Managed 24/7 on how it won Virgin Trains deal

MSP's CEO tells CRN what landed it the managed IT service contract with the train operator

Managed 24/7 has been selected by West Coast Trains Limited (WCTL), trading as Virgin Trains, to provide a managed IT service desk and Cisco network management.

The IT service desk will cover WCTL's 3,500 staff and 17 station locations within the UK and aims to provide a single point of IT ownership for the train operator.

John Pepper, chief executive and founder of Managed 24/7 told CRN: "Virgin Trains were looking for a service desk that worked to ‘shift left' and automate business-as-usual tasks and drive innovation for network and service management.

"Our automation and innovation were key components to deliver a service that would ultimately allow their staff to concentrate on the customer experience rather than IT issues.

"We went through a six-month planned service transition and went fully live on 22nd February 2018 at 1pm."

Managed 24/7 was appointed following an RFP process to form the nucleus of a wider programme of change within Virgin Trains' IT services provision.

"Our targets are set around lowering the amount of time and loss of productivity it takes to resolve IT issues for Virgin Trains staff, which is being measured from our centre in Milton Keynes," said Pepper.

"Success will be an even better experience for Virgin Trains customers. We have real-time data feeds and suggested actions from applications, stations and key systems being monitored and presented to our staff on 200ft screens with the same live data being fed to Virgin Trains management teams."

Beyond the Virgin deal, Managed 24/7, which won CRN's Managed IT Services Provider of the Year Award in 2016 and 2017, is working on a number of "significant service bids", said Pepper.

"Many of these opportunities have come from our study with YouGov in 2017 analysing the effect of technology on workforce productivity in the UK private sector which highlighted a £35bn problem to UK plc.

"In June 2018 we will be releasing the 2018 statics from YouGov study, this time encompassing both private and public sectors asking the same question set, which will no doubt have some revealing results," added Pepper.

Stuart Mackcracken, head of IT at Virgin Trains, said its service desk is vital to its IT delivery.

"As a business, everything we do is for the customer experience and by delivering a world-class service to our staff they are able in turn to deliver a world-class experience to our customers," said Mackcracken.