Palmer and Harvey McLane Limited

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Palmer and Harvey McLane Limited By really listening and offering a range of options, TalkTalk Business s consultative approach mapped onto our

1 Palmer and Harvey McLane Limited By really listening and offering a range of options, TalkTalk Business s consultative approach mapped onto our business challenges exceptionally well. Vinny Rowland, IT Services Manager, Palmer and Harvey McLane Ltd Call: Lines are open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

2 The challenge Increasing reliability Increasing efficiency Palmer and Harvey, the UK s largest delivered wholesaler of grocery goods, needed a more robust and flexible network as problems with its existing infrastructure were causing operational issues. The solution MPLS IPVPN TalkTalk Business s managed MPLS IPVPN solution is delivering higher bandwidth, multi-site connectivity and full business continuity without increasing running costs. All underpinned by first-rate support and award-winning account management.

3 The benefits A more reliable and future-proofed network, running new business applications Significant productivity and efficiency gains Staff are freed up to work on important projects

4 Background As the UK s largest delivered wholesaler of grocery and convenience goods, Palmer & Harvey s nationwide distribution serves an extremely diverse range of customers, from small independent retailers to large grocery chains including Shell, ESSO, Tesco and Sainsburys. 60% of the UK s petrol station forecourts, for example, rely on the firm to receive a regular supply of competitively priced goods. The company also provides distribution services on behalf of a number of leading UK manufacturers including Nestle, Mars and Coca-Cola. More reliability needed Palmer and Harvey had been using two vendors to meet its network requirements across 15 sites one for FrameStream and one for ADSL. Demanding applications such as the company s customer ordering system, accessed remotely by call centre staff, ran over FrameStream, while an ADSL circuit carried all non-interactive traffic, such as and HTTP. TalkTalk Business s approach presented the perfect blend in terms of increased bandwidth, robust business continuity, easier management and no increase in running costs. Vinny Rowland, IT Services Manager, Palmer and Harvey McLane Ltd It became clear that ADSL was not 100% reliable and if there were any issues, sometimes traffic had to be switched onto the FrameStream circuit. This impacted applications such as the telesales ordering system, which in turn affected call centre performance. Problems with the WAN were increasing which began to cause operational issues and consume IT resources. We just didn t have enough bandwidth where we needed it most and ADSL wasn t strong enough as a business-grade service, explained Vinny Rowland, IT Services Manager, Palmer and Harvey McLane Ltd. Calls about network problems were taking hours or days to resolve and maintenance was becoming expensive. What s more, invoicing and account management problems arising from working with two vendors were a cause of regular frustration. Increased flexibility After conducting a tendering process with a number of vendors, Palmer and Harvey decided TalkTalk Business was best suited to deliver all of its networking demands. None of the other proposals seemed to fit entirely with both our current needs but also our ambitions, commented Rowland. By really listening and offering a range of options, TalkTalk Business s consultative approach mapped onto our business challenges exceptionally well. They were clearly the outstanding candidates due to their flexibility. Due to its distributed server estate, some of Palmer and Harvey s sites need to access other offices, which became a straightforward exercise with TalkTalk Business s MPLS multi-site connectivity. TalkTalk Business s approach presented the perfect blend in terms of increased bandwidth, robust business continuity, easier management and no increase in running costs all underpinned by top-class support and account management, said Rowland.

5 Inspiring business confidence Palmer and Harvey now has a network with greatly improved reliability, while TalkTalk Business s Managed IPVPN also provides a solid foundation for ongoing IT developments, as the company s business evolves. Business divisions aren t complaining about low bandwidth or downtime anymore, stated Rowland. One of the greatest benefits since the Managed IPVPN went live, is the absence of any problems to attend to so we can focus on more important projects. Productivity within operational areas and the IT department have increased considerably with the new TalkTalk Business network. Palmer and Harvey is also taking advantage of the increased inter-site capacity and have replaced an old distributed infrastructure with a new, centralised configuration located at head office, making it a lot easier to manage. Staff have faith that things aren t going to go wrong with the new infrastructure, explained Rowland. Confidence in the network is driving other developments forward, as its improved capabilities can support new business initiatives. Our buying system now runs across the network, as does a new Telematics application enabling better vehicle management. We ve also rolled-out a new online ordering system for customers. Projects like these wouldn t have been possible before. Future proofed network Yet more traffic will be added to the network as business and application requirements grow at Palmer and Harvey but the company is well prepared. The team at TalkTalk Business have worked alongside us to ensure we re in a position to meet future challenges but at the right cost a testament to their skill at combining a consultative approach with the best technologies available, concluded Rowland. CASE STUDY_P&H V1.0

An introduction to MPLS IPVPN. TTB PRES MPLS IPVPN DIRECT v2.indd 1 25/08/ :48

An introduction to MPLS IPVPN. TTB PRES MPLS IPVPN DIRECT v2.indd 1 25/08/ :48 An introduction to MPLS IPVPN TTB PRES MPLS IPVPN DIRECT v2.indd 1 25/08/2016 09:48 How it works TTB PRES MPLS IPVPN DIRECT v2.indd 2 25/08/2016 09:48 Supports high volume data transfer Consolidates voice