Establishing IT as a true driver for innovation across the UK's Construction Sector
About Knight Harwood
Knight Harwood is a trusted provider of construction and engineering expertise to a wide range of leading brands and organisations across the UK, with a particular focus on London and the Home Counties. Projects range from new build to heavy and structural refurbishments and fit out, with a highly collaborative, proactive approach ensuring the highest levels of quality, from design to completion.
"What sets Exponential-e apart is that we can really tailor the way services are delivered and expedite the whole process, should the need arise. We've got a solution that really works for us, and – most importantly – I know I can email Nelly with anything, and she'll be right on it."
Rob Symmons, Head of IT, Knight Harwood
The Challenge
Construction projects, by their very nature, require an agile approach to IT, due to the highly varied nature of the sites and the stringent timeframes that must be adhered to. Sites often require connectivity to deployed at just a few days' notice, which means the sector's technology partners must be able to operate with the highest levels of flexibility and agility, working closely with organisations' own IT teams to ensure project requirements are consistently communicated, understood, and properly executed.
To fulfil these singular requirements, Knight Harwood engaged Exponential-e as their trusted technology partner, providing both fibre connectivity and key software licenses.
The Solution
A dedicated account manager serves as Knight Harwood's primary point of contact at Exponential-e, ensuring all projects can be initiated and completed within the designated timelines. To offer further support around project delivery, Knight Harwood's team have direct access to multiple specialists across Exponential-e - including several at director level - who are on-hand whenever needed.
A key focus is providing the foundational connectivity to new sites, working closely with Knight Harwood's own teams to ensure that project specifications have been understood and acted upon, and all targets and deadlines achieved. This includes establishing how the underlying infrastructure will be managed, and how it is expected to be developed in the future.
Exponential-e's ongoing deployment of fibre under the streets of London has proven critical to the success of numerous construction projects around the city centre, with the ideal connectivity readily available well in advance of the desired opening day. This responsiveness has been further enhanced by Exponential-e's contractual flexibility and ability to conduct site surveys with as little as forty-eight hours' notice, ensuring the required connections can be made as soon as possible.
The hands-on support of their account manager has massively streamlined Knight Harwood's deployment processes for each project, complementing the highly flexible, agile nature of their work on some of the UK's most innovative construction projects.
Exponential-e also provides multiple key software licences for Knight Harwood's teams, including Fortinet and Mimecast, as a fully managed service, enhancing the flexibility and scalability of their IT ecosystem, and ensuring they continue to enjoy highly competitive pricing for these platforms.
This partnership continues to evolve further with each project, with Exponential-e operating as an extension of Knight Harwood's own team, optimising their agility and ensuring they can always focus their time and resources on areas where they can add the most value to each project.
Solution Benefits
- Hands-on support throughout every stage of project delivery, with a dedicated account manager serving as a single point of contact.
- A highly flexible, agile approach to project delivery, allowing high-performance connectivity to be deployed within the tightest deadlines.
- Highly competitive pricing for multiple key software licences, delivered as a fully managed service.
- A bespoke approach to each deployment, ensuring the most specific requirements can always been fulfilled on time and to budget.
"Knight Harwood's IT department operates as a lean team, but working with Exponential-e, we've shown that things can be done differently, and IT can be a real asset to the company. Now, it's focused on transformation rather than just resolving problems, driving efficiency across the board and enhancing our staff's capabilities."
Rob Symmons, Head of IT, Knight Harwood
Working together to establish a new standard of excellence for IT service desk operations
About BDO
BDO UK provides tax, audit and assurance, advisory, and business outsourcing services to companies across the public and private sectors, with more than 9,500 employees operating out of 18 office locations across the UK.
The Challenge
In order to better support its analysts across the country, the decision was made to execute a full-scale digital transformation of the entire Virtual Contact Centre and Teams Dialling system, building on the existing investment in Microsoft Teams to establish a centralised platform through which end users could make contact via a range of channels, including voice, email, and chatbot. This would ultimately support the phasing out of legacy telephony in favour of more scalable, flexible omnichannel solutions, while providing team leaders with real-time visibility of the entire service desk operation. The quality of BDO's IT service desk improved as an outcome acknowledged by the Service Desk Institute, who awarded it a four-star rating in 2024.
Critical priorities for the project were simplifying the management of Microsoft Teams licences, which needed to be purchased on an individual basis with the incumbent solution, and streamlining and optimising the user journey wherever possible, taking full advantage of the latest innovations in AI-powered automation and analytics.
A rigorous tender process was conducted, with a key priority being the ability to design and deliver a solution within four months, avoiding any operational disruption. At the end of this process, Exponential-e were selected as the sole technology partner for the project, building on an already strong partnership with BDO, and began working closely with their contact centre and back-office teams to determine the ideal specifications for the new platform.
Based on this findings of this assessment process, Exponential-e's Teams Calling as-a-Service platform, integrated with the industry-leading Five9 Intelligent CX suite and the ServiceNow® ITSM solution, was identified as the perfect fit for BDO's requirements, providing users with the Teams functionality they had come to depend on, while also opening the door to a wide range of potential enhancements.
The Solution
The tools Exponential-e have provided have contributed towards the digital transformation journey BDO have been on. Our mutual passion for the user experience has helped us reshape our whole approach to the service desk, and we're very much looking forward to building on these successes in the years ahead.
Lee Trimmer, Head of Service Delivery, BDO
The first phase of the deployment involved managing a seamless transition for all analysts and end users by replicating their existing Teams functionality in the new platform, allowing them to start making use of it straight away. This meant the migration process was completely invisible to the 6,000 employees already using Teams.
With this foundation in place, BDO began working with their dedicated account team to identify potential opportunities for automation, the first of which involved the onboarding process for new joiners, who would automatically receive an email with the details of the Teams dial pad, with no manual intervention required. At the same time, should an end user leave the company, their account would automatically be closed and their number made available again. This pay-as-you-go model immediately resulted in tangible cost savings by ensuring BDO would only ever pay for the licences in active use.
Building on this, the Five9 platform was heavily customised to suit BDO's specific goals for its overall user journey. Key to this was the integration of the platform's chatbot with BDO's own Azure LLM and ServiceNow®, allowing it full access to an evolving knowledge library. This bespoke chatbot (dubbed ELSA!) is now able to automatically direct users to the article most likely to lead to a successful resolution. If it is unable to do so, they are automatically put through to the appropriate analyst.
ELSA's intuitive, conversational interface and broad range of insights meant the initial uptake was high, averaging more than 200 interactions per month, of which around 50% are resolved with no need for human intervention. The chatbot's capabilities have since been extended to run automated routine fixes with BDO's primary audit tool, saving service desk analysts time and offering the users faster resolutions.
As a result of these improvements, BDO have significantly reduced their service desk's dependence on traditional telephony and email, with most end users now preferring the inherent flexibility and ease of the new chat and self-service options, allowing analysts to more efficiently manage their cases.
With the implementation of Five9's workforce engagement tool, BDO are looking to automate further quality control checks to focus directly on problem areas rather than relying on dip sampling calls. Through the application of intelligent analytics, this identifies which interactions team leaders should listen to in order to support their analysts, identify gaps in the user experience, and act on new opportunities for improvement as they emerge. When combined with the technical data collected by ServiceNow®, this will provide BDO with a holistic, real-time view of its entire service desk operation.
The transformation of BDO's service desk was later recognised at the Service Desk Institute's 2025 awards ceremony, where it was named as 'Service Desk of the Year – Large Team'. It is also now eligible to be certified as a five-star service desk, of which there are only four in the world at the time of writing.
BDO have long led the charge for service desk excellence, and the success of this project is testament to that. When people and technology come together in this way, a seamless, interconnected user experience becomes possible across every channel, which I fully expect to become the new standard for service desk operations.
Gareth Hayes, Head of UC & CX Solutions, Exponential-e
Solution Benefits
- A seamless migration process from disparate
legacy technologies, with no disruption to day-to-day operations
- Intelligent automation of routine processes
enhances analysts' efficiency and performance, freeing them to focus on the
most complex cases
- 50% of all interactions resolved without any
need for human intervention, thanks to a bespoke chatbot and evolving knowledge
base
- Automated onboarding and offboarding of employees and sustainable cost savings through pay-as-you-go pricing
Secure, scalable IT infrastructure for one of the UK's leading IP attorneys
About J A Kemp
Based in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, with international offices in Munich and Paris, J A Kemp are a leading firm of UK and European patent, design, and trademark attorneys, offering industry-leading services to a diverse range of clients.
