Software and Managed Services Provider (MSP) Castleton plc is using Sunrise IT Service Management (ITSM) to enhance the IT services provided to its customers.
Castleton works with organisations in the social housing, wider public and commercial sectors, with its software and IT solutions helping them create efficiencies, reduce costs and save time. As part of this it provides IT support and managed services to its customers, taking responsibility for their IT.
Operating in an extremely competitive environment, Castleton chose Sunrise ITSM as it provides an ITIL-aligned service management solution that is an off-the-shelf, yet easy to tailor, scalable service desk with the potential flexibility to morph into other functional areas. Replacing four different helpdesk systems, Sunrise is now also used as the engineering service desk, scheduling time, workload, stock levels and project delivery.
“Sunrise replaced what had previously been in people’s heads,” says Paul Rogers, Professional Service Director, Castleton plc. “Since implementation it has evolved from the original service desk tool to manage vital flow-control processes for us. Sunrise ticked all the right boxes from the start, with its scalability and the ability to be tailored easily to our developing needs.”
Customers opting for a fully Managed Service use an outsourced service desk to manage their own tickets through the Sunrise online customer portal, with resolution to the central desk when required. Castleton manages around 3,000 calls a month, via self-service, phone, email and internal sources from customers, including those who have Castleton’s IT embedded on site.
The flexibility and scalability of the service management solution are now crucial differentiators for the business, according to Faye Harley, Hosted Services & Support Manager, Castleton plc, “We have to manage multiple locations with Sunrise and it just does that so easily. The interface looks really nice and it’s easy to use; it’s so simple to make functional changes, often at the click of a button. It just works perfectly – and people pick it up really quickly, helping productivity.”
At a business level, the information gained from the service desk is important to Castleton’s commercial success and differentiators as reporting shows how service delivery is maintained to clients, with their different SLAs and contracts, and helps the company to keep abreast of its competitors. Paul Rogers adds, “It’s now quite simply much more of a business driver than a helpdesk – people know what they’re accountable for and managers use the system generated information, whether in sales, finance, contracts – to tell us what needs to be actioned. It’s the lifeline giving key information on our client base across the business.”
Geoff Rees, Director of Business Services and Sales of Sunrise, comments: “Flexibility is of the essence to Managed Service Providers such as Castleton. When external customers have diverse contracts and SLAs, reporting and control is critical to the service provider. The flexibility and ease of use of Sunrise’s ITSM platform means the service desk can be adapted to meet internal and external needs easily. It’s heartening to see service reporting being used as such a core source of business information too – a service management tool can offer so much more than just fixing tactical problems!”
