance, value for money and national consistency, to the clear Government drive towards creating a self-financing sector.

From the way services are provided to tenants to the way business transformation projects are delivered and new IT systems procured, if housing associations are to operate effectively in the new environment a robust governance model is required.

As Jacqui Stoggall, Director of Consultancy, Sovereign Business Integration Group, explains, housing associations need to apply new rigour to attain value for money from IT – from evolving the existing infrastructure to respond to new demands such as Universal Credit, to improving procurement and contract structure and ensuring IT investment meets the requirements of strategic business improvement plans.

Regulatory ChangeThe housing sector has proven resilient in the face of the global financial crisis to date. However, the landscape for social housing providers is now facing radical change. From the introduction of Universal Credit to the reduction in public funding and the need to expand service delivery beyond the core housing product, housing providers are having to adapt fast.

Underpinning all of this change is a new governance model. The Homes and Community Agency’s regulatory framework is now placing the onus on housing providers to demonstrate robust financial viability and sustainability. Furthermore, the social housing regulator is demanding housing providers do more to achieve value for money, after finding it cannot account for significant variations in costs between providers - on average 29 per cent above or below the mean.

At the same time, organisations are under pressure from stakeholders to improve accountability, transform efficiency, and deliver an effective range of services that supports tenants and delivers new revenue streams.

Effective ProcessThis move towards improved accountability, combined with a clear government commitment to reducing public

funding and creating a self-sufficient housing sector, will demand significant operational, structural and personnel change. From reinvigorating plans for shared service delivery to demanding significant business transformation, the challenge for housing organisations to put in place the right structure and skills to support both accountability and the value for money agenda.

Improved governance extends from the creation of new boards of directors, through the delivery of major business improvement projects – which should include top level management and close collaboration with IT – to the next tier of service delivery management.

To support the new structure, housing organisations require a far more robust culture of performance management, exploiting business intelligence tools that can deliver both day to day operational Key Performance Indicator (KPI) monitoring and on going strategic performance measurement. It is only by creating an end-to-end performance management model that organisations will be able to deliver not only the financial metrics demanded by the HCA but also the softer, customer led metrics that will remain key to supporting the service delivery improvement

Procurement ProcessOne of the most significant areas of change must be the way in which housing associations procure technology and services. After a decade of somewhat anarchic investment, with organisations typically exploiting one off solutions to achieve specific objectives, under new governance models the sector needs to create a far more strategic approach to IT adoption and investment.

This must start with an in depth assessment of the current technology investment in conjunction with business improvement objectives. Once the strategy has been developed and key areas of IT investment identified, there are opportunities to become far savvy with procurement processes – albeit if relevant within the confines of EU procurement law. To attain the best result it is important to understand these options and choose the most effective route to achieve both best value and work with suppliers that demonstrate relevant market experience and expertise.

For example, while a straightforward tender process is designed for the purchase of an off-the-shelf software solution, a housing organisation could opt to use Competitive Dialogue for less defined requirements –

such as an outsourced IT service. The use of Competitive Dialogue in this environment helps the organisation to shape the content and context of the service required through on going discussions with potential vendors and achieve a service that is fit for purpose

By improving both the understanding of technology requirements, including the link between business improvement projects and technology needs, and the way in which technology is procured, housing associations can attain the critical evolution from a tactical to strategic approach to IT that will drive the long term value for money requirements.

Vendor RoleThis change in attitude should also demand new levels of governance from the IT vendor community. Excellence in IT will underpin many aspects of both new service delivery and governance transparency and the onus is on vendors to demonstrate the value of the investment. Benefits realisation plans should become a core component of the overall technology assessment process, even if the benefits may not be realised during the lifetime of that vendor’s contract, to ensure the organisation is following its strategic direction and addressing requirements for value for money.

IT vendors can also play an important role in facilitating shared services with neighbouring organisations. Critically, this does not have to be limited to other housing providers. As the social housing market increasingly looks at service diversification in order to provide tenants with access to a raft of additional services – from apprenticeship schemes onwards – there is an opportunity for the housing organisation to act as a single centralised function for a number of local service delivery organisations.

ConclusionIn some ways the shift towards self-governing and a regulator focused on financial metrics rather than the more complex, customer service led measures takes some of the pressure off the social housing sector. The reality, however, is very different. With changes in welfare funding and a clear political move towards creating a self-funding sector, the onus is on housing providers to become far more strategic, to build partnerships and relationships with other local organisations. Strong governance across the organisation, from the board to the delivery of IT services and support, will be critical to effective operation in this new era of social housing provision.