The Challenge
World-class IT that supports the seamless delivery of legal services depends on infrastructure that is both highly available and highly secure, designed with the sector's rigorous security and compliance requirements in mind. To ensure their infrastructure provides the very highest standards of security, performance, and availability, with a consistent experience for staff across all their branches, J A Kemp selected Exponential-e as their trusted technology partner.
The Solution
Exponential-e provides the underlying connectivity between J A Kemp's three offices across the UK, supporting seamless communication and collaboration between more than two-hundred end users, secured by a centralised firewall. To further optimise the resilience of their IT infrastructure, their primary on-premises servers are complemented by dedicated backups, stored in a dedicated private Cloud in a colocation environment, with Exponential-e's data centre teams managing the hardware and firmware layers, including ongoing testing, while J A Kemp's own IT team retain full control and visibility of their VMs.
With this as the foundation, a dedicated account team work closely with the internal IT team, providing proactive monitoring and alerting to ensure any potential disruptions can be identified and resolved, with zero effect on day-to-day operations.
At the same time, J A Kemp's account team work closely with them and multiple specialists from across Exponential-e to ensure new opportunities for enhancement and optimisation can be identified and acted up as soon as they arise.
Our account team haven't just been proactive in terms of renewing what we've got. They've also helped us validate what we need and ensure our infrastructure continues to evolve as the business does.
Hemel Vaja
Head of Technology,
J A Kemp
Solution Benefits
- Proactive support from a dedicated account team, ensuring the IT infrastructure delivers the highest standards of performance, availability, and security for more than two-hundred end users.
- Highly available, highly resilient connectivity between sites in London, Oxford, and Cambridge.
- Ongoing consultation from multiple specialists, helping drive regular improvements and optimisations.
- A managed disaster recovery solution, ensuring critical data and infrastructure can be restored as quickly as possible, whenever necessary.
High-performance connectivity and seamless Cloud migration delivers the foundation for world-class legal services.
About TWM Solicitors
Originally established in 1799, TWM Solicitors is one of the South-East's leading law firms, with more than 220 employees based across Surrey and London offering an end-to-end range of legal services.
The Challenge
With staff operating out of multiple dispersed offices, TWM required high-performance connectivity between all sites, enabling seamless, highly secure collaboration between teams. Dissatisfied with the quality delivered by their incumbent provider, TWM's IT team engaged Exponential-e as their new connectivity partner, beginning with a complete revamp of the WAN.
The Solution
To achieve a smooth transition to the new network, with zero operational disruption, Exponential-e and TWM deployed a 'shadow' WAN that would ensure connections would remain available to all staff while the migration was completed over the course of six weeks. A key priority for the new network was achieving complete consistency for all offices - a significant challenge given the diverse nature of TWM's premises, which ranged from modern offices to a Victorian building and a sixteenth-century farmhouse. Close collaboration between teams at Exponential-e and TWM, combined with rigorous testing of the new infrastructure before the go-live date, ensured this was achieved across all sites, delivering an immediate return on the initial investment.
The close partnership established throughout this initial deployment was developed further when Exponential-e took over the management of the network's switches, allowing TWM's own IT team to refocus their attention on other business-critical projects.
The partnership entered its second stage when TWM made the decision to migrate from its legacy ISDN-based telephony to a Cloud-based platform, for which Exponential-e provided the foundation in the form of a dedicated VLAN, with its own gateway and firewall, which involved segmenting the existing network and switches, ensuring that that TWM's familiar quality of service would not be compromised.
With the new network infrastructure now established as the foundation, the decision was made to streamline and optimise TWM's VDI environment by migrating to Azure Virtual Desktop, minimising any jitter and ensuring staff at all their offices would enjoy a consistently seamless experience, particularly when accessing the Practice Management System (PMS). Beyond the immediate improvements in terms of performance and availability, this would serve as the foundation for a phased migration from on-premises servers to highly scalable, Cloud-based infrastructure.
These migrations were conducted on a site-by-site basis, with Exponential-e providing hands-on support throughout, ensuring all staff were properly trained in the new systems and able to make full use of their capabilities as quickly as possible. This included roundtable functions around Cloud transformation and cyber security, along with access to pre-sales personnel's specialist knowledge.
Teams from TWM and Exponential-e continue to work closely together in this regard, migrating more legacy on-premises systems into the Cloud, with the end goal being a completely centralised infrastructure that will provide the IT team with full control and visibility at all times, ensuring any potential issues can be proactively identified and resolved, and new teams and offices effortlessly onboarded.
Beyond the quality of the underlying connections, the success of this project has really hinged on the team at Exponential-e's willingness to work closely with us throughout the design of the new infrastructure, and throughout every stage of its deployment. We've got a strong foundation to build on now, and the next phases are already yielding good things.
Alan Barrett, Head of IT, TWM Solicitors.
Solution Benefits
- A seamless migration to a new, high-performance WAN, delivering consistent networking quality across a range of diverse sites.
- High-quality, Cloud-based telephony, powered by a dedicated VLAN, optimising cross-site communication and collaboration.
- Providing the interconnection between Exponential-e's WAN and Azure through an ExpressRoute link, supporting Cloud migration objectives.
- An intelligent, phased migration process, avoiding any disruption while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.
- Expert support and consultation from a dedicated account team and a range of technical specialists.
About the Networked Fire Services Partnership (NFSP)
The Network Fire Services Partnership (NFSP) works to drive closer collaboration between fire & rescue services across Devon and Somerset, Dorset & Wiltshire, Hampshire & IOW, and Kent, operating out of four control rooms to maximise the effectiveness and availability of critical services across these regions.
The Challenge
With fire and emergency services, any downtime could cost lives, which means the quality of our underlying network and– in turn – the performance and availability of key platforms are top priorities for us.
Neil McKeever, NFSP Technical Lead
The NFSP utilises a Control and Dispatch (CAD) system to interlink its four control rooms, ensuring seamless, secure flows of data in order to maximise ease of communication and, in turn, deployment times. This system is constantly evolving to better serve citizens across the country and – ultimately – save lives.
In order to optimise the performance of the newest iteration of the CAD platform, a decision was made to split off the NFSP's underling network, utilising the existing network for day-to-day operations, while deploying a new, fully dedicated network for CAD applications.
Following a competitive tender process, the Exponential-e Group's 20-year pedigree in the design and delivery of critical infrastructure,
their experts' personal experience within a range of emergency services, and the inherent resilience of their self-owned, enterprise-class network made them a clear standout, and so they were selected as the NFSP's new networking partner, providing RO2 connectivity between the NFSP's control rooms, back-up control rooms, and the NEC data centres in which the new iteration of their CAD platform would be hosted.
Exponential-e's specialists immediately began working closely with the NFSP's own teams to establish the new network specifications and plan for a successful rollout of the new platform, while also preparing for the impending launch of the new Emergency Services Network (ESN).
The Solution
Thanks to Exponential-e's continued support, we're now in a good position for the upcoming launch of the ESN, which will open the door to further enhancements in the future.
Neil McKeever, NFSP Technical Lead
It was decided that the existing network would remain in place throughout the deployment of the new one, with the current CAD platform continuing to run on it. This would not only ensure any downtime could be completely avoided – an absolute necessity for a project of this nature – but also allow for a more intelligent, phased deployment process for the new platform, with ample scope to sandboxing, testing, and in-built redundancy until it was ready for a full-scale deployment, with the legacy platform phased out completely.
A dedicated account team took full responsibility for the design and the delivery of this new network, working with existing infrastructure where appropriate, and deploying completely new fibre where it was required. The project plan was designed so the NFSP could begin making use of individual connections as soon as they became available, in parallel with ongoing testing and deployment processes, ensuring the desired benefits could be realised as soon as possible.
