THE REQUIREMENT

Regal Care Homes has a heavy reliance on IT. With the seventeen care homes geographically widely spread, there was a need to support each home’s IT systems remotely. 

THE SOLUTION

• Design, configuration and maintenance of secure links between Regal's Head Office and the seventeen care homes across England.

• Administration of the network servers, desktops and peripheral devices

THE FEEDBACK

"We have always received a very consistent, very good level of service from Equanet. The support guys are always punctual and respond quickly over the phone. They have built up a very good working relationship with my staff with their helpful and friendly approach. But just as important, they keep us very well informed and offer different solutions to any problem we might have"

Richard Rajamogan, Deputy CEO
Regal Care Homes

PROVIDING EXCEPTIONAL CARE TO THE VULNERABLE

Regal Care Homes Ltd. was founded in 1989 to provide exceptional quality care to vulnerable people. The organisation has seventeen care homes across the UK and looks after thousands of adults of all ages, abilities and dispositions.

IT IS A SUPPORT TOOL

Each care home has at least two PCs with standard Microsoft software to help run the administration of the home. The care industry in general has evolved to a state in which there is more paperwork than ever before, and the care home managers need to be IT literate and able to process the necessary administration using IT as a support tool.

The Head Office, based in Purley, has a staff of fifteen who help the care managers to keep on top of their admin by hosting files for the individual care homes and backing up their documents. The employees also use a financials, staff rostering and income software package. This links to the clocking-in shift system which uses workers' fingerprints to monitor the hours worked within each care home and to calculate the wages.

CONTINUOUS SUPPORT AND MONITORING FOR REMOTE SITES

Regal Care Homes started using Equanet’s Managed Service five years ago. Equanet offers IT support to UK organisations through its dedicated teams of network specialists. These specialists provide telephone support, greater network reliability and less downtime, allowing Regal's employees to focus on the core business. As Richard Rajamogan, Deputy CEO of Regal Care Homes explains, "As a business we have a heavy reliance on PCs, we wanted to be able to give our care home managers the support they needed, when they needed it. Our care homes are geographically widely spread. It's hard for our staff in Head Office in Purley to support the IT systems in each home if something goes wrong"

The remote aspect of the Managed Service that Equanet offers was extremely important to Regal. One of Equanet's solutions specialists visited Regal at its Head Office to review the hardware and software they were using and to discuss the options available, including the benefits and costs of each. The client was impressed with the offering and Equanet was appointed as prime contractor to design, configure and maintain secure links between its Head Office and the seventeen homes across England, to administer the network servers, all associated desktops and peripheral devices. The one-stop-shop aspect appealed to Richard Rajamogan:

"We hadn't thought of both hardware and software support being offered through one provider before. We have always received a very consistent, very good level of service from Equanet. The support guys are always punctual and respond quickly over the phone. They have built up a very good working relationship with my staff with their helpful and friendly approach. But just as important, they keep us very well informed and offer different solutions to any problem we might have"

During the time that Regal has been using Equanet's Managed Service there have been occasional power cuts. However, due to the speed of response delivered by Equanet this has not had a negative impact on business continuity. Regal Care Homes does not have any dedicated IT Support staff. Consequently, all user issues are raised directly into the Equanet service desk where they are quickly resolved remotely. Issues can be raised by telephone or via email; the staff at Regal simply phone up and the problem is fixed straight away.

"That's the most important benefit", Richard Rajamogan explains, "having that support at the other end of the phone. Knowing when you ring up you'll get help and a speedy resolution every time".

HOW EQUANET SUPPORTS REGAL CARE HOMES

MANAGEMENT OF SERVERS, DESKTOPS AND LAPTOPS

Equanet, as network administrator, uses remote tools to monitor the network and to identify and resolve problems before they occur, often before they impact Regal's users.

SERVICE DESK

Regal Care Homes does not have any dedicated IT Support staff. Consequently, all user issues are raised directly into the Equanet service desk where they can be quickly resolved remotely. Issues can be raised by telephone or via email.

DISASTER RECOVERY

Equanet manages the daily back-ups to ensure that the Disaster Recovery Plan is maintained robustly.

NETWORK SERVICES

Each care home needs access to a specific, bespoke, centralised application used across the care home industry. To enable fast and reliable access to this application Equanet specified, supplied and maintains a Citrix based thin client solution.

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Equanet implemented MS SharePoint to improve centralised communication and document management, including assistance with any software licensing compliance issues. Equanet also provides, administers and manages a centralised anti-virus solution.

MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

In conjunction with the service desk support, third line support is provided by Equanet engineers operating to agreed service levels.

REMOTE ACCESS SERVICES

Equanet manages all aspects of the network; creating new users, configuring access rights and other network administration tasks. Installation of all patches and fixes are carried out either remotely or onsite as required. Other remote tools are used to monitor server status and performance. Equanet also provides secure access services for staff working remotely.