What Technology is Retail Prioritising in 2024?
We take a look at which technologies mid-market retail IT leaders are prioritising in 2024 and what they are focusing their investment on.
The Customer
RE:DigitalGroup owns two separate operating companies:
- RE:SYSTEMS who provide electronic ticketing services and ecommerce solutions for key clients in the transport sector, as well as for sporting and general public events. In the past, they’ve been involved in prestigious events including the London 2012 Olympics, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the Euro 2012 Football Championships.
- Tractivity who provide web-based stakeholder management software, used by a large number of clients from local authorities to energy and transport companies.
The Group also has a history of providing web hosting for large property companies.
“When we switched technical provider, our clients immediately saw improvements in performance and downtime.”
The Challenge
In 2002, RE:Digital realised that they’d outgrown their existing hosting. “We were hosting everything from our offices in Bakewell,” says Alastair Green, Systems Engineer at RE:Digital. “For the obvious reason of business continuity, it wasn’t ideal.”
The Group moved their hosting to an external technical provider, but weren’t entirely satisfied with the results. “The provider only offered one web server and one database server,” Alastair says. “It wasn’t a very robust or secure solution.”
As the years went on, the technical provider’s prices rose and their solutions still didn’t meet business requirements.
RE:Digital turned to the provider to modernise their phone systems, moving from physical PBX to voice, but again the results were disappointing. “We set up an exchange with them and used another company to give us breakout to the PSTN, but it was never very good,” Alastair says. “The quality of the telephone calls was poor.”
RE:Digital were under pressure to provide services for increasingly high-profile projects. In 2002, they won a key project for railway and airport ticketing, and for this they needed to deliver on performance and meet more stringent security in terms of compliance.
“We were keen to find a technical provider who could support business growth and put us on a more professional footing,” Alastair says.
The Solution
RE:Digital turned to Node4, who provided a colocation service at their Leeds Data Centre. This enabled RE:Digital to set up a complete, secure hosting environment for the railway and airport ticketing project.
“We were very pleased with the general way that Node4 handled things and their level of technical expertise,” says Alastair. “So when we got the chance to provide hosting for the Organising Committee of the London 2012 Olympics, we set that up with Node4 as well.”
As for modernising the phone systems, RE:Digital decided to revisit that endeavour with Node4. “Node4 provided us with a private MPLS connection into their Derby Data Centre and from there, a SIP-trunk to the PSTN,” says Alastair. “The solution has been brilliant in terms of call quality, redundancy and availability.
The Feedback
Alastair says: “When looking for a technical provider, location was important to us, as well as price. We wanted at least two racks, plenty of power and network connectivity for our projects. Node4 could provide that at a very competitive price.
“When we switched technical provider, our clients immediately saw improvements in performance and downtime. The ongoing performance of the SIP-trunk is of value in our day-to-day operations because it just works. I can’t remember the last time we had to talk to Node4 about it.
“We have an excellent working relationship with our account manager and sales staff, and know that if we contact them, either for advice, quotations or anything else, they will always ensure the right people are there to respond in a timely manner.”
Key Outcomes:
- Colocation providing resource and security for high-profile projects. Reliable voice, video and messaging applications, thanks to Node4 SIP-trunking service.
- Local to RE:Digital’s office
- Competitively priced solution.
- Fast and expert technical support, providing peace of mind.
While working with Node4 staff on key projects, we’ve found them to be friendly, helpful, and technically knowledgeable. They have provided invaluable insights throughout the planning, installation and day-to-day running of several physical and virtual environments. Support staff are always quick to respond, and are willing to go the extra mile to ensure complete satisfaction.
Alastair Green, Systems Engineer at RE:Digital
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