This involved the most rigorous standards of performance and availability, in order to support real-time communications between the NFSP's control rooms, their colleagues, and all citizens who would need to make contact for any reason. Exponential-e's role in the Government's ESN project is critical here, ensuring the NFSP will be able to begin making use of this UK-wide network's capabilities as soon as it launches, further enhancing communication, collaboration, and responsiveness for frontline emergency service workers across the country.
Exponential-e are set to continue working with the NFSP in the years ahead, ensuring the underlying network continues to support the seamless delivery of fire and emergency services, maximising the number of lives saved.
Solution Benefits
- Highly resilient, highly secure R02 connectivity between four control rooms, their back-ups, and NEC data environments, optimising the performance and availability of a key control and command platform
- Hands-on consultation and support from a dedicated team of networking experts with years of hands-on experience across the emergency services
- A phased deployment process, managed by a dedicated account team, minimising operational disruption and maximising time-to-value
- Hands-on support from the only privately-owned British company involved in the UK Government's ESN project
The Customer
The customer is a central governing body that utilises the growing volumes of data generated across multiple channels to optimise the delivery of critical services across the UK, while ensuring the highest standards of security and compliance are maintained at all times.
The Challenge
In 2019, with their existing contact centre solution reaching the end of its life, the customer made the decision to seek out a new platform that would better suit their ongoing drive for the more efficient, effective delivery of critical services, particularly the growing demand for secure, scalable omnichannel communication. Beyond simply routing phone calls, the desired solution would deliver deeper insights into every stage of the customer journey, from the first point of contact to the eventual resolution - and utilise these metrics to consistently maintain a responsive and flexible service delivery that would support the best possible outcomes.
Key considerations included:
- A resilient, scalable multichannel environment - encompassing voice, email, SMS, webchat, and all major social media platforms, that would maximise opportunities for engagement with citizens.
- The ability to configure all elements of the interface to staff's requirements, making it as efficient and user-friendly as possible, with clearly defined supervisory levels.
- Robust cyber security and governance inherent in the design, ensuring data protection policies would be consistently applied and all compliance obligations met, while optimising the accessibility, quality, and utility of all data.
- Granular and broad visibility across the entire solution, allowing administrators to tailor the solution within predetermined parameters, allowing tools and processes to be continually refined in response to feedback.
- Bespoke dashboards and reporting, allowing analysts to effortlessly access key metrics and monitor every step of the citizen journey in real-time.
- Seamless integration with existing platforms, with scope to integrate further tools in the future.
Based on these criteria, an in-depth evaluation was conducted of eleven separate contact centre solutions, measuring their capabilities against a detailed list of requirements and the customer's long-term tech and data strategy. At the end of the assessment process, Exponential-e's deep experience across the public sector, consultative approach, and openness to developing bespoke solutions made them a clear standout, with their Contact Centre as-a-Service solution fulfilling all technical requirements. As a result, they were selected as the customer's technology partner for the new contact centre's design and implementation.
Key factors in this decision included the Cloud-based model, which aligned with the customer's ongoing Cloud transformation journey, the inherent flexibility the platform offered in terms of hybrid working, the ability to integrate existing apps, and its highly intuitive user interface.
Solution
In the run up to 'go live', the Exponential-e's project team worked closely with the customer's own teams to ensure agents were ready to adopt the new technology. Following extensive training, agents were able to make full use of the new platform on the same morning the legacy telephony system was switched off, without any disruption to live services. The already strong relationship between teams at both companies, established during previous complex deployments, proved invaluable here, with close communication and collaboration at every stage laying the foundation for the project's eventual success.
As all interactions were now taking place through a single, fully integrated platform, the consistent application of skills-based routing ensured citizens were put in touch with the appropriate agent as quickly as possible, with time on hold kept to the absolute minimum. In addition to optimising the path to successful resolutions, this also meant that analysts could access all data about each citizen's journey through a centralised knowledge base, regardless of the number of channels involved. A combination of real-time analytics and automated satisfaction surveys was utilised to measure the quality of each interaction.
To ensure this data could be used to its fullest potential, the customer was able to create bespoke dashboards for a range of metrics, including the channels and menus enquiries were received through, wait times, the agent who handled each, whether the call needed to be transferred, and the final time to resolution - all updated every fifteen seconds. This way, both analysts and supervisors could access a wealth of information on both agent performance and citizens' overall experiences, without needing to consolidate information from multiple channels and records, as had previously been the case.
With this critical information automatically collated in an actionable form and the ability to automatically apply service changes through the dashboards, the new contact centre enabled true data-driven decision making at all levels, so tools and processes could be constantly refined and, ultimately, the highest levels of service quality and availability maintained.
As an early adopter of hybrid working, the new contact centre only strengthened the customer's capabilities in this regard, granting supervisors maximum flexibility in terms of how agents were deployed, without compromising data security, call quality, or their ability to collaborate with their colleagues whenever necessary.
The new contact centre is constantly evolving, as the high volumes of data gathered during each interaction reveals new opportunities for service enhancements. Administrators can continue refining their tools and processes via their dashboards, with support available from their Exponential-e account team and a 24 / 7, UK-based support desk, whenever it is required.
All of this demonstrates how the ever-growing volumes of data generated across multiple channels can be used to improve wellbeing across the UK, and the potentially transformative power of technology when utilised in service of the public good.
Solution benefits
- A flexible, omnichannel solution for all citizen communications, optimising the delivery of critical services across the UK.
- A holistic view of every citizen journey through intelligent, real-time analytics.
- Automated tracking of agent performance, helping drive a culture of constant improvement.
- Fully tailored for hybrid working, ensuring consistent security and service quality wherever agents are connecting from.
- Full compliance with all applicable regulations around the handling of citizens' data, while ensuring it remains readily accessible to authorised individuals.
This brochure offers an in-depth exploration of Exponential-e's entire UC and CC ecosystems, all of which we deliver in bespoke combinations to optimise your internal and external communication strategies.
About Atlas Hotels
Atlas Hotels is the largest European franchise of Holiday Inn Express, operating 60 hotels across key business and leisure destinations in the UK, and one in Dresden, Germany. With over 20 years' experience in the hospitality sector, Atlas Hotels manages a diverse portfolio of 7,555 hotel rooms, providing business and leisure travellers with unparalleled service and comfort.
The Challenge
The Solution
Atlas' guests expect the highest quality internet connectivity in their rooms, particularly business travellers who depend on access to critical online services. This placed considerable demands on the resilience of their network and the available bandwidth, with little consistency in the available speeds at different sites.
At the same time, as Atlas' continued its expansion into new locations, seamless cross-site communication and collaboration between staff had become an essential part of its day-to-day operations. However, the Property Management System (PMS) still utilised on-site legacy servers, which increasingly limited the performance and availability of this critical platform, leading to multiple challenges around resource management and operational efficiency.
Atlas Hotels therefore sought to consolidate the disparate network solutions across its various sites under a single supplier. The aim was a unified, 'always-on' infrastructure that would provide seamless, secure, and highly available connectivity for both staff and guests, helping maintain the world-class service quality on which Atlas had built its reputation.
In addition to this foundational connectivity, the digital transformation initiative would also involve a full transition to a modern Cloud environment that would optimise the performance and availability of the PMS, while enhancing scalability and cost control as Atlas continued to expand its portfolio of sites and the range of services it offered its guests.Having a single supplier for a project of this scale is so important. The team at Exponential-e weren't just on hand throughout each phase, ensuring we were able to hit our targets on time and to budget, but they have always been just a call away if we have any concerns. They have also offered invaluable input into ways we can further optimise our guest experience and broaden our range of services.
Ben Otton, IT Manager, Atlas Hotel
Once the project specifications had been defined and agreed upon, Exponential-e worked closely with Atlas Hotels' IT teams at both the head office and various hotel locations across the UK, under the direction of a dedicated Exponential-e project manager, ensuring that their specific needs were met at every stage of the implementation.
The first phase of the project focused on the deployment of highly resilient, 1Gb connectivity across all 60 Atlas Hotels locations, leveraging Exponential-e's own enterprise-class network to ensure consistent quality and availability for all guests and staff, with built-in redundancy to ensure 24/7 availability and minimal downtime. This resulted in double the available internet speeds at multiple sites, particularly those still reliant on legacy connectivity.
