Embarking on the next stage of hosted desktop delivery for international events management company Richmond Events is an international events management company, delivering a diverse range of forums and conferences across different locations. Because of the nature of their business; operating in different countries and serving a customer base of thousands of delegates, they looked to the cloud earlier than most organisations. Solution Overview Delivery of a powerful hosted desktop environment to Richmond Events staff across the globe HPE BladeSystem and graphics cards, with HPE 3PAR Storage technology Hybrid pricing structure across hosting and per user pricing Performance driven for video streaming via hosted desktop Key Outcomes Staff can now access multimedia and videos through their virtual desktops Employees can access their full desktop environment at events or in the office Service better aligns to business demand Increased number of users per server High-speed desktops deliver greater user experience Starting the story Many stories charting the transition of an organisation s IT systems over to the cloud usually look at the transformation over the period of a few months or years. Not many stories about cloud transformation start 17 years ago. When we started looking at cloud computing, it wasn t called that. It was mainly called managed hosting back then, but it was still in its early days, says Liam Quinn, IT Director at Richmond Events. We were early to the cloud game, moving our IT to a mainly consumption-based IT model over 17 years ago when cloud wasn t the norm. Problems synchronising data across staff, locations, devices and offices prompted Richmond Events to first consider cloud. Staff were using their laptops and desktop PCs to store all of the data they created, comments Quinn. This meant that vital company information was being stored on a single PC, and the amount of data being stored meant systems were sluggish and devices were continually crashing. We had to look at a new way of delivering applications and desktops to our users in order to fix these existing IT problems but also to make it easier for our employees to deliver great events on the move.
Evolution to a new way of delivering IT Being able to thoroughly understand our customers and their businesses is central to the service we provide. This is what led Richmond Events to start looking at hosted desktop delivery all those years ago, at a time when organisation-wide desktop virtualisation was still a fairly new approach for many businesses. Richmond Events has worked with a number of suppliers over the past 17 years and recently started working with Midlands-based application hosting specialist, C24 (part of the Six Degrees Group), to help them on the next stage of their cloud desktop evolution. Taking the next step The proliferation of multimedia across most websites today means that video forms part of most organisation s websites. The move by Richmond Events to a hosted Citrix desktop environment meant that employees thin client devices were struggling to access many customer websites that used video and multimedia. Being able to thoroughly understand our customers and their businesses is central to the service we provide, says Liam Quinn. We needed to be able to offer our employees a great user experience every time, but importantly, they needed to be able to access our clients websites from whichever device they were using through their hosted desktop, without delays or interruptions to video playback. This was vital for our sales staff when researching clients and engaging with our customer base. Historically, hosted desktop environments have struggled to cope with good quality video delivery or dynamic web graphics and apps such as Google Maps. Richmond Events were looking to take the next step in their hosted desktop journey and move their users to a premium service that could handle more demanding video and web content. This would also make it easier for staff working onsite at events to engage with content and provide a superior service to delegates through the centrally hosted IT system. Choosing the right supplier Richmond Events started to look at options to supercharge their hosted desktop environment. After asking for recommendations from trusted advisors, C24 s name was mentioned a number of times.
Because we were recommended C24 by key individuals in the industry, we invited them, along with four other suppliers, to respond to a tender for the new solution. Those five suppliers were quickly cut down to a shortlist of two; one of which was C24, commented Quinn. C24 worked with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) to build a solution that would deliver the speed and performance needed for a demanding virtual desktop environment, whilst keeping an eye on delivering a costeffective solution to Richmond Events. We chose C24 because of the innovative solution they proposed. HPE provided demonstration kit to show how their BladeSystem Blade Server technology combined with premium graphics cards could deliver the high levels of performance needed to deliver video seamlessly to hosted desktops across the globe. Powered by HPE 3PAR storage technology based in C24 s UK datacentres, the demo solution enabled Richmond Events to see the systems working and allowed users to test the environment and compare it to their existing systems. We chose C24 because of the innovative solution they proposed, adds Quinn, and because of their partnership with HPE. Being able to test the service and use the solution with live users rather than relying on what a supplier is telling us in a sales presentation really separated C24 and HPE from other vendors. It gave me the confidence that we were making the right decision, and that the solution would actually deliver what we had set out to achieve. Delivering business outcomes with technology The HPE and C24 solution has delivered big results for Richmond Events: when accessing high-quality video, users report no jumping or synchronisation issues. Previously, users would need to watch videos on the main office PC, now they can watch it from whichever device they choose. Additionally, the IT team can house more users per server with the new solution whilst delivering high performance levels; saving resources and money. And it s not just the technology that makes sense. Richmond Events were impressed by C24 s flexibility to offer a hybrid pricing structure; combining a flat fee service with a per user, per month cost model to better align IT usage with business costs.
