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VOX POP
How have you/would you negate any
risks associated with outsourcing
service provision? For example, a
partner may not fully understand
your clients’ business and
requirements or the service delivery
may not be up to standard.
Terry Storrar:
“Annodata has built its
reputation on customer service and the
highest standards of service delivery and,
as part of that, we maintain a continuous
feedback loop with our customers. As and
when we outsource to third parties, we
keep a very close eye on activity to ensure
the work carried out is up to standard.
“Although we use third-party providers
for certain aspects of a project, we always
maintain management and ownership
of the entire process. If anything does go
awry, we are in a position to act quickly to
rectify things. The risks are minimal.”
Mark Smyth:
“If you do outsource
support then it’s vital and absolutely
essential you choose carefully and evaluate
a provider's capabilities to ensure they are
suitable to become one of your preferred
partners. Then, each and every opportunity
must be comprehensively scoped so the
partner knows precisely what’s required
– what the aims and objectives are, as
well as the deliverables. Once scoped, you
have a blueprint to work to and some
measurement. It’s really back to basics with
‘what you can measure, you can manage’.”
Colin Griffin:
“In many cases, we’re
providing managed cloud services and IT
support to customers we’ve worked with
for years. We’ve taken the time to build
and maintain these relationships, which
are extremely important to us, and if we
couldn’t guarantee that a third-party
provider would offer clients the same high
standards, then we’d almost certainly forgo
the IT project rather than jeopardise our
relationship with a loyal customer.”
Is there a risk you could lose a client
to a third-party MSP? And have you
ever lost a client this way?
Terry Storrar:
“We face fierce
competition in our industry, so there’s
always a risk that a client will go
elsewhere, and while it might happen, I
can’t think of an example.
“Over the past few years, we’ve taken
steps to branch out from our heritage as
a pure-play print provider and moved into
Extreme printing
‘snow problem’ for
Willow Graphics
Print onto ice? Yes, we can do that.
Willow Graphics honoured for creative
application of printing technology
Willow Graphics, the large format printing arm of
the CityDocs group, has won the ‘Creative Use of a
Substrate’ award at The Print, Design and Marketing
Awards for printing onto a block of ice.
ICEBAR London, located in the Heddon Street food quarter
just off Regent Street in the heart of London, asked Willow
Graphics to create menus capable of withstanding extreme
cold and, in a world first, to print artwork and advertisements
promoting its ICEBAR & Dine packages directly onto ice.
Willow Graphics accepted the challenge and, using its
Jetrix KX7 UV printer – one of only six in the UK – reverse-
printed menus in fine detail onto 3mm cast acrylic. Multiple
layers of white ink and varnish were used to ‘seal’ in the
design and protect it against temperatures of -5°C all year
round.
In addition, Willow Graphics printed advertisements
promoting the new ICEBAR & Dine packages (see photo),
and artwork for the bar directly onto the surface of specially
oxygenated ice. A video showing the printing and installation
of The Ice Queen by designer, artist and photographer
Simon Fowler can be can be viewed at
com/125557802.
By making numerous machine modifications and using
specifically manufactured ice, Willow Graphics can now
provide ice imagery in any size and thickness up to 100mm.
A member of the CityDocs Group, which has production
facilities in London, Manchester and Leeds, Willow Graphics is
a London-based large format digital printing company. It can
print onto any substrate up to 100mmm in depth; work to any
scale in incredible detail; and uses inks formulated to adhere
to a wide range of surfaces, including glass, acrylics, woods,
metals, fabrics and, now, ice.
•
delivering a broader range of IT, cloud and
communications services. That means we
are able to take on more of our clients’
IT estates, allowing them to streamline
the number of suppliers they work with
and enabling us to develop deeper
engagements with them.
“You can never guarantee that you
will not lose a client, but you can mitigate
the chance of this happening by providing
a quality service, added value and
transparent communications at all times.”
Mark Smyth:
“Setting up the right
partner and engagement with clear,
concise rules will help avoid potential risks
and client vulnerability. However, you must
always fully understand who is responsible
and accountable for delivering the services
and support, even if the partner has a
reseller-only route to market and does not
engage with end users.”
Colin Griffin:
“As we’re a relatively
small operator, we’re able to provide a
personalised service to our customers. It’s
extremely rare that we lose custom; we’ve
probably lost fewer than five accounts over
the past three years. However, our clients
are all businesses and ultimately if another
supplier can provide the same services at a
reduced cost then they’re liable to switch.
Our job is to keep clients happy with our
customer service levels and costs so they
don’t feel the need to look elsewhere.”
...continued
Terry Storrar, IT Services Director, Annodata