The second phase focused on migrating the legacy on-site infrastructure to a secure, highly available private Cloud, configured with end-to-end encryption and advanced firewall protection to guarantee the integrity of guests' data. By moving virtualised servers and workloads into this new environment, the resulting improvements in performance, scalability, and the availability of critical systems – particularly the central PMS – allowed for more efficient resource management, freeing staff to focus on the guest experience.
The entire migration process was completed in six months, with minimal disruption to Atlas' day-to-day operations. For additional levels of resilience, a robust disaster recovery plan was put in place, ensuring business continuity would always be maintained in the event of a system failure or data loss.
The partnership between Exponential-e and Atlas Hotels continues to evolve, with plans already in place to further enhance the guest experience through the application of new technologies. This includes implementing the next generation of interconnected meeting and event spaces at all 60 sites, incorporating advanced AV systems, platforms for simplified booking, and high-performance video conferencing.
With this successful transformation, Atlas Hotels now has a robust, high-performance, and secure digital foundation in place, which will support their ongoing growth and operational excellence. As more locations are added to the Atlas portfolio, Exponential-e will continue to expand and optimise the network infrastructure, ensuring all guests and staff continue to enjoy the highest quality connectivity and new opportunities for improvement can be identified and acted upon.
Solution Benefits
- Highly resilient 1Gb connectivity available for staff and guests at all 60 Atlas sites across the UK and beyond, encompassing 7,555 hotel rooms
- Improved communication and collaboration between dispersed staff, with optimal performance and availability for the central PMS
- A seamless migration to a highly secure private Cloud environment, with in-built redundancy and robust disaster recovery systems minimising the risk of downtime
- Effortless scalability and potential for future upgrades, supporting Atlas Hotels' ongoing growth and the adoption of emerging technologies
Customer Summary
From: Sean Brown, IT Service Delivery Manager
Raven Housing Trust is a social housing provider based in Redhill, Surrey. They own or manage more than 7,000 homes and are committed to investing in homes and neighbourhoods to develop local communities where people want to live. The majority of their customers rent their homes from us, however, they also have customers who either own the lease to their homes or own their own homes on a part-rent/part-buy basis. They are proud of their purpose - Building Homes, Changing lives.
Raven Housing have been a customer of Exponential-e since 2017.
How does the solution / technology / service (use the most appropriate) Exponential-e provide benefit your organisation and your customers?
We use laptop as a service with Exponential-e. This allows us to easily replace user's devices quickly in the event of a hardware fault which is especially useful because we operate a work from anywhere policy so if a user lives a long way from our office we can still get replacement devices out quickly. It also helps us from a cost perspective because we are no longer buying devices ad-hoc, the laptops are all consistently budgeted for.
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
The ability to respond quickly and appropriately when things go wrong.
How do you see the future of your partnership with Exponential-e evolving?
Next on our agenda will be a redesign of our corporate network, possibly moving away from the VPLS we use at the moment. Our laptops are also due for upgrade next year.
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
We have started a project to migrate services away from Exponential-e's datacentre into Azure. Pankaj did a fantastic job scoping out the project and while Exponential-e were more expensive than one of our other partners, we opted to work with you because of the great work Pankaj did in designing the proposal.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
As mentioned before Pankaj has always been seen as extremely competent which helps us trust what he is recommending. The management team of Ed, Terence and Neil Smith beforehand have all been very responsive and helpful whenever we've needed them to be.
We use laptop as a service with Exponential-e. This allows us to easily replace user's devices quickly in the event of a hardware fault which is especially useful because we operate a work from anywhere policy so if a user lives a long way from our office we can still get replacement devices out quickly. It also helps us from a cost perspective because we are no longer buying devices ad-hoc, the laptops are all consistently budgeted for.
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
The ability to respond quickly and appropriately when things go wrong.
How do you see the future of your partnership with Exponential-e evolving?
Next on our agenda will be a redesign of our corporate network, possibly moving away from the VPLS we use at the moment. Our laptops are also due for upgrade next year.
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
We have started a project to migrate services away from Exponential-e's datacentre into Azure. Pankaj did a fantastic job scoping out the project and while Exponential-e were more expensive than one of our other partners, we opted to work with you because of the great work Pankaj did in designing the proposal.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
As mentioned before Pankaj has always been seen as extremely competent which helps us trust what he is recommending. The management team of Ed, Terence and Neil Smith beforehand have all been very responsive and helpful whenever we've needed them to be.
Transforming end user support for more than 4,000 NHS staff
About Solent NHS Trust
Solent NHS Trust offers a growing range of community and mental health services across Southampton, Portsmouth, and parts of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
The Challenge
Having previously outsourced their end user support to the same provider for more than twelve years, Solent made the decision to revamp this entire function, considering ongoing issues around data visibility, unpredictable pricing, and lack of integration between different aspects of the service. The goal for this project would be to deliver seamless IT support services for more than 4,000 end users across Solent's full range of sites, while simultaneously reducing costs and conducting a full device refresh.
It was decided that the new support function would be divided amongst several technology partners, in order to take full advantage of their individual capabilities. Throughout the tender process, Exponential-e's deep commitment to digital transformation in healthcare and willingness to work closely with Solent's own teams to develop a tailored solution in response to the most specific requirements made them a clear stand-out. As a result, they were selected as Solent's sole technology partner for network and end user support.
Solution
The first areas of the contact went live in December 2022, after several months of close collaboration with Solent's own team to ensure a smooth transition, following the switch-off of the incumbent supplier's services in March of that year. This required a considerable amount of hands-on support, including out of hours, to ensure more than 4,000 staff were able to retain access to the Citrix VPN, avoiding any disruption to day-to-day operations.
As part of a wider hardware refresh, more than 4,000 new laptops were provisioned over the course of ten weeks, replacing much of the legacy technology that was still in use, including across several remote sites. An end user survey was conducted to help maximise adoption and ensure any opportunities for improvement could be identified and acted upon. With more than 2,000 responses, this provided Exponential-e with a rich pool of actionable data with which to design and optimise the new support operation.
Critical to the success of the new support function was the design and implementation of a robust IT Service Management platform, powered by ServiceNow®. By creating a domain separated instance within Exponential-e's managed service offering, Solent would not need to design and deploy the new ITSM platform from scratch, ensuring it would be ready to use on designated go-live date. At the same time, moving the function from CAPEX to OPEX allowed for greater cost control, while minimising the initial expenditure.
In order to meet Solent's specific requirements for their ticketing system, this solution was based on the Exponential-e's defined ITIL-aligned standards and service workflows, with an agreed scope for further customisation and hands-on support from Exponential-e's technical specialists included in the contract. The resulting platform combining the advantages of a proven, well-established solution with the highest levels of control and flexibility in terms of the final implementation and its ongoing development.
Following a successful transition to the new end user support function and the rollout of the ITSM platform, Exponential-e have continued to develop the operation in direct response to Solent's evolving requirements, ensuring business-critical issues can be resolved as quickly as possible. This has included recruiting extra service desk personnel, and implementing out-of-hours cover, while expanding the team's roaming tech hub to ensure all sites are properly supported. Time-to-resolution has been set out in robust SLAs and KPIs, with specific processes and escalations in place to manage high-impact events, and dedicated response engineers in place.
To optimise the efficiency and accessibility of service desk agents, Exponential-e designed and implemented an appointment-based system, ensuring staff who required hands-on IT support could access it as quickly as possible. This has since helped reduced walk-ins for IT-related issues from around 600 per month to less than 30.
The months of work put into establishing this foundation has since allowed Solent and Exponential-e to establish a culture of ongoing improvement, driven by direct collaboration daily, with Exponential-e now established as a trusted partner.
Every point of contact with end user support is tracked and monitored, and end users can provide real-time feedback on their experiences. This has resulted in 75% of tickets logged being resolved at the first point of contact, which, in turn, raised end user support's NPS score from 57, in the first live month of operations, to 90, with a 20% increase in users willing to offer feedback. Since then, the team has built on this success, recently hitting the milestone of more than 5,000 gold ratings.
This partnership continues to evolve, with ongoing collaboration between teams from both organisations ensuring IT can continue to play a key role in delivering world-class service quality to citizens across every region in which Solent is active.
