Challenge
Running a business of this size and nature, which operates on stringent daily itineraries and deadlines, requires IT systems that can keep up with the pace of the industry. As such, K&S Freighters required a more cost-effective hardware and network support solution that delivered quicker response times than their previous supplier.
Mark Makies, Infrastructure Manager at K&S Freighters is responsible for ensuring these storage systems and critical business data are available around the clock. He was looking for a more cost-effective hardware and network support solution that also delivered faster.
Mark found this in a tailored hardware maintenance agreement with Interactive, one of Australia’s leading IT services companies, which provides support to 60 of K&S Freighters’ servers across Australia at a significant cost saving.
“Data is everything to us. If our IT systems fail, or a disaster occurs that affects access to these systems, our business suffers,” explained Makies.
“Everything is planned the day prior to a delivery and while the trucks can still move if our IT systems go down, critical data needs to be recorded for each transfer and any loss of this information could be detrimental to all of our processes along the way,” he added.
“Interactive came to us with a better service level agreement than our previous maintenance provider. We went from a 24 hour turnaround time to two hours and at half the cost!” Makies said.
K&S Freighters also upgraded its business continuity (BC) solution with Interactive, with Makies quoting the company’s flexibility as the major drawcard for choosing to expand its business with them.
“Interactive signed off on several changes to our BC contract and provided a truly unique solution where they purchased HP ProLiant G7s which they didn’t have, at our request. The purchase cost was built into our contract, but we appreciated that there was the option to put in what we wanted, rather than being told what was included or excluded,” he added.
Co-locating all its data to Interactive’s data centre, K&S Freighters also has access to firewall equipment and three cold servers which would be put in if a disaster was declared.
If a disaster is declared, Interactive can have K&S Freighters’ core systems up and running within two hours, and everything back online in 12 hours. This has been tested on three occasions with complete success.
“Working with Interactive has been trouble free and a smooth journey. With previous providers, the relationship has been difficult and I could never find anyone to talk to when we had a problem. With Interactive, I feel like they are an extension of our business and their response times are incredible,” he said.
Solution
K&S Freighters decided to appoint Interactive as its maintenance provider for its 60 servers across Australia, a choice that offered a significant cost saving. The tailored hardware maintenance agreement included co-locating all of their data in Interactive’s world-class data centre in Melbourne, and provided K&S Freighters with access to firewall equipment and three cold servers for DR purposes. If a disaster is declared, Interactive can have K&S Freighters’ core systems up and running within two hours, and everything back online in 12 hours. This has been tested on three occasions with complete success.
"We were impressed with how Interactive understood our business, and they immediately came to us with a better service level agreement than our previous maintenance provider. We went from a 24 hour turnaround time, to two hours, and at half the cost! "
Value
Interactive reduced K&S Freighters’ maintenance response time from 24 hours to two hours at a reduced cost from their previous supplier, and provided a business continuity solution that gives the company the confidence its business will be back online within 12 hours and all core systems available within two hours.
