TDG safeguards staff productivity and reduces the costs of IT infrastructure services

Customer challenge

A European provider of logistics and supply chain services, TDG's solutions are underpinned by the use of technology. By using IT for activities such as inventory management, transport optimisation and asset tracking, TDG is able to successfully manage critical operations on behalf of its clients. Hence, the IT infrastructure is critical for TDG to retain competitive advantage in a demanding market. With its existing IT helpdesk unable to provide users with a quick response to problems, the company needed to find a more effective support services model.

Computacenter solution

TDG partnered with IT services and solutions provider Computacenter as part of a selective outsourcing contract. Computacenter is responsible for first and second line support for all TDG's standard Microsoft and Citrix applications via a central service desk. To reduce the number of calls dealt with by the service desk, the companies initiated an incident reduction programme.

Results

TDG has reduced service desk calls by nearly 50 per cent, which significantly cuts costs. Staff productivity is improved as problems that are reported via the service desk are dealt with more quickly, minimising downtime. By partnering with Computacenter, TDG is able to focus on its core business of delivering efficient supply chain, warehousing and logistics services.

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Customer profile

Delivering efficient supply chain services that help reduce environmental impact
TDG is one of Europe's leading supply chain management companies. It has 7,000 employees based in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. The company works in retail, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), industrial and chemical markets delivering safe, efficient and cost-effective logistics services that help its customers meet their strategic goals.

TDG is currently expanding its capabilities to incorporate end-to-end supply chain management and freight forwarding. It is focused on developing its business in the areas of speciality chemicals, paper and packaging and temperature-controlled services.

The company helps its customers reduce their costs and carbon footprint by maximising every journey made by its drivers. For example, TDG plans its deliveries to avoid return journeys with empty vehicles, and will combine loads for different customers to further boost efficiency. TDG has a reputation for excellence in health and safety, continuous improvement and change management.

Business challenge

Ensuring staff have access to logistics data and core applications
With hundreds of clients across Europe, TDG processes vast quantities of warehousing and distribution data using a range of specialist applications. Accuracy and consistency is crucial, so whenever possible, data is transferred directly between customers' systems and TDG's applications. This interchange often requires the development of bespoke software to enable the two systems to interface.

The company's logistics services are also reliant on a host of standard applications for the desktop, server and network, including Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Server 2003, Microsoft Active Directory and Citrix software. TDG has a very complex IT estate and availability is critical to ensure business continuity and customer service levels.

To help achieve high levels of IT availability, TDG has long recognised the value of working with external service providers. Early in 2005, however, the company decided to move away from a single outsourcing contract and adopt a more selective approach. As Peter Ratcliffe, IT Service Delivery Manager for TDG, explains, "Working with multiple suppliers enables us to draw on a wider pool of expertise and resource, which helps to increase the quality of IT service delivery."

In particular TDG wanted to provide users with more seamless IT support services. "Our previous helpdesk only logged calls, so users had to wait for IT support staff to call them back to resolve their issues, even if it was just a password reset," comments Peter. "This impacted productivity and meant that user satisfaction levels were low."

Computacenter solution

Selective outsourcing to support 2,500 IT users
As part of its new IT sourcing strategy, TDG opted to bring support of its specialist applications in-house, and selectively outsource more general support services. Following a formal Invitation to Tender (ITT), TDG chose to partner with IT service and solutions provider Computacenter, as it offered the best cultural fit.

Computacenter is responsible for supporting all TDG's standard Microsoft and Citrix systems, including desktop, server and network applications. Peter comments, "The contract with Computacenter covers 2,500 IT users and 170 distributed servers, which are based across 120 sites throughout the UK and Europe."

Computacenter's Service Support Centre in Milton Keynes provides first and second line support to TDG's staff. Computacenter also has five staff onsite at its IT Centre, including a problem and change manager, a network engineer, a server engineer and a team leader, who is responsible for work scheduling.

An incident reduction programme
The support services agreement is based on a monthly average of 1,700 calls from TDG users to the Computacenter Service Support Centre. For 2007, however, the call volume averaged 2,700 (at its peak the volume reached 3,000) calls a month, which created a number of budgetary issues for TDG.

To reduce service desk costs and disruption for users, TDG and Computacenter embarked upon an incident reduction programme. "Computacenter's problem and change manager helped us to analyse trends in our service desk calls and identify core problems. We then worked together to devise a plan for improving these areas."

The programme involved calling in network experts from Computacenter's specialist connectivity team to fine-tune TDG's Citrix systems, and an ongoing Active Directory project. "By addressing the root causes of our network and user access issues, we have been able to significantly reduce the number of IT incidents reported," comments Peter.

As all these activities are dealt with through a single point of contact at Computacenter, managing the services and relationship is highly efficient, which minimises the administrative overhead for TDG.

Results

Lower support costs and a more productive workforce
Now in the fourth year of a seven-year contract, TDG is seeing fantastic results as a result of the incident reduction programme. "Our objective was to reduce the monthly call volume to less than 1,600. We were down to just 1,628 calls in June 2008, so although the programme is not complete we've already seen great results," comments Peter. This dropped to 1,373 in August.

Thanks to this initiative and the ongoing relationship with Computacenter, TDG has been able to:

Reduce costs: Less service desk calls equates to lower support costs for TDG. The company conducted a benchmarking exercise with an external auditor, who verified that TDG was receiving great value.

Increase staff productivity: Computacenter has consistently achieved a first contact resolution rate of more than 50 per cent, and a first line resolution rate of 62 per cent. With the majority of issues, including password resets, dealt with so quickly, TDG's employees suffer minimal downtime, which boosts productivity.

Safeguard user satisfaction: TDG conducts regular surveys to assess staff satisfaction with its IT support services. Computacenter has consistently scored satisfaction levels above 80 per cent.

"The service with Computacenter is not only very easy to manage, but also very flexible, so we can easily adapt to meet the changing demands of the business," comments Peter. "Most importantly though, by selectively outsourcing day-to-day IT support we are able to focus on doing what we do best: delivering logistics and supply chain services that enhance our customers' competitive advantage."