SPECIAL FOCUS - Integr8 Group

case studyStayingconnectedIntegr8 plays a vital role in making surethat the Fidelity Security Group’s usergroup remains connected.WORDS Richard MorganFidelity Security Group, one of the largest SouthAfrican security and cleaning group of companies,has outsourced the management, maintenance, andsupport of its entire ICT infrastructure to Integr8 IT. Thesecurity services company has over 32 000 employeesthroughout its network of 54 branches in key regionsin Africa that include Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia,Swaziland, and Mozambique. Its user network alsostretches as far as Dubai.Bennie Strydom, sales director at Integr8 IT, believesthat the Fidelity Group is the largest security servicesoperator in the country and says that Integr8 IT playsa vital role in making sure that the company’s usergroup remains connected. “Our chief role is to ensurethat the company’s extensive user group remainsconnected, is not affected by any downtime, and allthe systems and infrastructure in place continue tooperate at the highest level possible,” says Strydom.Changing agreementsThe Integr8 Group has a service level agreement inplace with the Fidelity Group that sees it contractedto provide outsourced services of all operationslocally and internationally, a dedicated projects andcompliance office, a full-time support service, andguaranteed uptime during critical payroll periods.Strydom says the service level agreement initiallyfocused on stability and connectivity across theorganisation. However, it has evolvedover time to incorporate a higher levelof service and support.“Because of the size of the FidelityGroup, managing their IT infrastructureinternally became very challenging.The group selected Integr8 IT to makesure that it keeps up to date withinnovation to stay ahead by usingtechnology,” he says.Getting things doneFor this to happen, Integr8 IT has connected Fidelityto its Nerve Centre operation. This is a high-tech,centralised digital contact centre that is used tointeract with and manage all of Integr8 IT’s clientsaround the world. By being connected to the NerveCentre, Fidelity has a stable network and an improvedsupport infrastructure to ensure network uptime andavailability for all its branches.“The immediate benefits of being plugged into theNerve Centre operation includes around-the-clocksurveillance of Fidelity’s infrastructure, proactivemaintenance and management, offsite backupservices, and national and international support,”Strydom continues.With the Nerve Centre, Integr8 IT has a completeview of the group and is able to make sure that alltheir networks run smoothly and is able to identify anyproblems before they occur.Trusted partnership“As the trusted ICT services and support partner andadvisor, Integr8 IT offers the Fidelity Group the peaceof mind to focus on its core business of providing themarket with a total security system,” says Strydom, addingthat the Integr8 service offering includes the benefit of adedicated projects and compliance office, which ensuresthat Fidelity has access to the skill sets of Integr8 IT.“This includes the advantage of onsite techniciansand maintenance staff, as well as skilled IT practitionersthat can offer guidance and application of technologyto ensure full compliance on systems as the companygrows,” he concludes. BBennie Strydom, sales director at Integr8 IT“Our chief role is to ensurethat the company’sextensive user groupremains connected.”28