Gelder Group is a successful and rapidly growing Lincolnshire based construction group. SCS has provided IT support for the group for more than 10 years, most recently implementing a solution to connect a growing number of workers across its major sites...

Fast Facts:
Company Name: Gelder Group
Web Address: www.gelder.co.uk
Industry Sector: Construction Industry
Business Need: Connecting Workers
Solutions Provided: IT Support & Maintenance, Domain Hosting, Managed VPN

Gelder Group is a successful and rapidly growing Lincolnshire based construction group, headed by MD Steve Gelder, MBE, and with a Group Head Office at Sturton by Stow.

SCS has provided Gelder with IT support for more than 10 years, and over this time has witnessed the construction group's growth from just 2 work stations, to an organisation that currently employs over 260 staff, across 7 operating divisions and 2 locations.

In order to meet the changing needs of a fast expanding user base and service portfolio, SCS has scoped, installed, upgraded and supported a scalable IT infrastructure, capable of stimulating and protecting Gelder's sustained business growth.

An essential element of this work has been to support Gelder's physical expansion, including the opening of a new regional office and the requirement to connect workers across sites, by providing remote access to the corporate network and its associated applications.

Due to the success of its Insurance Repair & Renovation Division, 2005 saw Gelder Group open a second site in Derbyshire, to provide cover for all Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire regions. In its initial phases, the project included relocating a handful of staff to the new Derbyshire office, with plans already in place to scale operations as consumer demand for the service increased.

Finance Director, Russell Cunliffe explains, "Prior to opening the Derbyshire office, we met with SCS to detail our business and IT objectives, including our application, security and performance criteria. The result was a cost-effective solution to securely connect a small number of users across sites and to deliver the necessary applications to support an effective 24x7 emergency call out operation."

The terminal services solution used provided permission-based access to the organisation's network through the centralised deployment of applications. It provided the connectivity and security Gelder's required, whilst enabling the group to leverage its existing investment in its Microsoft Small Business Server environment. The solution supported the rapid growth of the new division for the following 24 months, before requiring upgrading to meet the demands of a growing user base.

Russell continues, "The success of the Insurance Repair & Renovation Division depends on fast, secure and reliable customer communications. To deliver this we have a computerised appointment system for the instant arrangement of appointments and a team of fast growing dedicated administration staff. In order to protect that growth, and with 2 additional operational sites already in the planning phase, it became clear that we needed to revise our connectivity solution to build in new levels of scalability"

SCS responded to this challenge by refreshing the core network and scoping and installing a Virtual Private Network (VPN) between the Derbyshire and Lincolnshire sites. Not only does this meet Gelder's objectives for connecting its users, applications and offices, it also enables the remote monitoring and administration of its networked infrastructure, making future expansion and additions to the network trouble free and cost-effective.

Russell reflects, "There comes a time for every organisation when technology becomes a key enabler in meeting business objectives. SCS has been instrumental in facilitating our business growth and has helped us achieve it whilst maintaining productivity and service levels by recommending the right solution at the right time. Our changing individual and group based requirements for remote working and connectivity have been listened to, understood and met through a combination of cost-effective solutions incorporating remote web working, remote terminal services and a secure VPN."

"Importantly throughout all these changes, SCS has remained a trusted partner, available to provide the ideas, support, maintenance and technology that have enabled us to introduce new services, whilst providing a consistent responsive and reliable service to our growing base of customers throughout the East Midlands. The infrastructure now in place gives us the confidence to scale operations further, as we gear up for an extremely successful 2008."