| Venture Capital Fund join entrust user base |
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Advantage Creative Fund (ACF) is a venture capital fund set up specifically to invest in the growth of creative industries in the West Midlands. It works with creative businesses to drive their thinking forward and identify opportunities for growth. The fund was set up with public money to boost the creative industries in the West Midlands, but operates like any commercial venture capital fund, taking equity stakes in commercial concerns in return for capital. The Challenge ACF set up from day one as a virtual organisation. As many of their staff work remotely for the majority of their working week, a large central office is not required. Whilst this strategy presents considerable savings, it also means that ACF need an IT infrastructure that provides all of the functions of a traditional in-house network but with access available from anywhere at any time. Because of the nature of ACF’s business and the need to comply with regulatory requirements, any IT system has to be absolutely secure and resilient. And all of this has to be delivered without dedicated IT skills in-house! The existing IT infrastructure, based on an inhouse server, proved unworkable, unreliable and insecure. ACF personnel were increasingly diverted from their primary function to resolve problems with the system. Remote workers connected to the server using Microsoft’s terminal services over a VPN. Matt Stocker, ACF’s Operations Manager, began a search for a more elegant solution, “We were happy with terminal services as the way forward for our remote staff, but we’re a small company and we couldn’t afford the distraction of managing such a complex solution in-house”, he says. “Then a contact mentioned the concept of ‘Virtual IT’ or ‘Software as a Service’. It seemed to offer the potential for a great solution and so we began a search for suitable providers”. Unlike traditional IT, which is delivered via an inhouse network with all software installed on servers or local PCs, a Virtual IT service is provided by remote servers housed in a secure data centre. Users connect to these servers across the internet. The effect is just as if each user was working on his or her own PC connected to an in-house network, but the entire service is professionally managed and secure. In addition, the use of ‘Software as a Service’ licensing models means that the solution is significantly more cost effective than a traditional approach. Stocker says that ACF looked in detail at a number of providers. “We distribute public money so we’re obliged to operate a very stringent procurement process”, he points out. “Everyone offered viable solutions but there was a range of pricing and flexibility. EntrustIT stood out because they were willing to work with us to tailor their solutions to our requirements, they didn’t just offer a standard ‘off the shelf’ package. They demonstrated that they were keen to work with us and offered a great solution at a reasonable price”. The entrustIT solution provides ACF with a single coherent, secure network with access available from any internet connection. It is based on a Microsoft’s Software as a Service licensing model, which means that ACF pay a fixed monthly fee for each user and are free to add or remove users as their business demands – paying only for the features they actually use. “The system is genuinely enterprise level” says Stocker, “performance is speedy, even when working from home, and it’s great that the system is always available, backed up and secure – without any effort from us! We’ve also been impressed with the ease with which the system was rolled out. ” John Hardstaff of entrustIT added “We are delighted that Advantage Creative Fund decided to opt for the entrustIT solution, particularly after such a detailed procurement cycle. The implementation has already demonstrated the excellent relationship between the two companies and I’m sure that the solution will continue to develop alongside ACF’s business.” |