Solution benefits
- More than 4,000 laptops setup and deployed across multiple sites
- Access to Citrix VPN delivered for more than 4,000 dispersed staff
- A highly flexible, fully integrated ITSM platform, with the industry-leading ServiceNow® solution delivered as a managed service
- Underpinned by Exponential-e's own enterprise-class network
- 75% of IT support tickets resolved at the first point of contact
- Walk-ins for IT-related issues reduced from around 600 per month to less than 30, helping reduce waiting times for support services
- 20-second pickup time regularly beaten by service desk personnel, now averaging 9 seconds wait time per call
- An increase in average monthly NPS from 57 to 90, with a 20% increase in end-user adoption
- More than 5,000 gold ratings from end users
- Network resiliency and stability to critical locations, with full integration into third-party networks, enabling cross-collaboration with partnering NHS trusts across the Integrated Care System in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
Exponential-e's support and expertise has transformed the way IT is viewed across our organisation, with staff across all our sites making active use of the available tools and systems in every aspect of their work. The speed with which any issues have been resolved, and the team's willingness to think outside the box – particularly when it came to rolling out the new ITSM platform – have more than fulfilled our initial goals for network and end user support, with ample opportunities for further improvement.
Dawn Day, Head of Digital Delivery, Solent NHS Trust
It's time for the public sector to have its own digital revolution
Technological innovation is transforming the way public sector organisations across the UK engage with citizens and deliver critical services whenever and wherever they are needed. In this exclusive report, we consider the impact of these developments, and explore how organisations can accelerate their own digital journeys, ensuring exceptional citizen outcomes are the norm.
Customer Summary
From: Stephen Wright, Head of IT
For over a decade, Trafalgar House has been committed to delivering expert third-party pensions administration services. Central to our success has been our strategic focus on technology, recognising it as a critical enabler for driving the highest standards of service and client care. Technology is not just a support function; it is pivotal to everything we do, from improving operational efficiency to enhancing the experience we provide to our clients. Our continuous investment in technology is vital to maintaining our position as a leader in pensions administration. Finding the right technology partner is crucial to ensuring that our business continues to thrive. Stephen Wright, Head of IT at Trafalgar House, explains how our approach to selecting the right partner plays an essential role in our success.
How does the solution Exponential-e provide benefit your organisation and your clients?
At Trafalgar House, we understand the essential role technology plays in delivering on our strategic goals. However, we also recognise the need for expert partners to help us achieve these goals. As a pensions administration business, building the necessary in-house expertise to manage complex infrastructure, data centres, cybersecurity, and end-user computing would be costly and inefficient.
After an extensive review process, we chose Exponential-e as our technology partner in 2016. This partnership has been instrumental in transforming our IT services and ensuring that we stay ahead in an increasingly digital world. A key factor in this decision was Exponential-e's ability to provide access to specialised skills across all areas of IT delivery, from their ITIL-compliant service desk to their infrastructure and cybersecurity experts.
By partnering with Exponential-e, we can focus on our core business objectives - delivering exceptional pension administration services - while having confidence that our IT infrastructure is secure, resilient, and expertly managed. This solid technology foundation allows us to continually innovate, driving improvements in efficiency and service quality that directly benefit our clients.
The partnership has also improved our internal operations, with our team consistently giving positive feedback on the systems and services provided, demonstrating the value of having the right solutions in place.
In the end, having the right technology partner is not just beneficial; it is fundamental to our success as a business. Exponential-e enables us to leverage technology in a way that supports our mission to set the highest standards in pensions administration, ensuring we continue to deliver value and quality to our clients.
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
While having the right technology stack and infrastructure is essential for delivering an outsourced IT service, there's much more to consider when selecting a technology partner:
At Trafalgar House, values are central to our business and one of the key reasons our clients choose to work with us. Trust, transparency, and collaboration are at the core of our approach, driving the decisions we make and the services we deliver. These values are not just internal; they are what set us apart in the industry. For this reason, cultural alignment is just as important as technical capabilities when choosing a partner. We seek partners who share our values, enabling us to have open and constructive conversations about challenges, evolving needs, and opportunities for improvement without a blame culture. This mutual understanding fosters a collaborative relationship focused on continuously enhancing our technology solutions and ways of working, ensuring long-term success for both businesses and delivering exceptional value to our clients.
How do you see the future of your partnership with Exponential-e evolving?
As Trafalgar House continues to grow and innovate, technology will be at the heart of our future ambitions. Our partnership with Exponential-e will play a critical role in helping us achieve these goals by providing the robust, agile, and secure IT infrastructure needed to support our expansion. As we strive to enhance our services and explore new opportunities, we see our relationship with Exponential-e evolving to ensure we remain at the cutting edge of technology. Together, we will continue to identify and implement innovative solutions that drive efficiency, improve client experiences, and support our long-term strategy of being the leading provider of pensions administration services. Technology is the foundation on which we build our success, and having a trusted partner like Exponential-e will ensure we are always ready to adapt and grow in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
While it might sound like a cliché, we strive for excellence every day, and Exponential-e shares this mindset. They have supported us through numerous transformation projects, helping us redefine how we deliver IT services to our team members and clients. Rather than highlighting a single moment, I'd say that their consistent delivery of exceptional service stands out. This is reflected in our 'voice of the customer' feedback, where 98% of responses over the past 12 months have been positive.
Whenever we face a service issue or incident that could impact our ability to serve clients, Exponential-e has consistently provided the responsive support we need. This reliability, especially in critical moments, is one of the standout aspects of their service and a key reason for the strength of our partnership.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
Our relationship with Exponential-e is based on teamwork and collaboration. Everyone involved in delivering IT services plays an important role in our success, and we greatly value the contributions of the entire team.
That said, I have an especially strong working relationship with Neil Smith, our Service Manager. Neil does an exceptional job of coordinating all the components of Exponential-e's service delivery, ensuring everything runs smoothly. Additionally, we work closely with the Service Desk
team and various subject matter experts, all of whom provide a high level of support and expertise. The collaborative efforts of these individuals have been instrumental in delivering the service excellence we expect.
At Trafalgar House, we understand the essential role technology plays in delivering on our strategic goals. However, we also recognise the need for expert partners to help us achieve these goals. As a pensions administration business, building the necessary in-house expertise to manage complex infrastructure, data centres, cybersecurity, and end-user computing would be costly and inefficient.
After an extensive review process, we chose Exponential-e as our technology partner in 2016. This partnership has been instrumental in transforming our IT services and ensuring that we stay ahead in an increasingly digital world. A key factor in this decision was Exponential-e's ability to provide access to specialised skills across all areas of IT delivery, from their ITIL-compliant service desk to their infrastructure and cybersecurity experts.
By partnering with Exponential-e, we can focus on our core business objectives - delivering exceptional pension administration services - while having confidence that our IT infrastructure is secure, resilient, and expertly managed. This solid technology foundation allows us to continually innovate, driving improvements in efficiency and service quality that directly benefit our clients.
The partnership has also improved our internal operations, with our team consistently giving positive feedback on the systems and services provided, demonstrating the value of having the right solutions in place.
In the end, having the right technology partner is not just beneficial; it is fundamental to our success as a business. Exponential-e enables us to leverage technology in a way that supports our mission to set the highest standards in pensions administration, ensuring we continue to deliver value and quality to our clients.
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
While having the right technology stack and infrastructure is essential for delivering an outsourced IT service, there's much more to consider when selecting a technology partner:
- A broad range of skills and subject matter expertise - Technology outsourcing and digital transformation are strategic decisions that enable us to enhance our capabilities. This requires a partner with engineering expertise across a variety of areas including networking, server management, end-user support, and cloud solutions, alongside critical skills in cybersecurity.
- The right expertise in the right place - It's not just about having the right skills; it's about deploying them effectively. Our technology partner must be able to deliver the necessary capabilities for projects and change management while also responding to and solving issues promptly and efficiently.
- Demonstrable governance - In a fast-moving technology landscape, it's vital that networks, infrastructure, and systems are managed with a strong focus on governance and established procedures. Service reporting is equally important, providing regular touchpoints to assess the effectiveness of service delivery and identify areas for improvement.
