THE UK'S LEADING SOCIAL CARE ORGANISATION

As the UK's leading social care organisation, Turning Point is a provider of specialist and integrated services that meet the needs of individuals, families and communities across England and Wales. In operation for over forty years, the organisation is highly experienced in caring for, and about, people with complex needs. Whether its service users have drug or alcohol problems, mental health issues, a learning disability or a combination of these, Turning Point offers integrated services that respond to the needs of each individual.

SYSTEMS CENTRALISATION FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY

With two hundred satellite offices around the UK and 1,800 employees, the organisation wanted to simplify the way in which it supported the infrastructure through centralisation.

Equanet started the process by visiting Turning Point at its Head Office and undertaking a capacity planning exercise to assess the existing infrastructure and recommend how its servers, storage and services could best support the overall needs of the organisation.

Equanet recommended a SAN solution with virtual infrastructure. The individual IT systems located at each site could be replaced and the sites could be serviced virtually through two main datacentres in London and Manchester. As a result forty servers across the country were consolidated into 5-6 physical servers in London which virtually hosted the remaining ninety servers. In addition, a replica of all the critical servers was set up in Manchester to back up and protect against system outage. This enabled the organisation to have high systems availability.

For Stephen McQueen, IT Manager at Turning Point, the benefits of a centralised system were clear:

"It means we can support the whole infrastructure from one location. The IT team had real difficulty in physically getting to our sites. We are also more responsive and more proactive in monitoring the systems."

Equanet delivered all the hardware specifications and installed on time and on budget. A clear benefit to the client was knowing they had access to all the hardware they needed, delivered where they needed it, the next day.

IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS VIA SHAREPOINT

In a further project Equanet helped the IT team at Turning Point to scope out and deliver a new content management system which centralised the organisation's communication over the internet via Sharepoint servers. Equanet installed a SQL file cluster to make the server more robust. The remote sites access the centre via Citrix. This has helped streamline communications and all files can now be stored centrally.

"Working with Equanet we have access to all the equipment we need, the next day. It works really well for us. We have a fairly small IT team here at Turning Point, and what's invaluable is the specialist advice Equanet gives us. We really value their input."

HOW EQUANET CAN SUPPORT YOUR ORGANISATION

Our Solutions Architects will visit you on-site and undertake a capacity plan and business modelling to review and assess your existing IT infrastructure. Our team of specialist advisors will discuss your requirements for today, and for tomorrow. If one visit is not sufficient we will come back to ensure a full understanding of your IT needs.

Our review will identify where your equipment is over- or under-utilised, and how your IT infrastructure can best support the overall needs of your organisation. By exploring with you the technologies available our Solutions Architects will help you find the right solution, recommend long and short term fixes, and identify future opportunities.

Equanet is vendor neutral, with the highest level of accreditation from IT leading partners such as HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Dell and Apple, so you can be assured that the solution we design is the right one for your requirements. And as part of DSG Retail Ltd our buying power means we will recommend the most cost effective option to match your budget. Once the right solution has been agreed we will deliver the hardware at a time convenient to you. Our engineers can install on-site, or simply support your in-house IT team. We can also train your team in the new technology or support you remotely with access to knowledgeable professionals. We can offer full project management support through our PRINCE 2 accredited team, and our Account Managers will continue to support your needs and ensure you are happy with the solution implemented.

"We add value to a client's IT team by assessing their equipment and designing a better solution to match their business drivers"says Ian Cowley, one of Equanet's Solutions Consultants.