Case Study

GCL Logistics

By helping them move to the cloud, Coretek saved GCL Logistics over £17,000 per year on their IT. All this whilst providing a faster, more scalable system that could switch to remote working in a single day under the COVID-19 lockdown.

Their IT Challenges

GCL Logistics had an existing on-premise IT system that was quickly approaching end of life.

Facing the prospect of an expensive bill for replacing all of their existing hardware, they asked for Coretek’s guidance with helping them make the right decision in terms of cost and performance.

After analysing their systems, it became clear that a like for life replacement of their current IT system would not only be the most expensive option, but it would lack the flexibility to easily move location or the scalability for business growth. A cloud-based solution appeared to be the best approach. However, their main line of business application, Boxtop, still required a dedicated server to run. This would rule out the option of using a standard virtual desktop set-up. They needed a more considered solution designed to fit their specific needs.

About GCL Logistics

GCL Logo

GCL Logistics are a well-established and highly regarded international freight forwarder based near Heathrow. Their services encompass air, sea and road. Their goal is to provide the highest level of customer service to become a market leader in their field.

See their website for more details at www.gcllog.com

Our Solution

It was quickly decided that moving GCL’s IT systems to the cloud would be the ideal approach in terms of cost, security, scalability and flexibility. However, the solution would have to factor in the fact that they required a server to run their main line of business app, Boxtop.

Coretek proposed that by moving their IT to our CoretekCloud platform, they would be able to gain all of the benefits of cloud computing and host Boxtop on a virtual server hosted in CoretekCloud, thus keeping their existing systems running smoothly. Furthermore, they would benefit from a vastly superior system at a much more manageable monthly per-user cost.

By reusing their existing PCs as cloud clients, GCL gained further cost savings as they could avoid the cost of replacing all of their staff’s computers.

Calculating the total cost savings based on what they would have spent on licensing, hardware and energy costs, GCL are saving over £17,000 per year, compared to an equivalent on-site solution.

This new system also has numerous other benefits over the old, on-premise setup. Firstly, the CoretekCloud platform runs on modern server hardware so is faster than their previous solution. Also, as this is a hosted solution, all maintenance, backups and updates are all taken care of by us.

By keeping the cloud platform continually updated, there is the added benefit of improved security against cyber threats. Coretek and our Datacentre are ISO 27001 certified, which is the internationally recognised standard for information security. Put simply, GCL and their client’s data is now far more secure in CoretekCloud than it was on their old system.

The systems themselves are also far more secure. Their previous system made little allowance for disaster recovery, whereas the CoretekCloud is hosted in our highly-secure datacentre, with redundancy built-in as standard. This level of security is vital in the logistics industry, where systems need to stay online 24/7 and any downtime can be highly costly to the business.

The last advantage is the flexibility and scalability that the cloud platform offers. This became highly apparent when COVID-19 induced lockdown meant that GCL had to quickly switch to remote working. As they were already cloud based, this change could be done in a single day as staff could simply access the systems from home via their internet connection.

Don't just take our word for it

“We were initially nervous when moving our IT systems to the cloud but quickly realised that this was an excellent business decision. There was a considerable cost saving from not having to replace our on-site servers and equipment and the new system was also far more flexible than before.

This paid dividends when the COVID-19 lockdown forced all staff to work remotely. No one could have foreseen this but Coretek made it happen. With our cloud platform, staff could immediately switch to remote working with no disruption. I dread to think how difficult this transition would have been if we had still been on our old on-premise system!

Coretek are excellent people to do business with and we would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for a proactive IT provider who will ensure their IT systems are as flexible, efficient and cost-effective as possible.”

Edward Finn

Finance Director at GCL Logistics

Top 5 Benefits

Here are the top benefits GCL Logistics gained from working with us:

NSaving of over £17,000 per year

NFlexibility to switch to remote working in a single day

N Much more scalable system – can grow with the business

N Improved security against both cyber attacks and physical threats

N Peace of mind – no need to worry about maintenance or updates

Return on investment

By switching to a cloud system, many costs have been eliminated including licensing and hardware. When all totalled up, these come to a saving of over £17,000 per year.

Here is a breakdown of the individual costs:

– Server hardware (based on 5 year lifespan) = £7200 per year
– Licensing (server licenses, SQL, client access licenses) = £5150 per year
– Firewalls (based on 5 year lifespan) = £1000 per year
– Cost of utilities = £1800 per year

There is also the additional ROI of the peace of mind that comes from the improved security and protection of systems and sensitive data from the new system.

The Future

Coretek look forward to continuing to work closely with Managing Director Simon Pipe, Finance Director Edward Finn and the whole GCL team!

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