Symology has been providing online Managed Service solutions since 2006 and in the last twelve months, the number of customers migrating to these solutions has significantly increased. The benefits of customers being able to access their systems from any location via just a modern browser and an internet connection have become only too apparent during a global pandemic that has forced many to “work from home”. Whilst that seems to be the obvious driver for the switch, Symology’s online solutions offer so much more that just flexible access, as highlighted by Portsmouth Water’s Business Analyst, Quentin Gallagher when commenting on their migration earlier this year.
“Portsmouth Water have used Insight since 2008, when it replaced an in-house system following a selection process. Our solution was provided on a Hosted basis, until the combination of a loss of local expertise and the frequency of releases associated with Street Manager persuaded us to move to the Managed Service.”
The introduction of Street Manager last July, during a period when organisations may have experienced a loss of resource and expertise, brought significant challenges. These were felt further by organisations with local solutions wanting to maintain a more specialised Street Works solution integrating with the Street Manager API, like Portsmouth Water. Terry Wood, Symology Account Manager, has worked closely with Quentin for a number of years,
“Cloud based systems are more popular than ever these days but for us, the service doesn’t end with just hosting the infrastructure. Our designated specialist Managed Service team is what sets our services apart, removing our customers’ risk and responsibility in managing not only the infrastructure but the regular updates, including those from Street Manager which are all included. We were keen to work in partnership with Quentin and Portsmouth Water in finding the best solution to overcome their issues and unanimously felt that a migration to the Managed Service ticked all the boxes and more. Once Portsmouth agreed to the switch, the migration project moved quickly. As with any system implementation and migration, there are always significant concerns about downtime and unforeseen issues, but the experience of our projects team is vast and they are meticulous with their planning.”
Words echoed by Quentin, “We are very happy with our decision. During the implementation the Symology project team were knowledgeable, flexible and responsive which reduced the effort required for project management. Implementation took place over a weekend with minimal downtime for system users.”
It seems Portsmouth Waters users have also been impressed with the switch, “Users have adapted quickly to the change, and our Network Administration Manager commented that she is ‘most impressed with the quickness of the system/transactions!’ This applied particularly to the response of mapping, where we also took the opportunity to review the layers and symbology that we use. Our in house Support Team have also been freed of most support duties for Insight.”
Terry added, “We have a great working partnership with Portsmouth Water and I’m personally delighted to see them reap the benefits of being consumers of the quality delivered by our Managed Service offering.”