At Trafalgar House, values are central to our business and one of the key reasons our clients choose to work with us. Trust, transparency, and collaboration are at the core of our approach, driving the decisions we make and the services we deliver. These values are not just internal; they are what set us apart in the industry. For this reason, cultural alignment is just as important as technical capabilities when choosing a partner. We seek partners who share our values, enabling us to have open and constructive conversations about challenges, evolving needs, and opportunities for improvement without a blame culture. This mutual understanding fosters a collaborative relationship focused on continuously enhancing our technology solutions and ways of working, ensuring long-term success for both businesses and delivering exceptional value to our clients.
How do you see the future of your partnership with Exponential-e evolving?
As Trafalgar House continues to grow and innovate, technology will be at the heart of our future ambitions. Our partnership with Exponential-e will play a critical role in helping us achieve these goals by providing the robust, agile, and secure IT infrastructure needed to support our expansion. As we strive to enhance our services and explore new opportunities, we see our relationship with Exponential-e evolving to ensure we remain at the cutting edge of technology. Together, we will continue to identify and implement innovative solutions that drive efficiency, improve client experiences, and support our long-term strategy of being the leading provider of pensions administration services. Technology is the foundation on which we build our success, and having a trusted partner like Exponential-e will ensure we are always ready to adapt and grow in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
While it might sound like a cliché, we strive for excellence every day, and Exponential-e shares this mindset. They have supported us through numerous transformation projects, helping us redefine how we deliver IT services to our team members and clients. Rather than highlighting a single moment, I'd say that their consistent delivery of exceptional service stands out. This is reflected in our 'voice of the customer' feedback, where 98% of responses over the past 12 months have been positive.
Whenever we face a service issue or incident that could impact our ability to serve clients, Exponential-e has consistently provided the responsive support we need. This reliability, especially in critical moments, is one of the standout aspects of their service and a key reason for the strength of our partnership.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
Our relationship with Exponential-e is based on teamwork and collaboration. Everyone involved in delivering IT services plays an important role in our success, and we greatly value the contributions of the entire team.
That said, I have an especially strong working relationship with Neil Smith, our Service Manager. Neil does an exceptional job of coordinating all the components of Exponential-e's service delivery, ensuring everything runs smoothly. Additionally, we work closely with the Service Desk
team and various subject matter experts, all of whom provide a high level of support and expertise. The collaborative efforts of these individuals have been instrumental in delivering the service excellence we expect.
Customer Summary
From: Mel Gomes - Head of IT Commercial Management and Contracts
Royal Holloway University was founded over 170 years ago by two Victorian social pioneers who wanted to make a difference. Formed from two colleges, these were among the first places in Britain where women could access higher education, so their rich history is deeply rooted in providing equity in opportunity, transforming lives through education and creating positive change.
Fast forward to the present day, Royal Holloway is one of the top 30 UK universities, according to the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
RHUL has been a customer of Exponential-e since 2019.
How does the solution / technology / service (use the most appropriate) Exponential-e provide benefit your organisation and your customers?
Royal Holloway was founded over 170 years ago, with the aim of transforming lives with education.
It now serves over 12000 students and over the last 5 years has been consistently ranked in the UK's top 30 universities, in that period Exponential-e have won a number of contracts including merging Microsoft Teams during the pandemic to help students collaborate, also installed Azure Virtual Desktop, transformed our telephony as well as being a trusted Cyber partner. The IT Services team build the foundations for which underpins the university, and we have a digital program which is continuously looking to deliver a seamless service to staff and students. All of our partners including Exponential-e are a vital part of that.
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
I look for technology partners that are transparent in their business model, as well as their deliverables and obligations to us and how they are going to deliver their services. I want a service that delivers value, innovation, and continual improvement. Exponential-e explain what they're working towards, they look to continually improve the service, they give us wider thinking from different verticals and sectors and most importantly they listen to feedback and act on it.
How do you see the future of your partnership with Exponential-e evolving?
The Higher education sector has been under a lot of pressure recently, student fees are worth 30% less now than they were in 2017. What I want from a partner is to reduce total cost ownership so we can work together to provide services in the most efficient way possible.
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
During the pandemic, Exponential-e helped us move to a single tenancy in a very short space of time, that was critical for us and most importantly did it on the terms I required which mitigated the risk and took the fear out of the business.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
Neil Smith joining the Account team has really helped Royal Holloway, we have multiple services on different contracts and different technical service owners and Neil brings that all together.
Customer Summary
From: Gerry Cullen, Server & Network Supervisor
In 1845, partnership papers between Fuller, Smith and Turner were officially signed - marking the start of something very special for London's pub and beer scene.
However, the Fuller's story had been brewing long before then.
In the late 1600s Thomas Mawson laid the foundations for a major brewing enterprise by buying The George public house in Chiswick and two adjoining cottages for £70, then later snapping up the brewhouse in Bedford House on Chiswick Mall too.
Throughout its history, Fuller's has continued to build an enviable estate of premium pubs and hotels that today numbers around 400.
Fuller's have been a customer of Exponential-e since 2022.
How does the solution / technology / service (use the most appropriate) Exponential-e provide benefit your organisation and your customers?
We benefit very highly of the network redundancy we have in place with Exponential-e, it allows our business to remain connected so that all of our managed pubs and hotels can trade and take payments
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
I think reliable and expertise and experience are key, which the team at Exponential-e have vast quantities of this
I would say there is a potential in growth of perhaps taking on other products/services
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
I would say the standout moment was the really sharp turn around of the support desk and them excelling in responding to any tickets we logged around circuits being down.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
Ben Eustace and Terence Duff and Guled Omar
We benefit very highly of the network redundancy we have in place with Exponential-e, it allows our business to remain connected so that all of our managed pubs and hotels can trade and take payments
What qualities do you believe are important in a technology partner?
I think reliable and expertise and experience are key, which the team at Exponential-e have vast quantities of this
How do you see the future of your partnership with Exponential-e evolving?
I would say there is a potential in growth of perhaps taking on other products/services
Could you share a "stand-out" moment where Exponential-e excelled?
I would say the standout moment was the really sharp turn around of the support desk and them excelling in responding to any tickets we logged around circuits being down.
Are there any individuals at Exponential-e you feel consistently go above and beyond?
Ben Eustace and Terence Duff and Guled Omar
Establishing a world-class digital foundation for emergency services across the UK
About the ARP
The Ambulance Radio Programme (ARP) delivers mission-critical communication and mobilisation technologies to ensure effective communication between Ambulance Service Trusts, the NHS, and other emergency responders across the UK.
The Challenge
The successful delivery of emergency services depends on critical platforms being always on and always available, ensuring citizens in the most remote areas can always make contact and receive aid as quickly as possible. With even the smallest periods of downtime potentially costing lives, ARP demands the highest standards of performance and resilience from its underlying connectivity, with rigorous SLAs in place to ensure these targets are met.
In order to further optimise the availability of emergency services across the UK, there are currently two major programmes being implemented by ARP across the UK. The Control Room Solution (CRS), which is utilised by ambulance services across England and Scotland, ensuring critical communications between the emergency control room dispatchers and operational crews are completely seamless. The Mobile Data & Vehicle Solution (MDVS) will replace legacy communications equipment for the English and Welsh Ambulance Service Trusts.
Both programmes required a secure, resilient, and highly available IT infrastructure as the underlying foundation, for which ARP selected the Exponential-e Group - encompassing Exponential-e, Vysiion, and Xpertex - as their trusted technology partner.
The programme has lots of moving parts, and a lot of key users and stakeholders - all with unique needs and ways of working. ARP needed a team, processes, and technologies which could be used to create a common service, capable of integrating with each Ambulance Trust and user organisation.
Mathew Baker, IT Service Manager, ARP
The Solution
The Exponential-e Group has worked closely with ARP for a number of years, beginning with the CNAM project, which Vysiion successfully executed before its acquisition by the Group. Here, multiple critical platforms that were previously managed on a regional basis, with discrete infrastructure and applications run independently by each Trust across England and Wales, were fully centralised in ARP's data centres, including both CRS and MDVS. A whole new network was utilised as the foundation, connecting the centralised ARP control room applications to each regional Trust's control rooms. This highly resilient network infrastructure was designed to maintain the highest levels of uptime and availability across all regions, optimising the delivery of critical services.
