Client Profile

Customer Name: London Borough of Croydon

Employees: 6,121

Sector: Public sector

Customer introduction

The London Borough of Croydon is a local government district in South London, England. It is one of the 32 boroughs that make up Greater London. Croydon is known for its diverse population, extensive retail and business districts, and rich cultural heritage. With a workforce of about 6,121 staff, including schools, Croydon Council is one of the largest employers in the Borough. The Borough’s administration is responsible for providing a range of public services, including education, housing, transportation, and social services, to its residents. Croydon is also noted for its significant urban regeneration projects and efforts to enhance infrastructure and community facilities.

Customer situation

London Borough of Croydon began their Digital Transformation Programme and sought a partner to help them harness the benefits of the Cloud’s agile nature. They were looking for a partner, that aligned to their Vision and displayed adaptability and flexibility in their delivery.

After a competitive procurement process under G-Cloud 12, Version 1 were appointed as the Managed Service partner providing monitoring and management of the MS Azure multi-subscription, multi-tenant environments inclusive of Next Generation Firewall management. During this time, the customer also identified a requirement for support of their on-premises infrastructure.

Transition

Version 1 assembled a multi-disciplinary team for Azure, On-Premises and Virtual Network support led by a dedicated Transition Manager. The transition timelines presented significant challenges. The incumbent faced unforeseen delays, which postponed the transition kick-off and reduced our overall transition timeline to four weeks. To combat this challenge, Version 1 increased resources on the transition team and used automation to drive efficiencies in transition. Version 1 followed their ITIL aligned process for transition, identifying any potential third-party dependency gaps early to allow for mitigation steps to be taken. An SLA honeymoon was agreed for Go-Live given the accelerated transition requirements. Version 1 subsequently post Go-Live, invited London Borough of Croydon to exit the SLA Honeymoon early.

‘Since day Version 1 have been flexible, responsive, pragmatic and a great partner. We transitioned to time and to budget, we identified immediate areas of improvement and though that required a Service Level “amnesty” for a jointly agreed period for remediation, we were delighted that Version 1 approached us to invite us to retire that amnesty ahead of the agreed limit. The service and partnership continues to be stable and progressive, with a strong focus on the value that Version 1 can drive for the council.’

Jon Mellor

Successful launch of LBC Managed Service

In March 2023, the Cloud, On-Premises, and Network Managed Service successfully went live, encompassing the following elements:

  • Management of multi-tenant, multi-subscription Azure environment
  • Management of On-Premises hardware and OS support
  • Management of Next Generation Firewalls
  • Collaboration, partnership and engagement with third party vendors

Benefits achieved

In line with Version 1 ASPIRE Managed Service, the following Value items have been achieved to date, with more to follow.

Automate

  • 88% reduction in manual patching across the On-Premises estate through automation.
  • Review and Optimisation of Cloud patching to Azure Update Management

Simplify

  • Full monitoring ITSM integration, automating the ticketing process enabling swifter resolution.

Protect

  • Review and Resolution of NGFW High Availability
  • Full compliance with zero-day exploit mitigation measures
  • Fully compliant patch management operations
  • Consistent patch results through automation

Innovate

  • Deployment of Azure ARC giving a single control plane across cloud and infrastructure estate, enabling enrolment of Windows 2012 for ESU
  • Enhanced monitoring capabilities utilising cloud integration

Realise

  • Early exit of SLA honeymoon
  • 100% Availability Since Go Live

Evolve

  • Post transition server support tier alignment: ensured Managed Service met the business need and provided value for money.
  • Identification of further Cost Optimisation CSI’s
  • Ongoing implementation of ITSM integration

Customer success story

The relationship between Version 1 and Croydon has continued to grow from strength to strength. Version 1 have become a trusted advisor, working in partnership with the Council to achieve a high performing Next Generation ASPIRE Managed Service, continuing to identify opportunities for Value. This is reflected in the quarterly Customer Satisfaction results, consistently achieving a 90% satisfaction rating since contract start date.

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