Powering seamless communication and collaboration for the UK's leading provider of high-performance sports support services
About the UK Sports Institute
Founded in 2002 under the name 'The English Institute of Sport', the UK Sports Institute (UKSI) provides leading-edge support for athletes competing in major worldwide sporting events, delivered by some of the world's leading practitioners, in close collaboration with coaches and performance directors.
Challenges
Given the nature of its work UKSI employees have always been highly dispersed, working closely with athletes and their teams, both onsite and at a number of regional performance centres. As a result, the organisation was an early adopter of the hybrid working model, designing and developing its ICT infrastructure in order to provide all employees with maximum flexibility in terms of how and where they work.
To this end, they have always worked closely with trusted managed service providers, with key services including LAN, WiFi, and a managed service desk. This culture of constant improvement eventually initiated a full Cloud transformation, for additional levels of control and scalability, and an early move towards Microsoft Teams as the primary platform for cross-site communication and collaboration.
In order to build on these successes, the UKSI made the decision to partner with an MSP who would not only be able to maintain its existing working model, but provide a dedicated team to provide hands-on support and guidance around future opportunities for improvement. To this end, a call for tenders was put out, with an emphasis on potential partners' willingness to delve deep into the UKSI's requirements and build a strong rapport with its teams.
Solution
Throughout a rigorous tender process, Exponential-e's readiness to work closely with the UKSI's own teams, clear understanding of their requirements and long-term business goals, and readiness to deliver truly bespoke solutions based on this quickly made a positive impression. As a result, Exponential-e was selected as the UKSI's new MSP.
A six-month handover period was established, in order to ensure a smooth transition, avoid any disruptions to employee's day-to-day work, and allow the dedicated account team time to establish themselves and get to know the UKSI's own teams, systems, and processes. This included the account team engaging directly with the incumbent supplier and working through the UKSI's comprehensive Operations Manual, in which all established systems and processes were clearly documented, while also minimising any overlap between suppliers and the extra costs that would result.
This clear communication and close collaboration between teams from both organisations ensured a seamless transition process, with Exponential-e able to take on the managed service desk function, providing employees at all levels of the UKSI with a single point of contact for any technical issues. End users reported no discontinuity between the old and news systems, ensuring disruption for all employees, wherever they were located, was avoided.
Since the final handover, the relationship between the UKSI and its dedicated account team at Exponential-e has continued to evolve. This has not been a simple case of maintaining the existing infrastructure, but also drawing on the expertise of Exponential-e's expert consultants and evolving range of professional services to develop the UKSI's internal expertise, drawing on an 'innovation fund' that was established at the outset of the contract.
This included hands-on technical support and consultancy during the change of name from 'The English Institute of Sport' to UKSI, ensuring all necessary updates within the Microsoft ecosystem had been properly executed prior to the designated launch date. Close collaboration between both teams ensured a completely seamless update across all systems, avoiding any unexpected disruptions.
Solution benefits
- A seamless transition process, with zero disruption of established processes or day-to-day operations
- A dedicated account team, providing hands-on support and helping maintain a culture of ongoing improvement
- A single point of contact for all technical issues, in the form of a fully managed service desk
- Access to world-class consultancy and professional services via a dedicated 'innovation fund'
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