ARP would later build on these early successes, engaging the wider Exponential-e Group as its requirements evolved. Exponential-e later delivered a fully centralised, UK-based service desk, available 24 / 7, and continues to work with ARP's own teams to identify new opportunities for service improvements and process optimisation.
Over the course of several years, the partnership between ARP and the Exponential-e Group has continued to evolve and is now in a strong position to take on further challenges. A particular focus is the digitisation of processes and onboarding of multiple new solutions to further optimise the availability and delivery of emergency services nationwide.
Solution benefits
- Full centralisation of multiple critical platforms, powered by a highly resilient, highly available private network, supporting consistent performance and availability of critical services across all regions.
- A 24 / 7, UK-based service desk for all IT-related questions, concerns, and incident management.
- A partnership built on trust, consultation, and service quality, driving ongoing improvements.
- Hands-on engagement and integration with other suppliers.
It's time for the public sector to have its own digital-revolution
The public sector's digital journey is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, with leading-edge technology transforming the way critical services are delivered across the country. This exclusive report from Exponential-e explores the challenges and opportunities involved, and explains how public sector organisations can be part of this digital revolution.
A full-stack deployment for a leading South-east London healthcare provider delivers the digital foundation for exceptional patient care
About Bromley Healthcare
Bromley Healthcare is a community healthcare provider in South-east London, offering communities across Bromley, Bexley, Greenwich, and Lewisham with a range of world-class services, clinics, and health programmes, while empowering clinicians to deliver the very highest standard of care.
The Challenge
To optimise the availability of its services, enabling clinicians to engage with their patients through an evolving range of channels, Bromley Healthcare has continued to invest in its own network, spanning all its sites across South-east London. However, with its existing infrastructure beginning to show its age and a significant proportion of reported IT issues directly related to network performance, it became clear a new digital foundation was required.
The decision was therefore made to seek out a new strategic partner who would be able to support a full-scale modernisation project, redesigning the entire network from the ground up. Key priorities including the deployment of pervasive wireless connectivity at all sites, for both corporate and guest devices, and optimal resilience, with minimal points of failure.
Far more than just deploying the required connections, this new partnership would involve working closely with Bromley Healthcare's own network team to take full advantage of the latest advances in networking technology, both now and in the long term - to ensure these solutions could be intelligently deployed to support the highest standards of patient care. This would include providing hands-on support to staff and clinicians, ensuring they would be able to make full use of the new infrastructure's capabilities.
Having already engaged with their teams for a number of tactical services over the years, Bromley Healthcare invited Exponential-e to take part in a highly competitive tender process, where candidates were asked to showcase how they would approach solving Bromley Healthcare's unique goals for its network. Keeping an open mind about the proposed solutions, Bromley Healthcare eventually selected Exponential-e as their new strategic partner, based on the overall strength of their offering and willingness to deliver a truly bespoke, full integrated solution.
The Solution
Working closely with Bromley Healthcare's own IT team, Exponential-e designed and deployed a full-stack Cisco Meraki ecosystem, incorporating SD-WAN, LAN, and Meraki wireless, combined with scalable firewalls, HSCN connectivity, and hosting in world-class data centres - all managed through a single pane of glass.
A key development for Bromley Healthcare's own networking team has been the implementation of application-level monitoring, allowing for full control and visibility of the entire network. This has enabled faster, more effective troubleshooting, ensuring key applications are always available to clinicians, whenever and wherever they are required. At the same time, a dedicated team at Exponential-e continues to maintain the underlying digital foundation, ensuring the network will always deliver the highest standards of performance and guarantee the integrity of critical data.
This blend of centralised control and visibility, expert support, and a fully integrated solution wrap meant that time spent on routine network management was reduced by around 75%, saving an average of 35 internal man hours per week. As a result, Bromley Healthcare's own teams have been able to refocus their attention and prioritise resources to broaden the quality, range, and availability of healthcare services across South-east London.
With the new infrastructure firmly established, Bromley Healthcare are now planning the deployment of a next-gen VPN solution, providing staff and clinicians with additional layers of flexibility in the way they work. Plans are also in place to utilise the system's inherent flexibility to make interpreting services available to clinicians via a range of channels, reducing the need for an interpreter to be physically present when required.
Solution benefits
- A full Meraki technology stack, with centralised control and visibility and the ability to connect to the HSCN
- Resilient, highly secure connectivity for multiple sites across South-east London, enhancing the performance and availability of the platforms clinicians depend on
- A fully managed service, delivering a robust foundation that frees internal teams to focus on clinician and patients' requirements An average of 35 hours per week saved on routine network management, allowing this time to be reinvested in patient care
You have to have a good network; everything else is built on it. So, it was really important to us to develop a real strategic partnership - not just supplying the lines, but providing suggestions, solutions, and best practice to drive something new and open up opportunities to make our clinicians more efficient and effective.
Patrick Montgomery
Chief Technology Officer, Bromley Healthcare
What I liked, and still like - most about working with the team at Exponential-e was that it was a genuinely two-way conversation. At the outset of this project, we were open to anything, and, put simply, their proposal was the best fit for our networking goals.
Patrick Montgomery
Chief Technology Officer, Bromley Healthcare
The public sector's digital journey is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, with leading-edge technology transforming the way critical services are delivered across the country. This exclusive report from Exponential-e explores the challenges and opportunities involved, and explains how public sector organisations can be part of this digital revolution.
A UK leader in social housing partners with Exponential-e to power exceptional service quality for residents across the country
About the Sovini Group
The Sovini Group delivers a growing range of world-class construction, property, and facilities services across the UK's public and private sectors, including a number of social and not-for-profit enterprises, employing more than 800 staff. One Vision Housing, part of the Sovini Group, manages more than 14,000 homes across the north-west of England, with more being built each year, and actively works to make a positive difference to the communities it is involved in.
The Challenge
Working with social housing residents across the north-west, One Vision Housing, part of the Sovini Group, rely on seamless communication with their tenants, whether that's for routine administration, scheduling maintenance, or ensuring emergencies are dealt with quickly and effectively. The need for a secure, resilient, and highly intuitive platform that would support close collaboration between advisors and communication with residents was further driven home during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when face-to-face meetings became impossible.
As a result, once lockdowns ended, the decision was made to seek out a next-gen unified communications platform that would transform the way Sovini supports their residents, replacing the legacy PBX system. Having already successfully adopted Microsoft Teams, gaining buy-in from employees across the company, the resulting RFP sought to build on this success. This meant exploring how processes could be further optimised by tools like call recording and analytics, with ample scope for future development. The employee experience was also critically important - the new system needed to be as user-friendly as possible, allowing advisors to focus on the needs of residents, especially those considered vulnerable.
Exponential-e's well-established contact centre and unified communications pedigree, comprehensive service wrap, and consultative approach that focused on Sovini's operational strategy made a strong impression throughout the tender process. As a result, they were awarded the contract, with a dedicated account team immediately beginning work to establish themselves as Sovini's key communications partner.
The Solution
Working closely with Sovini's own IT team and customer service team leaders, Exponential-e began scoping out the new customer service platform. Service continuity was a critical priority, with measures established to ensure advisors would be able to continue working in the way they were accustomed to, while enjoying a range of additional tools to support successful resolutions. To this end, as the project specifications evolved, in-depth training was provided for staff via Microsoft Teams. Based on these conversations, comprehensive user guides were created and distributed.
Key to the success of the project was ongoing consultation around potential opportunities for improvement, which strong partnership between both organisations and the inherent flexibility and scalability of Exponential-e's contact centre has continued to support following the go-live date. In particular, the solution's ability to deliver bespoke, real-time reporting, drawing on data generated across multiple channels.
Utilising the high volumes of data generated throughout interactions with residents to optimise service quality and ensure advisors are properly supported has become a key element of Sovini's day-to-day operations. This has proven especially beneficial during interactions with vulnerable residents, as team leaders are able to monitor the quality of interactions - both live and through analytics - to ensure appropriate training is provided for advisors, and that residents are always properly supported.
This is very much an evolving process, as Sovini's teams continue to explore the full range of the contact centre solution's capabilities and how they can complement and enhance their strategies for optimising service quality across existing channels, and those in the process of being deployed (social media, for example). This includes automating routine processes (where possible and appropriate) and integration with other systems, to achieve a holistic view of the entire operation.
