Challenge
By 2005, Logical Freight Solutions had effectively outgrown its long-standing relationship with an existing IT services provider. LFS had expanded into a global freight specialist with support needs that crossed continents and time zones. Operations Director Steve Davis, who had responsibility for LFS’ IT services, looked at various alternatives, from selecting a new IT services provider to putting on IT staff in-house to having LFS’ IT infrastructure hosted by Macquarie Networks.

The in-house option was not judged a good fit because LFS, despite its global reach, was a specialized logistics company with 100 staff and could not have employed enough IT staff to support its global network of users with their complex mix of applications. Steve Davis ruled out the offsite hosting option in favour of finding a suitable managed services provider. ‘We don’t have any IT skills in-house,’ he makes clear. ‘Cost was another consideration, of course.’

Solution
Davis makes the point that Blue Apache’s proposal was not the cheapest. ‘The reason we chose them was that they listened carefully and took the time to understand our environment and our special needs. They seemed more pro-active and forward-thinking than the other companies we talked to, and more professional as well.’
LFS uses many diverse IT applications that relate to the specialist transport niche it operates in, the many countries it has a presence in and the import-export regulations it deals with. As a result, Blue Apache had to tailor its emPOWER Managed Services offering to the LFS environment, from the Helpdesk support offered to LFS users all over the world to the hardware infrastructure support at its head office in Melbourne.

Results
‘We couldn’t be more satisfied with the service we receive from Blue Apache,’ Davis says. ‘They’ve delivered on every part of the contract, and in some areas they’ve really gone the extra mile. For example, Blue Apache’s technical people have made a real effort to become familiar with our major applications so they can provide basic support even at that level. That’s not part of the contract, but there’s never a problem they don’t resolve. We can’t ask for more than that.’

Blue Apache has also been instrumental in upgrading LFS’ aging hardware infrastructure. This was a complex operation due to the number of independent software vendors involved, so Blue Apache carefully coordinated the transition over a twelve-month period to ensure that LFS would not suffer any disruption to its business. ‘We’re just about there,’ says Davis, ‘and Blue Apache’s team has taken care of the various interdependencies – we’ve had no serious issues and none of the usual finger-pointing.’

Helpdesk support for LFS users is a key part of the emPOWER service and is currently provided over extended hours. Davis is considering upgrading to the 24/7 support option Blue Apache offers. He makes the point that ‘24/7 support was one of the key reasons we selected Blue Apache, given that some of our staff are at work somewhere in the world at any time of the day or night.

And in terms of supporting our users, Blue Apache’s level of support has frequently exceeded our expectations. Their team takes care of everything, right down to the blackberries many of our staff use.’