Full Service (as seen in Professional Builders Merchant magazine)

With ever-increasing pressures on the bottom line, out-sourcing more of your IT requirements can lead to greater efficiencies throughout the business and have the potential effect of ‘taking IT costs off the balance sheet’. PBM spoke with *Kerridge Commercial Systems to find out what services are on offer.

Many leading software suppliers in the sector also offer merchants a comprehensive range of IT services, said to provide real benefits to the customer experience. With tailored solutions that provide in-built business flexibility and greater peace of mind, by taking away certain day-to-day responsibilities the argument is that you can reduce operational costs by leaving IT requirements in the hands of experts – and allowing you to concentrate fully on running your business.

For example, whilst best known for its flagship K8 software, *Kerrdige Commercial Services offers a comprehensive range of IT services including managed hosting services delivering reliability, availability and expertise of hosting and communications technologies. The firm has created a highly resilient, secure, state-of-the-art hosting centre infrastructure with no single point of failure, which is claimed to provide world-class, managed computer services flexible enough to help a business respond more quickly to changing market conditions.

With levels of service and support available for all the server hardware supplied and maintained through the deployment of K8, *Kerridge Commercial Systems' Hardware Service Provision (HSP) incorporates a fully hosted and managed service provided within one of the supplier’s four Hosting Centres, giving customer application hosting on enterprise level hardware with constant access to highly qualified staff 24/7. Software is hosted within a large and highly resilient server infrastructure, completely and securely partitioned from access by other parties.

Statistics and a toolset to intuitively make key changes to your environment are provided through the company’s extranet portal whilst all other functions are provided seamlessly by its professional team of engineers.

To improve IT infrastructures, *Kerridge Commercial Systems has developed communication solutions that it claims ‘will elevate a business above the competition whilst reducing operational costs and current IT expenditure’. Its portfolio consists of a wide range of network products and services, designed to connect dispersed locations, people, information, voice and other external resources within the same communications framework.

Its Wide Area Network – Kerridge Commercial Systems MPLS – runs over BT’s Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network to provide a cost-effective, highly scalable route to direct information between connected locations. Internet and VPN solutions include options for home-worker connectivity including secure VPN access whilst the company can also supply a complete Local Area Network solution including cabling survey, structured cabling to CAT6E standards, high-speed fibre links, distribution cabinets and all switching components. Wireless surveys and successful deployment of any wireless network are also offered.

From hardware supply, installation and break fix maintenance to the provision of a fully-managed desktop service, the *Kerridge Commercial Systems Office Systems solutions are designed to ensure there is the correct mix of technology, processes and tools in place to optimise the cost of ownership. Four ‘packaged’ levels of managed desktop services are offered, delivered on a cost per seat per month basis, to provide a package of hardware, software and professional support, as well as access to new technologies.

Having negotiated a number of supply chain arrangements, *Kerridge Commercial Systems claims to ensure the best possible hardware and third party software prices including PCs and notebooks, managed anti-virus solutions and server monitoring and management. Additionally, a range of printing document management solutions are available, including competitive hardware and consumables supply, electronic forms, specialist bulk printing and mailing services and machine sealed secure payslip production.

*Kerridge Commercial Systems Print Plan for instance is a new service that provides printers, installation, support, maintenance and all consumables on a rental basis. With costs directly linked to the number of pages printed, the company states that the savings available are significant. It also stocks a wide range of consumables for all business needs – through a new direct relationship with Lexmark, customers can select Lexmark laser printer, toner cartridges and maintenance kits at competitive prices.

Finally, via a dedicated team of field engineers and logistic support staff, merchants can also outsource their hardware maintenance requirements. Covering the UK, Kerridge Commercial Systems engineers hold vast stocks of PC, server and peripheral component parts.

The key point is that with hosted and fully-managed services, merchants can work in tandem with their preferred suppliers to devise a solution based on mutually appropriate criteria to ensure that IT costs can be as much or as little as required. With no capital outlay and upgrades and renewals often included as part of the package, by leaving your IT requirements in the hands of IT professionals, you can concentrate on what you do best as well.

In terms of server hardware, by working in tandem with Bull as the only Bull Authorised Maintainer (BAM) in Europe, *Kerridge Commercial Systems has experience and knowledge of K8 that will ensure hardware is correctly sized, configured and implemented. This level of service and single point of ownership is maintained beyond implementation by *Kerridge Commercial Systems’ comprehensive hardware maintenance packages and ProActive Server Support (PSS). The PSS service now provides pro-active monitoring of system hardware via *Kerridge Commercial Systems’ extranet portal and with end-to-end offerings and ownership, the company is said to be able to increase uptime and availability, offering quicker fix times and increased access to information.

Interestingly, with advances in technology, suppliers such as *Kerridge Commercial Systems are now able to bring their software, business management solutions and telephone systems together, enabling enhanced functionality. These important developments offer you significant opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve levels of customer service. The *Kerridge Commercial Systems Talk package for example is a range of comprehensive and flexible telephony solutions to deliver process improvements, extended functionality and best investment value. It comprises: BusinessVoice – Single site digital telephony delivered using Nortel BCM. Cost-effective solutions with great functionality; HostedIPT – A fully-hosted single or multi-site solution using Cisco IP telephony managed by *Kerridge Commercial Systems Commercial Systems; EnterpriseIPT – A Cisco IP Telephony solution with infrastructure owned and hosted by the customer; CAS Dealer – Specific call management solution providing ‘click to dial’, presence visibility, controlled call handling, reporting and integration with K8 (installation subject to compatibility to existing telephone system), and CAS Contact Centre – Fully-featured Contact Centre product providing ‘click to dial’, presence visibility, call queuing, reporting and integration with K8 (only available with HostedIPT and EnterpriseIPT).