ARM transforms how its people connect, communicate and collaborate. Empowering users to worker smarter and securely, no matter their location.
Bell Integration architects a cloud-powered IT environment featuring bullet proof connectivity, a full Modern Workplace solution, and peace of mind when it comes to data, device and identity security.
Background
Accelerating digital transformation
An award-winning talent resource management and recruitment business headquartered in Portsmouth, ARM enables organisations to find and engage the talent they need to drive their business forward.
ARM has gained a first-in-class reputation in the field of resourcing high tech, high quality job roles for an international blue-chip client base that includes some of the largest companies in the UK.
Committed to elevating the recruitment experience for clients and candidates alike, the company’s market-leading solutions, unique partnership approach and specialist market knowledge have proved a winning combination. In the past five years alone, the firm has experienced a 58% growth in revenue.
Determined to future-proof its capabilities and ensure that working remotely is no barrier to productivity for its employees, ARM wanted to modernise its aging IT infrastructure and initiate a new, agile and engaging digital workspaces for users.
To make this vision a reality, ARM turned to Bell Integration to help accelerate its transition to a modern IT architecture tailored to its exact needs.
Requirement
Initiating a full Modern Workplace solution
ARM wanted to transform its IT environment, unlocking frictionless access to the tools and services employees need to work securely and productively from anywhere, on any device, with no impact on performance.
“Our legacy Citrix environment was no longer up to the challenge of handling the complex demands of a modern workforce that needs to be able to work from everywhere and instantly tap into the tools and services they need, the moment they need them,” explains Leon Howgill, CCO at ARM.
Regular dropouts in connectivity to the third party data centre housing its infrastructure and business-critical applications were disruptive and frustrating for everyone – whether they were based in the office or working remotely.
“Moving to the cloud would enable us to streamline our IT infrastructure, reconfigure how the business consumes applications and services, and elevate the workplace experience for all our users. Added to which, we’d be able to quickly initiate new tools and next-gen technologies to future-proof our capabilities.”
Finally, as specialist providers to the Automotive, Cyber Security, Defence & Aerospace, Energy, Life Sciences, Maritime and Transportation & Infrastructure sectors, ARM was determined to eliminate the security risks associated with reliance on an on-premises data centre.
The Solution
Transforming for success
Following a detailed discovery project to define ARM’s existing infrastructure, business applications and end-user components – including mail, files, profiles and permissions – Bell Integration designed and implemented a new Azure and Microsoft 365 environment that would deliver the infrastructure and end-user capabilities the firm needed.
Data garnered during the discovery phase meant robust decisions could be made about everything from endpoint protection and the best way to secure remote users, to determining the configuration of user profiles and which Microsoft 365 services ARM would utilise.
Working closely with ARM’s internal IT team, Bell Integration ensured that the firm’s new cloud platforms delivered an out-of-the box experience for all and that apps and line of business applications were efficiently deployed to users and devices for optimised responsiveness with no latency.
“Bell Integration executed a fault-free migration to our new Azure and Microsoft 365 environments, with zero disruptions,” confirms Leon Howgill. “From Day One everything simply worked – there were no dramas or disruption – and our working environment literally evolved overnight.”
The introduction of Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint and Exchange Online has transformed collaboration and information sharing both inside and outside the organisation. ARM’s specialist teams are now able to work more efficiently and productively, regardless of where individual personnel are based.
“Our new infrastructure means we can support our people to perform productively in a manner that’s best for them, whether that’s working fully remotely or in a hybrid manner,” Leon continues. “From an employer perspective, it was important to make every days tasks easier for users by eliminating unnecessary complexity and ensuring they have the right tools for the job.”
To help ensure the new environment always runs smoothly, Bell now takes care of ARM’s Azure Cloud Services, monitoring capacity, CPU, memory utilisation, associated network services, Active Directory and more on a 24×7 basis. Meanwhile it provides a fully managed IT Service Desk that delivers support to around 160 users.
“Bell’s managed support service features a wrap-around service management element that ensures we get quarterly updates on everything from support call volumes and challenges faced, to performance against SLAs. This ensures we can have open and transparent discussions around how our business needs are evolving – and how our infrastructure needs to keep pace with anticipated developments on the horizon,” says Leon Howgill.
The Outcomes
Transforming the world of work
ARM’s employees can now securely communicate, collaborate and access the resources they need from anywhere, taking advantage of an integrated suite of tools and highly responsive services that support enhanced and more agile working approaches.
“Our Microsoft 365 and Azure platforms have simplified the user experience and made it easier for them to be productive. Being able to access the right tools, reliably and all of the time has boosted how they engage and perform with their roles,” says Leon Howgill.
Alongside simplifying operations and supporting seamless remote working from anywhere, ARM now has a future-proof, resilient and highly scalable platform that is paving the way for future innovation.
“Today our people are benefiting from a truly digital workplace where they can collaborate in real-time, quickly find key information and stay better connected. Which is good for them and good for our clients and candidates,” confirms Leon Howgill.
Alongside elevating the user experience, ARM is taking advantage of improved workflow management tools that make it possible to drive further efficiency and productivity gains.
Why Bell Integration?
As a long standing provider of recruitment services to Bell Integration, ARM was well aware of Bell’s pedigree and know-how with regard to IT transformation projects.
“We invited Bell to formally tender, alongside a number of other providers, and they were selected based on the strength of their proposed solution approach and competitive pricing,” explains Leon Howgill.
“Because they understand our business, they were quick to get to grips with what was driving our move to the cloud and the outcomes we were looking to achieve. Like us, they work in a highly consultative and collaborative way and throughout the design and implementation process challenged us to think differently when it came to laying down the foundations for future growth and capabilities,” he continues.
Twelve months on and the partnership continues to bear fruit as far as ARM is concerned.
“At each quarterly review, Bell Integration comes to the table with new ideas and approaches that will enable us to transform the business and perform better. Whether that’s how we leverage data to generate business intelligence and power better decisions. Or ensuring that we are on the front foot where technology developments are concerned.”
“Working in such an open and trusted partnership, founded on mutual respect, has enabled us to unleash a new era of IT driven by cloud technology and take full advantage of enterprise-grade services that boost productivity across the business, while reducing risk and ongoing cost.”