Across the Housing sector, awareness of IT investment is increasing more than ever before with many more organisations looking to outsource their IT services for a more cost-efficient and streamlined process. In light of the impending welfare reforms and Universal Credit, Housing organisations are transforming their business functions in order to save money and run more efficiently; and a huge part of this transformation is falling to IT.

With this in mind, it is imperative that Housing Associations look towards experienced, well-known IT outsourcing companies to help with this transformation. It remains an on-going priority for the team here at Sovereign

to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions to the industry; and it is this ’outside of the box’ thinking that places Sovereign as one of the leading suppliers of IT services to the Housing sector.

About Housing

Housing organisations are faced with the continuous

challenge of improving the efficiency and consistency

of their organisations. As a solution to this, they

increasingly turn to new tecwhnology to help them

improve their services.

As long-standing IT providers to clients in the

social housing sector, Sovereign makes it a priority

to keep abreast of technology developments in

this arena. By keeping our knowledge base current,

we provide IT consultancy that makes sure the

services clients are investing in are those that will

indeed deliver the efficiency they promise. Overall,

Sovereign makes sure that any investment meets

your expectations of adding value to the business.

Housing with James Threapleton

Gateway Housing selects Sovereign Business Integration Group to provide an infrastructure refresh to its existing IT systemOne-year managed services contract will breakdown the ‘IT barrier’ for the housing association and potentially open up IT shared services possibilities

Gateway Housing Association, the largest provider of sheltered housing within Tower Hamlets, has selected Sovereign to conduct an IT infrastructure review and refresh. The one year infrastructure and managed services contract, valued at £150,000, will also see Sovereign manage the improvements and Gateway’s overall IT

environment. Gateway is a well-established

community-based housing

association with over 2700 properties primarily in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The organisation selected Sovereign following a tender process and receiving positive testimonials from Tower Hamlets Community Housing Group and East End Homes, who are both Sovereign clients. These recommendations, combined with Sovereign’s proven experience and reputation in the housing sector and competitive pricing, is what made Sovereign the prime candidate for the IT improvement work with Gateway.

Helen Routledge, Finance Director at Gateway comments, “We are very much looking forward to

working with Sovereign in order to improve our overall IT infrastructure. We are keen to see a long-term improvement to our IT support as well as improvements in the reliability of our infrastructure. I am confident that Sovereign will be able to aid us in this transition and enable us to use IT to enhance the services we provide and improve the overall efficiencies throughout the business.

Helen concludes, “We are eager to see how Sovereign will help us improve our IT systems and processes and I look forward to working with them to achieve this over the next year and into the future.”

FSG Property Services sees predicted savings of £250,000 with consultancy from Sovereign Business Integration Group Sovereign was selected to provide IT consultancy in light of rapid business expansion and is on track to save costs through market knowledge and detailed procurement advice

One of the fastest growing property services companies in the South East, FSG Property Services, selected Sovereign, to provide procurement advice and implementation support for a new system to accommodate FSG’s rapid business expansion.

The IT consultancy advice and ultimately, the selection of a tailored application package, has seen Sovereign assist FSG to procure a solution specifically suited to its needs. The approach was one that not only identified FSG’s requirements, but helped with evaluation and negotiation with the suppliers in the bidding process who were looking to offer solutions that may have been more than the business in its current form required. Sovereign’s experience in the housing and property sector and current market knowledge of relevant systems meant that Sovereign was able to provide specific IT advice that catered for the business needs, and consultancy services that will help FSG gain expertise and advise on how to effectively move forward with their IT processes.

Sean Kennedy, Operations and Development Director, comments, “Charles and Jenny from Sovereign have been grand; we would not have been able to identify and specify our requirements to this detail without them. Sovereign’s knowledge of the marketplace and housing systems has made sure our systems meet our clients’ needs as well as our own. By having Sovereign run the procurement for us, it meant we took less time away from our clients. The investment in Sovereign’s support is a fraction of what we have managed to save.”

In Sovereign’s assessment of the project so far, the company has been able to quantify savings to FSG of £200,000 in cost reduction; a number that is set to grow to £250,000 by the end of the project.

T: +44 (0)20 8216 3333 | E: info@sovereign-plc.co.uk | www.sovereign-plc.co.uk 7

Insurance with Mark Breen

IT is at the heart of every insurance business. When it works well it drives your business forward. When it does not, it restricts your ability to grow and support your clients.

