Commissions multimillion-rand IT solution in three days
When top SA professional services firm Ernst & Young embarked on what it terms "a new way of working", it turned to Dimension Data to provide the sophisticated IT infrastructure required to support this revolutionary concept.
The change in work style was precipitated by the firm`s planned move from Johannesburg`s CBD to tailor-made premises in Illovo. The new three-storey, open plan building was designed to facilitate teaming, and the sharing of ideas and knowledge and also allow for the introduction of `touchdown` workstations or `hotdesks` for the 870 people who currently use the firm`s head office facilities.
"But we recognised at the outset that this would never succeed unless the underlying IT infrastructure was sufficiently robust and innovative to support the concept. It was going to be difficult enough to persuade individuals not only to give up their offices, but in some cases also to give up their desks," explains Roy Bridgman, director, national information services and technology at Ernst & Young.
"We`ve had to ensure that when they arrive in the building and plug in their notebooks at an available desk in a common work area, a training section or a conference room, they are connected to the network first time, every time.
"We`ve also had to provide the same level of plug-in-and-work functionality for our auditors in the satellite offices we established at some of our larger clients and for our people dialling in to the firm`s network from their homes or other client sites.
"In addition, we`ve had to connect all this to our regional offices in Cape Town, Bellville, Durban, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg, Namibia, Swaziland and Botswana. The entire network - LAN and our upgraded WAN - had to have full redundancy built in. We also wanted to adopt voice-over-data technology (voice over IP) between our Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban offices and install a sophisticated video conferencing facility.
Recognising the magnitude of the job facing its relatively small IT team, Ernst & Young turned to Dimension Data for assistance.
"We knew Dimension Data could build a network and maintain it - but so can other companies. What we required was an organisation with the expertise and skills to assist us in designing the type of IT model we`d require to support our new way of working and which would allow for future growth. The fact that Dimension Data could also provide and install the cabling and equipment to make it all come together, was a bonus," he says.
His confidence was not misplaced. Implementation and cut-over to the new systems took place over a long weekend: Ernst & Young`s Johannesburg employees shut down their PCs in their CBD offices on a Friday afternoon, and switched on in Illovo and continued working the following Tuesday.
"All it took was three hectic days - and some two years of meticulous planning," Bridgman adds.
"Dimension Data was with us every step of the way, from the earliest stages when the project was no more than a concept, through developing a model we believed would best achieve our goals, to the final flurry when, for example, last minute architectural changes were made, resulting in major changes in our cabling plans.
"We investigated other IT companies and put the project out to tender. But we finally chose to go with Dimension Data not only because the company has a strong track record and can build networks, but because their service delivery capabilities met our stringent criteria. The success of a complex, multimillion-rand project like this is built on partnership and service delivery as much as it is on technical capabilities," Bridgman says.
Dimension Data account manager, Hanif Randera, says much of the responsibility for the success of the project rests with the utilisation of Primer, Dimension Data`s international solution delivery framework. The dedication, passion and knowledge of the team involved were the cornerstones to the success of this project.
Part of Dimension Data`s GSOA (Global Services Operating Architecture) methodology, Primer includes the design, procurement, implementation and project management of technology solutions like Ernst & Young`s, which are based on business and functional requirements.
"The magnitude of the project which included designing the new LAN, upgrading the WAN, and providing VOIP, RAS (remote access servers), security, saturation cabling to 1 000 data points - some of which are mobile - and video conferencing, meant it cut across several Dimension Data divisions. Because all divisions conform to the Primer methodology, planning and co-ordination was considerably simplified," Randera explains.
"In addition, Dimension Data`s relationship with Ernst & Young has been strengthened with the implementation of elements of other GSOA services. These include Uptime, a break-fix onsite maintenance service; and Surveyor, a diagnostic service that includes testing the operability and functioning of the networks, RAS and security components," he says.
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