Nasstar reviews IT transformation for global media firm 18 months on

Nasstar spoke to Wilmington’s Chief Technology Officer, Thomas Mount, about the key drivers behind the partnership and the benefits the business is experiencing as a result.

Thomas Mount comments: “The partnership between Nasstar and Wilmington was already underway when I joined the business, however the benefits I have experienced from a user standpoint when utilising a cloud-based infrastructure are numerous.

“Firstly, it enables remote working. For example, the other day I unexpectedly had to work from home but didn’t have my Wilmington laptop with me. This didn’t matter as I was able to access my desktop securely via an internet connection and found everything that I would expect from my office PC – data, applications, everything.”

Many of the field-based employees at Wilmington regularly work from home and Thomas describes it as becoming “the norm” for many, a trend that Nasstar is also seeing across its client base.

As well as the convenience of being able to work from wherever you are, at whatever time, Thomas explains that offering remote working as an option makes the business a more attractive employer and is often expected by new employees. Thomas comments: “A business may be perceived as traditional and not as innovative as its competition if remote working is not something it can offer as standard to its staff.”

There’s also the financial benefit to consider. With Nasstar’s scalable model, costs can flex up and down based on user numbers, therefore costs are variable rather than fixed. This also helps with financial planning as the cost is predictable.

In a world of cybercrime, security is high on the agenda for most businesses. Thomas comments: “Security is of paramount importance to us and it’s good to see that Nasstar shares this opinion. Through our partnership, we can take advantage of security features such as their private data centre and enhanced risk management via effective disaster recovery and business continuity, benefitting not only our staff but also our clients. We can also benefit from the data security certifications that Nasstar holds, ISO 27001 as an example.”

As a global operation, Wilmington needed an IT partner that would deliver a centralised and consolidated IT solution that would scale efficiently and effectively across Wilmington’s 23 offices. Nasstar operates a true 24/7 follow the sun support function, therefore users can contact the team no matter what time zone they are in and they’ll get through to an engineer who can help.

Nasstar’s CEO, Nigel Redwood comments:

“The Wilmington project is a great example of Nasstar’s unique approach to hybrid cloud delivery. The partnership was made possible by our innovation in developing a comprehensive managed service business, embracing both the public and private cloud to deliver the best of both worlds to our clients.

“The team were able to deliver the complete digital transformation for all users and applications in phases over a 6-month period. The speed of transformation for a firm of this size is a real testament to the capabilities that Nasstar has to deliver on large complex projects to tight timescales.

“The investment we have made in our 24/7 capabilities, not only in support but also in projects, was a significant factor in enabling Nasstar to meet the demands of a global business such as Wilmington and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership.”