So how does this fit in with Quinn s overall cloud strategy for the business? 30% reduction in IT team size Number of events delivered increased by 300% IT budget reduced by 55% The project with C24 and HPE has allowed us to move our business further towards a fully consumption-based IT model, whilst delivering high levels of performance and flexibility for our staff. Our IT team size has reduced by 30% since we started on our cloud journey 17 years ago, and all of our IT staff are focused on delivering against the business goals, rather than having time taken up responding to server issues or support problems. This next step with C24 means we have a very flexible and powerful system to further build upon, and supports us in the next step of our journey as we move to a more enhanced VOIP solution and improvements around our employees experience when interacting with technology at work. Liam Quinn, IT Director, Richmond Events Cloud has clearly been core to the overall service delivery to Richmond Events customers. Between 2002 and 2016, the number of events delivered by Richmond Events increased by 300%, yet the average number of staff required to operate each event has reduced from 8 to 2.5. Technology has been a key enabler in this drive towards increased efficiencies, and since embarking on a cloud-first strategy, Quinn has been able to reduce his IT budget by 55% through the consumption of cloud services over traditional IT delivery. Recommendations When asked about what he would recommend to other organisations looking to move their business entirely to the cloud as Richmond Events has done, Quinn suggested the following steps: Spend time choosing the right supplier as this will determine your experience of moving to the cloud. Finding a supplier who was the right size for us was key: we didn t want a huge supplier where we wouldn t get the attention we need, but we also needed a supplier who had the skills, experience and industry relationships to deliver our solution successfully. Test your service first. If your chosen supplier is committed to developing a long-term relationship with you, then they should be able to offer you a demo environment or a proof-of-concept system to test before committing to purchasing and deploying a new solution. If you re new to cloud, then it s easier to start by taking your existing IT systems and moving them to a private cloud environment. That way, you can experience the benefits of not managing your own datacentre, but still have the control that you re used to until you re ready to move further towards cloud service delivery.
David Ricketts, Head of Sales and Marketing at C24, commented, Richmond Events set us the challenge of creating a solution which was slightly different to your average hosted desktop deployment, but we feel that we ve been able to leverage our flexibility both from a technology perspective and also commercially, to provide a solution which aligns to Richmond Events business model and requirements. Our partnership with HPE also meant that we were able to put in a proof of concept solution to demonstrate how the technology could deliver against the customer s objectives, giving them the confidence to move forward with C24. Find out more about how C24 can support your journey to the cloud and hosted desktops: http://www.c24.co.uk/ We ve been able to leverage our flexibility both from a technology perspective and also commercially. About Liam Quinn Liam Quinn is the IT Director at Richmond Events. Focused on delivering innovative technology solutions to business problems, he has led the IT strategy at Richmond Events for over 9 years. About C24 C24 is an enterprise application hosting provider, and part of the Six Degrees Group. With particular expertise in the events management, hospitality, sports and legal sectors, they deliver hosted desktop and application services, alongside data analytics solutions. Powered by HPE C24 is a HPE Silver Partner Service Provider, delivering hosted enterprise applications and desktops on HPE server and storage technology. With datacentres in the Midlands, UK, C24 delivers hosted solutions to customers powered by HPE technology.