Australia’s largest electronic component distributor is engineered for growth
Area of operation: Distribution
Year founded: 1984
Number of sites: 8
Technology Implemented:
- comUnity® Data
- comUnity® Voice
- comUnity® Secure
Key Benefits:
- Time for strategic projects
- Enhanced visibilkity and reporting
- Reduced costs
- Increased bandwidth
Braemac’s vision is to provide excellence in technical engineering services and supply chain solutions for the Australian and New Zealand manufacturing industry. Braemac are a mulit-site organisation, headquartered in Sydney, Australia with branch locations in every major capital city throughout Australasia, and offices in the USA, UK and Asia. Over 20 engineers on staff provide expertise to cover a broad range of technical issues.
When the contract with their incumbent service provider came to an end, Braemac seized the opportunity to evaluate their current position and clearly identify their IT objectives.
Firstly, Braemac sought a more reliable network infrastructure, to reduce potential downtime whilst increasing communication and collaboration between branches. Secondly, they wanted more bandwidth capacity, enabling staff and overcoming frustrations with system processing. Thirdly, Braemac wanted more support from their provider. As a lean IT team, their time was being consumed with the day-to-day IT maintenance of dealing with legacy systems. They sought someone who understood the pressures on their business and had a capable support structure that could deliver results.
Simon Godfrey, Braemac’s IT Manager said, “We felt like a small fish in a big pond; our needs were not a priority.”
After a lengthy tender process, the final presentations made the choice clear. Godfrey explains, “Enablis were a relatively unknown name and the owners of the company felt a bit skeptical. After Enablis presented, they felt much more comfortable. They demonstrated an understanding of our business, as well as the breadth of knowledge they can bring to the table; not only in a technical sense but from a commercial point of view – highlighting some strategic advantages. After meeting them, we felt Enablis were a good fit for our company”.
A Smooth Transition
Braemac wanted a scalable, reliable network with high redundancy, to cope with the growing demands of the business. They sought a provider with a solid support structure who could deliver fast response times and technical expertise to deliver results.
Godfrey was very happy with the transition process. He states, “The implementation was really first class. I was impressed with how smoothly everything went. On more than one occasion, Enablis identified potential issues early, and had already taken the necessary steps to mitigate them. But above all, they kept me informed so I was always aware of what was happening.”
Jon Evans, CEO of Enablis said, “By transitioning Braemac to our comUnity platform, they can now take advantage of new era cloud technologies, providing not just cost savings, but companywide productivity and efficiency improvements. There is no more time wasted on maintaining legacy equipment, and the IT team can focus on more exciting projects.”
Godfrey shares how minimal the migration effects were felt on the business, “Halfway through the transition, a staff member asked when our new provider was due to start. They were shocked to discover we were mid-rollout, and half our branches were already on the new network. We had received no complaints; there was no downtime or negative feedback.”
The migration also resulted in a significant reduction in complaints. “If staff are happy, then I am happy,” said Godfrey. The stability of the network has been a source of relief to the IT team, and has freed up their time. Godfrey said, “We have just moved over to Office 365, an upgrade we didn’t consider at all possible on the old network. We didn’t need to upgrade our bandwidth or change any capabilities; our new network coped effortlessly.”
Braemac has more control with comUnity Secure. Heightened security protocols and deeper visibility enabled Braemac to identify bandwidth hungry applications and users downloading restricted content. “Before comUnity Secure, I could only hazard an educated guess as to what was slowing our bandwidth down. But now it’s easy to identify the cause and I can manage our security policies accordingly.”
Braemac has peace of mind. “I know support is just a phone call away, and I have the confidence in the Enablis team to provide the answers I am looking for,” said Godfrey.