As part of the contract, SunGard will work with City Link to complete a migration and transition programme. SunGard’s focus on delivering the right solution for the right situation, regardless of market changes, will result in the applications that run the courier service being delivered on SunGard’s Enterprise Cloud Platform. The resilience, agility and robustness of this platform will cater to City Link’s ambitions to transform themselves to achieve sustained growth, with SunGard’s maintenance of the infrastructure and management of the underlying platform allowing City Link employees to concentrate on their core business outcomes.
“As a rapidly expanding next day courier company in a highly competitive market, City Link places customer satisfaction and quality of service at the heart of its activities,” says Keith Tilley, Executive Vice President, EMEA & APAC, SunGard Availability Services. “It’s supporting technology platform, therefore, has to deliver 24/7 resilience and availability of information, which is what this investment will provide. In 2014, businesses will need to ensure such measures are in place, to remain competitive and drive business growth throughout next year.”
Spearheading the initiative is City Link’s IT Director, James Coxon, who will be running the transition project to introduce the new services. He commented: “The data centre function is at the very core of the City Link operation and one of the main IT elements which drives the business. We therefore needed not just a supplier but a partner, one that can bring the skills and capabilities we need to plan, design and transition our services under one roof that will ultimately deliver the customer benefits we’re looking to achieve – greater reliability, flexibility and responsiveness.”
Tilley continues; “It’s encouraging to see companies such as City Link recognise that significant IT infrastructure investment is not just an IT project. It’s about achieving continuous improvement whilst also readying for new growth opportunities. These are changes that have the potential to truly impact how a company operates and the value it can deliver for end-users and partners alike. Our focus, now, is to ensure City Link works smarter and manages cost efficiencies to drive this transformational change.”
The supply contract was put out to tender to both incumbent and new suppliers, to ensure City Link got the optimum service and best in class providers.