7EVEN Solutions is a fast-growing recruitment and training business specialising in healthcare and social services. Based in the West Midlands, the company has training facilities around the UK and a dedicated NVQ centre. Currently, 7EVEN has 20 employees with further plans for expansion in the future.

What was their problem?

7EVEN Solutions expanded rapidly after the company was set up in 2007, with 20 staff working across three offices with a further 100 staff working on client sites. However, the IT infrastructure had not developed to keep pace with the growth of the business. With no central server to store data or emails, it became increasingly difficult to share information about candidates and clients. It also made it extremely time-consuming to keep a secure backup of the company's critical data.

7EVEN Solutions approached Connect to assess the most cost effective way to tackle these IT issues as well as offer capacity for future expansion. Installing a new server and internet infrastructure that could work across the three offices - and accommodate other team members out on the road - was ruled out on cost grounds. Instead, Connect advised 7EVEN to opt for a managed hosted solution.

How did Connect help?

Connect's solution was to move all of 7EVEN's applications and data to hosted servers at a remote data centre. The company's employees would then access their files directly over the internet, in this case using terminal services to keep costs to a minimum. The key applications the company needed were a specialist recruitment package for client scheduling together with Microsoft Office and Exchange. To guarantee connectivity, Connect upgraded the routers to prioritise access to these critical applications and blocked bandwidth-heavy websites. As a result, 7EVEN's existing ADSL lines were more than fast enough to cater for their current staff numbers.

A key advantage of moving to a hosted solution is that it is easily scalable so if new satellite offices or more staff were added, there will be no need to purchase additional hardware or software.