Project Description
As a commercial law firm, Hesketh Henry provide a comprehensive range of general and specialist services with the expertise to meet the needs of individuals and enterprises of all sizes. Hesketh Henry is well connected throughout New Zealand through their membership with Lawlink, a network of 17 firms throughout New Zealand that work collaboratively to provide services to clients nationally.
With a reputation that precedes them, Hesketh Henry is recognised by its national and international peers, highlighted by their inclusion in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019. Chambers Asia Pacific 2019 and Asialaw Profiles 2019.
CodeBlue and HPE reduce complexity with scalable, cost efficient and stable infrastructure.
Some 10 years ago, Hesketh Henry was lacking trust in the level of support and guidance they were receiving from their incumbent IT provider, and went looking for a solution.
They found it in CodeBlue.
Why the Change?
Hesketh Henry IT Manager, Hamish MacLaren highlighted the challenges they were dealing with prior to CodeBlue:
• Existing hardware and software
infrastructure were either nearing or had approached end-of-life.
• Server hardware was outdated with limited resources preventing them from scaling.
• Server and application environments were overly complex, making it incredibly difficult and time consuming to:
– Reverse engineer or remediate problems
– Perform updates and upgrades
– Implement new solutions
• Server hardware was hosted onpremise, which was prone to adverse environmental factors like water leaks, temperature fluctuations and excessive cabling.
“We’ve remained with CodeBlue for as long as we have because of the extremely talented people that we get to work with on a day to day basis. They’re always available to bounce ideas and problems off, are happy to challenge us and are always going the extra mile for Hesketh Henry, which can never be understated enough.”
Kerry Browne
General Manager, Hesketh Henry
The Early Years
After joining forces, CodeBlue’s key objectives early in the relationship consisted of:
• Formulating an extensive discovery process to better assess, support and document Hesketh Henry’s environment.
• Reducing complexity in their server and application environments to reduce support, management and cost overheads.
• Implementing means of service
delivery management and processes like change controls and incident reports for better transparency and accountability between various stakeholders.
• Develop a long-term strategic
IT roadmap to host hardware
infrastructure at a more stable
location like a datacentre.
• Deliver viable solutions for upgrading hardware infrastructure that were scalable, cost efficient and stable with simpler management and support requirements.
Project Execution
Over the years, CodeBlue and Hesketh Henry have undergone a number of key projects to execute the above mentioned objectives. For the purpose of transparency and trust, an execution process was developed and followed during each project. Projects are typically managed between CodeBlue engineer(s), a service delivery manager, account manager and/or project manager.
Business Issues Addressed
One of the first projects that required attention was Hesketh Henry’s backup policy, as there was no solidified plan in place should disaster occur. So, the implementation of Veeam backup software significantly improved their ability to recover full images, files and folders in a seamless manner.
Next port of call was to combine a data-centre migration with a hardware refresh. Hesketh Henry’s server hardware was removed from the head office, and migrated to an external datacentre, which significantly improved both the optimal uptime and high availability of their environment. The latest HPE SimpliVity solution ensured best practice utilisation of their server and storage resources, while also further improving the business continuity requirements via fast and seamless snapshot backups and recoveries. Core datacentre switches were upgraded to Aruba technology, which ensured better performance and full, unmitigated management of their server network, in addition to improved redundancy and the ability to scale. Finally, changing Heskth Henry’s server and storage hardware from the full height to the half-height HA rack space in the datacentre gave CodeBlue the ability to audit and remove any excess hardware and cabling. This reduced cost overheads for occupying rack space, as well as energy consumption. It also removed the risk of inadvertently disconnecting and cabling.
“CodeBlue’s implementation of HPE SimpliVity really has transformed our server and storage infrastructure”
Hamish MacLaren
IT Manager, Hesketh Henry
“HPE SimpliVity gives us improved productivity and it’s also significantly improved out business continuity plan and requirements.”
Hamish MacLaren
IT Manager, Hesketh Henry
Business Outcomes
Over the course of this relationship the goals have always remained the same; work in partnership with one another to develop technology solutions that address and drive business outcomes. The solutions that CodeBlue provide Hesketh Henry have brought a number of key benefits to the organisation.
• New hardware is highly scalable,
faster and more energy efficient
– driving improved productivity,
resourcing and cost overheads.
• CodeBlue’s proactive monitoring
and support reduced overheads
for the internal Hesketh Henry IT
Team while also ensuring
maximum uptime.
• Reduced complexity and
management in the server and
storage environment.
• Significantly improved the business continuity plan and requirements through backups, disaster recovery, SimpliVity and the datacentre.
• Stable and reliable active directory with an improved network that ensures high availability.
CodeBlue and Hesketh Henry have shared a strong and open working relationship for 10 years with Hesketh Henry having found the trust they were looking for. They have a fit-for-purpose solution that is robust, reliable and scalable, and is supported by a strategic technology roadmap aligned with their desired business outcomes.
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THE CODEBLUE DIFFERENCE
With more than 200 staff across 6 branches in New Zealand & 6 in Australia, CodeBlue has an enviable record of success delivering IT services. We have specialists in IT strategy, IT operations, IT security, business process and business intelligence. Whatever your IT requirements, we have the capabilities to help your organisation.
Our wide range of services include Proactive IT Support, Cyber Security Services, CIO Services, Data Backup and Recovery, IT Strategy, Cloud and Procurement Services.
CodeBlue is at the forefront of IT Managed Services for mid-sized organisations.
We understand the need to deliver value for money to help keep IT support costs down and maximise investment in existing and new technology. Our fixed monthly service fee provides exactly this peace of mind for our customers.