We are seeing a continued demand from businesses on their IT – it’s a given when you look at the ever-evolving technology offerings from the IT market; but making the right choices at the right time is crucial to minimise

the impact on day-to-day business activities. At Sovereign, we work with our clients, manage their IT and enable change that works so they can focus on what is important – their core business. We appreciate

that reputation is everything, which is why Sovereign goes that extra mile as an IT partner. Transparency, honesty, diligence and value are the cornerstones of the service we provide.

Sovereign Business Integration Group catches up with vijay Mistry as Service Delivery Manager within its Insurance divisionIn this feature, we look at Vijay’s role within the Insurance team and how his varied background of working both in the service sector and on-site with clients enables him to bring an eclectic mix of skills and experience to his role.

With a technical background and an ex-engineer, vijay Mistry joined Sovereign with experience across multiple business sectors, including financial services. His roles at BT, Sky, Easynet, Deutsche Bank and most recently, the London Stock Exchange Trading network, have provided a good foundation of working for a variety of companies and cultures and enforced the importance of being adaptable in client service delivery.

vijay explains, “Having worked on-site previously at the London Stock Exchange, I have experienced a very fast-paced, time-critical, high-pressure environment. When a network outage occurred it was critical to address it immediately and follow procedures to resolve the issue while adhering to strict contracted SLAs. This disciplined approach is something I bring to my role at Sovereign in taking a step back, looking at how a current process/projects are working and then utilising my skills and experience to add value to the team and the clients to improve the client experience.”

In his role at Sovereign, vijay manages BAU tasks and project delivery. In addition, vijay brings a wealth of experience to the Service Desk utilising his experience to enhance operational processes and implement quality checks to improve the Service Desk functionality.

Based on-site at one of Sovereign’s Insurance clients, vijay describes this element of his role, “Being on-site in a client’s environment provides immense focus. It allows

the team to deliver on a personal level and to be involved in the ‘real’ environment day-to-day – feeling the business, understanding the issues and adding real value.” He continues, “A remote working relationship can deliver a certain level of support but there is nothing quite like being on-site to appreciate what is really happening and the pressures faced by the team and the company as a whole when incidents occur.”

With vijay on-site, he is also able to assess project resource levels and take on additional projects if internal client resource is low. Being there and available to help is another benefit of Sovereign’s on-site mode of delivery. Furthermore, vijay and the team also have the ability to call upon resource from Sovereign’s head office at Metro Point and draw in extra resource and skills from that pool of professionals as and when required. With this flexible approach, the Sovereign team ensure that there is never a gap in resource and service delivery is consistent and streamlined.

Commenting on the Insurance sector’s main priorities at the moment and how Sovereign is best-suited to deliver in this environment, vijay comments, “Some of the main projects within the Insurance sector currently are improvement of the user experience i.e. Migration to Windows 7, Exchange 2010 and improvement of network performance, stability and resiliency; all of which are bringing an overall better service to the users. Sovereign’s strengths within this market lie in our flexible approach. Sometimes amongst some of the big players, there is often a very stringent set up where only dedicated people who are technology specific can deliver certain services. This I believe leaves gaps and continuity can

be lost as other teams/department needs to be engaged to complete the delivery of the service. At Sovereign, however, the flexible approach to service delivery means that clients can benefit from an all-encompassing, wide-spread knowledge-base where the primary focus is all about the customer, high-end delivery and understanding and solving the problem.”

He concludes, “The customer-centric, personal delivery model from Sovereign is something a lot of companies today have lost. However, there is a lot to be said for a company that is reputable and highly reliable in its service delivery and is always willing to go that extra mile.”

Enterprise networking – The Heart of Effective Global Insurance

About InsuranceConsolidation, competition and the growing compliance and corporate governance requirements are regularly faced by the regulatory insurance market.

This can lead to overhauling the way technology is designed, implemented and delivered; with a growing emphasis on cost reduction and more effective service provision. Having over 15 years’ experience supplying IT services to the London Insurance Market, Sovereign is committed to raising the standard of IT services in the market.

With experienced staff from a background of insurance operations including underwriting, reinsurance and claims management for insurance businesses, we understand your business.

We can drive IT service improvement plans

that will improve business experience

of IT and provide innovative approaches

to process improvement in the areas of underwriting,

claims and broker management and

distribution, with minimum risk.

With explosive growth in mobility and increased adoption of cloud computing, unified communications and collaboration services, businesses across the insurance sector are under increasing pressure to consider the way IT is delivered today and whether it will be fit enough for tomorrow.

Today’s Enterprise network needs to be resilient, highly available and, of course, secure. It needs to be able to flex up and down in response to business change – from merger and acquisition to consolidation and rationalisation. It also needs to support rapid business innovation – such as the addition of a new international office or deployment of Telepresence tools. Combining anytime anywhere access with rapid change whilst controlling costs is a major challenge; yet failure to do so will result in huge business risk - from performance degradation of the business to potential security breaches.

