One long weekend. 150 employees. Zero downtime.

Customer profile

Enkom is a deeply rooted Swiss full-service provider and has operated successfully from the heart of Switzerland for over 25 years. Enkom looks back on numerous completed projects and continuously develops its offering. Roger Notter, CEO of Enkom AG, takes stock after a good year of how he experienced the outsourcing of his ICT infrastructure under Total Care.

Roger Notter, CEO Enkom

Mr Notter, how did you and your company experience the changeover about a year ago?

The migration itself ran in a very coordinated and relatively calm manner. It certainly helped that we made use of a public holiday and added a bridge day on the Friday. This gave us four full days, from Wednesday 6 p.m. to Sunday midnight, for the migration. The work generally went according to plan, apart from delays that arose during the data transfer from the previous outsourcing partner. Even so, the Baggenstos team was able to keep to the demanding schedule and carry out the full migration over the long weekend.

From Friday onwards, tests could already be run on the productive platform, allowing a few details to be improved and problems to be eliminated during the migration. As a result, the nearly 150 employees at the four different locations either found their notebook fully operational at their workstation on Monday morning or were handed it then.

The feedback from employees was correspondingly very positive, as work was able to resume quickly and without major complications on the Monday. I myself have rarely experienced such a smooth migration. From my point of view, this was based on the very detailed preparation of the migration and the detailed planning of possible fallback scenarios. This also gave us the confidence to carry out the migration of the entire company over a single weekend.

Particularly worth mentioning is that the entire Baggenstos team, including management, showed a very strong presence during the migration and the start on Monday. This made it possible to make and implement decisions on minor corrections very quickly.

Patrick Brügger, Manager Internal Support

What changed with the move to Baggenstos?

Above all, the service quality and response times have improved considerably. The deliberately sought and chosen «SME to SME support model» (Total Care) has proven its worth very well so far. In Baggenstos we have found a partner that speaks the same language. Even for more complex questions, a contact person is found quickly.

In addition, the stability and voice quality of telephony with Microsoft Lync could be substantially improved. The many new features of Office 365 also prove very useful in daily use, and the ability to work from anywhere thanks to DirectAccess has genuinely boosted our productivity.

What reactions have you received from employees regarding the new ICT solution, Mr Brügger?

The reactions are almost consistently positive. Of course, there are sometimes small low points if, despite the most intensive efforts, a client can only be made to run flawlessly again by reinstalling it. But even a restaging to the initial state can be carried out by the user themselves thanks to state-of-the-art technology (SCCM) and is done within two hours.

What was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge in a project like this, in my view, is motivating the various partners – from the previous outsourcing partner and the application managers through to the backbone partner – towards a common point in time. Particularly with the data transfer from the old provider to Baggenstos, there were timing complications that could ultimately have jeopardised the entire migration.

What is the greatest benefit of Total Care for Enkom?
With Total Care, we have a solution of full out-tasking at a transparent flat-rate price for a known, defined service. As a result, the costs and how they develop have become clear and plannable for us. Furthermore, we have clear interfaces and responsibilities between us and Baggenstos as our outsourcing partner.

How does Enkom view storing data in the cloud?
With the current hybrid solution, a private cloud and Office 365, we have found a solution that allows the cost advantages of a cloud solution while keeping data in Switzerland. In particular, e-mails were fundamentally classified as generally insecure. Full use of a public cloud was out of the question due to existing customer contracts and the lack of economically attractive offerings with data storage in Switzerland. The model offered by Baggenstos gives us a high degree of flexibility on good terms.

What wishes do you have for ICT in the future?
ICT should serve as the basis for a digitalised Enkom, which should ultimately also benefit our customers. ICT should be as scalable as possible at an economically attractive price. The existing service quality should at least be maintained.

Many thanks for the interview and for your trust. Working with the Enkom team is very pleasant and always constructive for us. We are delighted that, with our services, we can contribute something to Enkom's success. The entire Baggenstos team looks forward to a continued successful collaboration!

Facts and Figures

Starting point and objective

The outsourcing of enkom AG's IT infrastructure took place under the Operation Care Managed Service. At the beginning was the migration of the infrastructure into a private cloud.

Solution

The Operation Care support model proved its worth. Substantial improvement in the stability and voice quality of telephony with Microsoft Lync. Office 365 and DirectAccess were deployed.

Results

With Operation Care, full out-tasking was realised at a transparent flat-rate price for a known, defined service. Costs and how they develop are clear and plannable. In addition, clear interfaces and responsibilities have now been defined between enkom and Baggenstos as the outsourcing partner.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was motivating the various partners – from the previous outsourcing partner and the application managers through to the backbone partner – towards the joint rollout (point in time). With the data transfer from the old provider to Baggenstos, there were also timing complications that could have jeopardised the entire migration.

Managed Service as the basis for future success

The infrastructure is operated with our Operation Care Managed Service. Our Operation team takes care of day-to-day operations and provides rapid support in the event of incidents. Quality is guaranteed with industry-recognised best practices and clearly defined service levels (SLA). The permanently assigned Baggenstos Service Manager handles any escalations, ensures the ongoing optimisation of support and operational processes, and supports Enkom AG in the further development of its IT infrastructure.

Many thanks for the excellent collaboration

Working with the Enkom team is very pleasant and always constructive for us. We are delighted that, with our services, we can contribute something to Enkom's success. The entire Baggenstos team looks forward to a continued successful collaboration!