Smith of Derby

Assessing what had to be done to ensure their IT system was in line with their business.

Strengthening the IT backbone of the business

Smith of Derby are world-renowned clockmakers. Established in 1856, Smith of Derby manufacture, service and restore timepieces in the world’s foremost environments. Examples of their work can be found on landmarks such as St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Majlis Oman, the Commerce Building at The Bund in China but also closer to home in Donington Park’s Pit Lane and Derby Cathedral.

The challenge

Smith of Derby had entrusted their IT systems to their managed service provider, rightfully expecting them to proactively manage and properly configure their systems and services to support the business’s day to day operation.

However, this trust was misplaced, and the business fell into a loop of constantly firefighting one system failure after another. The business felt out of control and didn’t know where to turn.

Economit were engaged by Smith of Derby to help restore calm to the business and help them regain control of their runaway systems.

“As an innovator in the clock industry it is vital that we constantly move forward as technology progresses and it is key for us to be at the forefront of this progression in terms of our manufacturing processes and procedures.

PETER BARRY

Financial Director, Smith of Derby

Issues faced

  • On-premise email storage was incorrectly configured, and any available storage was at capacity
  • A number of complex data backup strategies were in place, although many data elements were excluded from all data backup methods
  • All operating hardware including servers, SAN’s and firewall’s were not covered under hardware warranties
  • Aged and poorly configured server operating systems

Our solution

To solve Smith of Derby’s complex IT situation, Economit implemented a strategy for adopting cloud technologies, enforcing a virtualisation strategy to reduce operating costs and sourced alternative service providers to manage the uptime of the environment on a clearly defined SLA. By simplifying their services and by placing their multiple workloads onto just one, we cut their operation costs, decreased overheads, increased efficiency.

Reduced IT capital costs by 20%

During the implementation of their fresh IT system, we placed a strong emphasis on user engagement, training, workshops and feedback to guide them into understanding how their new system works and the benefits it will bring.

This journey led onto us becoming their outsourced IT Director and advising them on contract review supplier management which resulted in reducing their IT capital costs by 20%.

As our outsourced IT Director, Economit have undertaken and been responsible for our technology interests which has enabled us to reduce operational IT costs and risk. We value the independence of Economit highly because we trust that when they make recommendations, they are made with the best interests of Smith of Derby”

PETER BARRY

Financial Director, Smith of Derby

Testimonial
“As our outsourced IT Director, Economit have undertaken and been responsible for our technology interests which has enabled us to reduce operational IT costs and risk.”

Peter Barry
Financial Director

CLIENT

Smith of Derby

WEBSITE

www.smithofderby.com

LOCATION

Derby, United Kingdom

INDUSTRY

Manufacturing

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Smith of Derby have been leaders in the expression of time for over 150 years. They’ve been creating and maintaining time across the globe – from the smallest village church clock to some of the world’s most iconic timepieces.