In this way, Sovini continue to utilise leading-edge technology as a means of enhancing the expert support and personal attention their residents have come to expect from their advisors, rather than as a substitute for it. As their teams work with their Exponential-e account team to identify and execute further improvements in the years ahead, the full potential of this new model for customer service excellence will continue to reveal itself, helping establish new standards of best practice across the entire housing sector.
Solution benefits
- A seamless transition from the legacy PBX system
- A highly intuitive user interface, supporting faster resolution times, and a better employee experience
- Hands-on consultation and training from contact centre experts to maximise performance impact and project success
- Ongoing partnership that drives continuous improvement, with a focus on performance outcomes
- Real-time analysis of call data drives ongoing service improvements and process enhancements
- Data analysis and quality allows for identification of and better outcomes for vulnerable residents, including the creation of specialist training for advisors
- Intelligent automation to minimise wait times
and optimise efficiency
As an agile organisation it is essential that our systems enable us to support our staff working remotely. This solution very much supports that as well as providing all the necessary functionality we require for a busy, customer-focused contact centre environment.
Jan Conroy
Head of Customer Services, One Vision Housing
The actual migration from one system to the other was seamless for both the customer and the team using it. Our advisors adapted with ease and much prefer the functionality of the new system. There's much more information available to them, and it's very user friendly. When you're handling calls it is important to have all the information you need at your fingertips to provide excellent customer service and this system supports that.
Jan Conroy
Head of Customer Services, One Vision Housing
If I was to sum it up, I think it's a really great partnership. It doesn't feel like a contractor and a client relationship, it feels like a partnership relationship and that works very, very well.
Jan Conroy
Head of Customer Services, One Vision Housing
Helping housing associations drive digital initiatives that transform the tenant experience, underpinned by robust data security
To succeed in a digital world where quality of service is under increasing scrutiny, housing associations need to rapidly transform by adopting modern technologies, redesigning operational processes and increasing collaboration across multiple channels. By investing in a digital future, housing associations can streamline costs, improve operational efficiency and concentrate on creating an improved tenant experience.
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'
A proven system for developing a world-class digital strategy
DX can empower your employees with always-available applications, wherever they are, and engage your customers with multiple touchpoints that can be accessed 24/7. It can also increase your company's growth, enabling you to adapt, to diversify and to transform your product to suit new market conditions.
Manageability, reliability, and resilience to optimise the delivery of council services
About Watford Borough Council
Located in South-West Hertfordshire, Watford Borough Council (WBC) comprises twelve electoral wards, with an elected Mayor. Supported public-facing services include benefits, council tax, business rates, parking, planning, environmental health & licencing, refuse & recycling, tourism & leisure.
A global media giant achieves an effortless move to hybrid working while embracing green technology
About AMC Networks
AMC Networks International (AMCNI), the global division of AMC Networks, delivers entertaining and acclaimed programming that reaches subscribers in more than 130 countries and territories and is responsible for highly acclaimed series including The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul. AMCNI consists of global brands, AMC and SundanceTV, as well as popular, locally recognised channels across various programming genres. In the UK, those channels include CBS Reality, Legend, Reality Xtra, Horror Xtra & Horror Xtra +1.
Challenges
At the start of 2021, its London office was looking to downsize and promote hybrid working as an outcome of the pandemic, this coincided with an up-and-coming expiry of its building lease which presented the ideal window of opportunity.
AMCNI had always kept IT infrastructure on premise in its two onsite data centres, so as part of this move, the company wanted to relocate the infrastructure into Tier 3 data centres, which would help lower real estate costs and become more environmentally friendly. With thirteen racks of equipment having to be relocated by the end of May and with minimal disruption to all corporate applications and media storage access, the timing window to make this move was business critical.Solution
As an existing long-term customer, AMCNI selected Exponential-e out of several data centre providers to relocate its equipment into two Tier 3 data centres, providing redundancy for its production and DR media content. The design included over a dozen racks, with additional space made to house prebuilt IBM racks that had to be relocated in their existing configuration. Two 10Gb links were delivered between each data centre to provide resilient, high-speed capacity for large media content, with 2Gb of internet breakout for external access.
Since the downsizing of offices, AMCNI has realised a saving of approximately £1.3m on real estate costs, as well as a reduction in energy consumption and energy footprint. Staff have become more productive and invested by having the flexibility to work from home and remote locations, improving the work/life balance. AMCNI has also improved its sustainability metrics, as IT infrastructure is now located in purpose-built facilities that operate to BREEAM standards and use renewal energy sources.
Solution benefits
- Secure, scalable hosting for high volumes of media content, with full redundancy
- A seamless transition to hybrid working and remote collaboration
- A significant reduction of £1.3 million in corporate real-estate costs
- Enhanced sustainability and increased use of renewable energy
The move to full-time hybrid working has been an excellent decision for us at all levels, but it wouldn't have been possible without the underlying technology infrastructure. We already knew and trusted Exponential-e, so they were the obvious choice to help us make the transition. Even with such a tight timeframe, they made sure the whole thing was completely seamless.
Nigel Proctor, International IT Director, AMCNI
Make it work, make it easy, make it cool.
The Media & Entertainment sector faces many unique challenges when it comes to organisations' IT infrastructure, as the drive to keep content readily accessible through multiple channels must be balanced against the need for scalability, cost control, and robust cyber security. This brochure sets out how Exponential-e utilises our full portfolio of solutions to solve these challenges, in order to transform the way world-class content is created, managed, and delivered.
A leader in financial strategies embraces Cloud transformation
About Odum Research
Odum Research creates pricing, risk, and execution strategies for a wide range of financial market challenges - particularly around crypto derivatives - drawing on leading-edge technology and the collective experience and expertise of their own financial experts.
Challenges
Keen to embrace the possibilities offered by the Cloud when it came to the development of effective trading strategies, Odum were clear that they would begin their digital transformation journey with a strong knowledge base, working with a technology partner who could provide a rigorous, honest assessment of the current digital landscape, identify the hidden opportunities available, and design and deliver a Cloud infrastructure that would provide Odum's teams with maximum control and visibility over their entire estate, freeing internal IT teams to focus on service quality, while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.
Solution
Following a thorough evaluation of Exponential-e's capabilities and experience working with financial organisations and their highly specific cyber security requirements, Odum selected Exponential-e as their new technology partner. This involved a series of in-depth meetings between teams from both companies - including both consultants and technical specialists from Exponential-e - in order to develop a bespoke solution wrap that would not only suit Odum's immediate requirements, but also provide ample scope to scale and evolve in response to future shifts in the digital landscape.
As part of the wider cyber security ecosystem, the decision was made to utilise the Okta platform to manage user authentications and ensure all financial data would be handled in line with all applicable regulations. Exponential-e supported the roll-out of the platform, ensuring it would be properly integrated with the wider infrastructure.
This close cooperation between teams proved crucial to the success of the final deployment, with Exponential-e's consultants working closely with Odum's own IT specialists to ensure the move to the Cloud and rollout of the Okta platform was achieved with zero disruption to day-to-day operations - vital in the fast-moving financial markets - and without compromising security or compliance.
As a result, Odum are now equipped with the technology and expertise to fully embrace the Cloud, utilising cutting-edge technology to drive ever more innovative financial strategies that help maintain their edge in a dynamic, constantly evolving sector.
Solution benefits
- A bespoke solution wrap, designed with future scalability and resilience in mind
- Hands-on support from a dedicated account team throughout the Cloud transformation process
- Personalised training and consultation, to ensure a smooth transition to the new infrastructure
- Full control of user access and authentication via the Okta platform
- Robust cyber security, suitable for the handling of highly sensitive financial data
The support from Exponential-e made all the difference when it came to getting things up and running. We were able to make use of everything more or less straight away, and I was able to sleep a bit more easily knowing our security was all in order.
Jack Concanon, Head of Technology, Odum Research
Reduce complexity, increase speed and reliability
Exponential-e is a trusted technology partner for organisations across the Finance sector, offering innovative solutions that drive security, compliance and optimal performance at all levels.
Find out more in our Finance Brochure.
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