Mark Breen and Kevin Doran, Sovereign, outline the major considerations that continue to affect the critical importance of the Enterprise network within the Insurance industry and how a centralised IT strategy and/or managed service can help companies achieve business transformation and growth

Business Transformation

Globalisation, ever more sophisticated applications and mobility are changing the way businesses operate. Add in the increasing move towards Unified Communication, Cloud Computing and Big Data and the implications for network infrastructure are major and, if poorly managed, devastating.

For insurance companies increasingly expanding their international reach, these new ways of working present huge opportunities to drive business efficiency. The capabilities offered by technologies such as Telepresence and SIP as well as trends such as Bring Your Own Device

(BYOD), are gaining significant traction at a time of reduced business travel and increased cost control.

By enabling a seamless interconnected working environment, technology is transforming the way insurance professionals can productively interact with one another on a global stage in order to attract and win business.

Network Implications

However, these changes are also placing substantial pressure on the business-critical network infrastructure. The growing complexity of Enterprise networks, combined with the use of cloud services and the increasing number of endpoints such as smartphones and tablets, has intensified capacity, availability, serviceability and security requirements.

Furthermore, with growing reliance on these networks, organisations must now ensure excellent resilience and improved disaster recovery. These issues affect all insurance companies irrespective of size. The challenge today is not only to assess the viability of the current infrastructure but also to ascertain whether the current delivery model is as effective as it can be. Should the organisation retain a decentralised model or centralise? Should the IT delivery be managed in-house – by a central team or geographically dispersed IT support – or would it be more cost-effective to opt for an IT managed service for all IT or specific aspects such as network Infrastructure?

Centralisation Efficiencies

Certainly for those organisations still heavily reliant on a highly decentralised infrastructure, the costs and challenges associated with delivering the required availability, security, resilience and ability to meet strategic business change are significant. Organisations

require higher numbers of individuals to support local systems that often appear to operate in silos; whilst deploying changes and innovations become riskier and harder to coordinate across multiple sites.

The shift from decentralised to centralised IT operations offers organisations real benefits in creating, delivering and maintaining a responsive and future-proofed network infrastructure. With a centralised team – either in-house or via a managed service – organisations achieve better use of resources; both physical and personnel, reduce overlapping functions and ensure a consistent strategy and objective is adhered to. In contrast, reliance upon distributed teams across multiple geographies can result in inconsistent policies and processes which frequently leads to network operational issues.

Of course, some organisations are concerned about the implications of

centralisation on disaster recovery and business continuity planning strategies. In fact, today’s active/active data centre models provide significant availability gains as well maximising utilisation of assets at each site. With no expensive redundant hardware, a centralised strategy can actually reduce both risk and cost.

Business Support

With better connectivity available globally, a centralised model for supporting the Enterprise network is both less expensive and, most importantly, is more reliable. From the creation of new international offices to the deployment of new technologies and business tools, a centralised team can deliver service improvement whilst confidently and continuously assessing the performance of the network and ensuring it remains fit for purpose.

With the shift towards service-based network technologies, insurance companies should be asking;

who is best placed to manage their critical network infrastructure? As already established the Enterprise network is key to business transformation – from facilitating new ways of working to supporting business growth. Therefore should an insurance company still be concerned about the function and delivery of applications, about managing the communication links between offices or should they be focused exclusively on underwriting, claims and investments?

Conclusion

The Enterprise network has never been more important. The convergence of voice and data means that more data is being passed over the network than ever before. With the growing expansion of international business and the increasing reliance on technologies such as Telepresence, mobile devices, Big Data applications and Cloud Computing, this throughput is only going to increase. As a result the Enterprise network in an Insurance company cannot afford any degradation in performance, any reduction in availability, any weakness in security and must be able to accommodate organic and acquisitive growth without disruption.

It is, therefore, critical that businesses review frequently just how well their current network infrastructure supports their activities both today and in the future. Can the network scale to support business growth? How much more demand can be placed on the current infrastructure without creating an untenable performance degradation? How effectively can changes and innovation be deployed across the entire estate? Can the business exploit the cost benefits of the latest communication technologies? And, critically, just how can organisations achieve a cost effective model for creating and maintaining this essential Enterprise network?

T: +44 (0)20 8216 3333 | E: info@sovereign-plc.co.uk | www.sovereign-plc.co.ukSovereign Business Integration Group plc