Successful architects, Stephen George & Partners rely on sending, receiving and collaborating upon large CAD files both internally between offices and externally with clients. The company however was restricted by frustratingly slow transfer speeds, often needing to resort to sending files by post. Traditionally, Stephen George & Partners had used a range of internet service providers for each of its five UK offices, including major carriers and local specialists with connections ranging from 512Kpbs to 2Mbps ADSL packages.

Having initially used an Easynet Connect connection in just one office since 2003, each of Stephen George & Partners’ offices has upgraded to Easynet Connect when their respective contracts had expired over the last seven years. With the final office deploying a connection in December 2009, Stephen George & Partners now relies on Easynet Connect for its internet connectivity with 4 out 5 offices using 8 Mbps SureStream.

Having been let down by both frequent service losses and poor, inconsistent customer services, IT Manager, Kenji Matthews knew that over time, it could have greater confidence working with Easynet Connect than any other provider. As well as having access to a dedicated account manager, Kenji also noticed the difference with Easynet Connect’s technical support, with quicker response and fix times than other providers, as well as the automated outage alerts. Because of its bonded multiple lines, SureStream is particularly resilient, so if one line should fail the impact on performance is minimal. Kenji found that not only did using Easynet Connect gave him greater peace of mind about the resilience of their connection but through time saved from dealing with unforeseen issues has allowed him to focus on more strategic activities.

With such a heavy dependence on the need to send and upload files, be they via email or through a centrally stored database, it was important that Stephen George & Partners had a symmetrical and reliable connection. Having 8Mbps SureStream in each office has dramatically cut the time it takes for people to sign in and out documents remotely. With previous ADSL services, large email files could often take hours and sometimes days to process through an outbox and more often than not, the company had to resort to sending physical documents or files on disk via the post between offices. Not only has this led to more efficient working, but through quicker file access, enabled greater levels of collaboration between offices.

Since deploying Easynet Connect, not only has the capacity and reliability of their email systems greatly improved, offering significant time savings, but Kenji has been able to realise the underlying IT strategy for using the main Leicester office as an IT hub. It has also enabled their architects and engineers from any office to ‘check in’ and ‘check out’ of centrally held documents as if they were stored on a local desktop, offering real time savings. In turn, this ability to access large remote files has allowed the company as a whole to make greater use of its disparate teams of expertise. For instance, someone with specific expertise in one office can be called upon to consult and contribute to a project based at another office several hundred miles away.

With greater upload and download speeds across the business, Kenji is now investing in real time data replication between offices for disaster recovery together with possible video conferencing solutions to further aid collaboration between offices, clients and suppliers.