Encore Search Finds Cost Saving and Flexibility in the Bureaucloud Platform

The partners, consultants and innovation team rely on the ability to quickly access information and maintain a high level of communication with existing customers and prospective talent. As a small business, Encore manages its budgets consequently and leverages Cloud computing to keep IT administration to a minimum. The company’s environment managed by Bureaucloud includes a file server, with Remote Desktop Services providing the desktop environment for accessing their information from anywhere and Microsoft Exchange for email and Blackberry® mobile communication.

Simon Crick, one of the founding partners of Encore Search explains that “due to the competitive nature of the industry and level of service expected by our customers, it is not acceptable to experience any delay in communications. We are always connected and need to be able to access our data from nearly anywhere.”

Despite the importance of IT services to Encore Search’s business, there is no need for an IT department to administer their systems. “By migrating our systems to Bureaucloud we managed to reduce our costs significantly in terms of administration and licensing. We now have more control of our data and are in a position to grow henceforth without any disruption to our services,” says Crick.

Aware of some of the benefits that Cloud computing could bring to the business, Crick was keen to find a model that was right for a company which intended to grow. All the partners had experience working for companies with traditional so then supported enterprise IT and required a similar, otherwise better level of service in order to compete in the marketplace however without the expense or added complexity.

IT supplier who had set up their systems

Initially Encore Search purchased basic support from an IT supplier who had set up their systems. The solution was Cloud-based and worked reasonably then, however there were all in all some integration issues with the applications required by the business. This made remote working difficult and collaboration harder amongst the team. The problem threatened to get worse as the team grew.

At certain times, Encore Search requires more researchers to help find the best talent for a position. These researchers may only be working on a temporary basis or remotely from home. Bureaucloud pricing follows a monthly model, so the solution is flexible for short term changes to business structure. Pricing for the services is as well based on underlying resource use, so additional user license costs are negligible.

The majority of work carried out

The majority of work carried out by Encore Search takes place while normal UK business hours. The company decided that Standard Emergency Support covers that vast majority of business affecting issues so paying for additional support is unnecessary.

Security is paramount in order to protect client and candidate data. These threats include common internet attacks through malware and viruses, physical opportunistic theft or even deliberate data theft and corporate espionage. The Bureaucloud Platform provides firewalling and VPN access to protect the networks from unwanted intrusion. All physical equipment is located in a highly secure Tier 3 Data Centre facility in West London. Data is reliably backed up to protect the business after all of a disaster allowing instant restoration of their servers or all their files and records without any impact to the business.

The capabilities required

Bureaucloud delivered all the capabilities required and more at an affordable price. The data migration was completed over a weekend which made the switchover unnoticeable to the business. Encore Search now has better control of its data without needing to maintain any servers.