Case Study: 6PM Blithe - Sovereign Study...Sovereign Business Integration Group PLC T: 020 8216 3333 E: [email protected] W: 6PM Blithe Case Study ©2015 Sovereign

Bridging the gap between Technology & Business Success

Safeguarding data6PM Blithe engage partners for hosting and N3 connectivity

6PM Blithe provides hosted information systems for the healthcare sector. It currentlyhas over 10,000 healthcare professionals using its solutions in more than 700 locationsthroughout the UK.

Case Study: 6PM Blithe

Sector: HealthcareSolution: Data Centre + Consultancy

As market leaders in the delivery of robustand effective sexual health and substancemisuse computing, 6PM Blithe is focused onproviding systems that improve the patientexperience and helps keep the health servicesustainable. They deliver on-going support fortheir customers through remote support, theuse of a secure file transfer system andhelpdesk facilities.

The adopted practice within UK healthcare is to usehosted IT solutions. This model of service has been seenas a cost effective option whilst maintaining a robust andsecure service from providers who have been approved bythe HCSIS. This combined with a move away from largecentralised systems is allowing healthcare organisationsmuch more freedom to choose best of breed systems toimprove and support their individual service needs.

Compliant with ISO9001 and ISO1779, investing in PRINCE2 qualified Project Managers, being recognised for ‘bestuse of IT to support business efficiency’ by the market andholding sensitive patient data; 6PM Blithe wanted a partner who was recognised for the quality of their serviceand understood the technical and security requirementsof the healthcare market.

Meeting the needs of 6PM Blithe

The Sovereign and Carter Holmes partnership can provideclients with confidence in the safeguarding of their dataand the ease of accessibility for their customers. Sovereignis managed service provider with their own data centreand Carter Holmes has dedicated rack space in its northLondon site. Some of the racks are designated N3 connectivity racks and some are for non-N3 servers.

The data centre has been certified to ISO27001 (and tothe most recent 2013 standard in November 2014) forover 3 years and has been approved through CarterHolmes N3 connectivity. Combine this with Carter Holmes,an IT Healthcare consultancy which holds the IGSoCgovernance agreement with the HSCIC and has over 8years experience in the market; the partnership presented6PM Blithe with the exact provider solution it was after.

Prior to engaging an external provider, 6PM Blithe managed their servers in their computer room at theirhead office. Whilst this had run perfectly for over 16 years,due to business growth and the increasing need for highlysecure IT, 6PM Blithe needed an enhanced service inplace. 6PM Blithe had their own IGSoC,but maintaining N3connectivity from their offices was not a viable optionwhen they wanted to focus on continuing to develop theirsystems for their customers.

Delivering the service

Sovereign and Carter Holmes worked closely with 6PMBlithe to identify both their non-N3 and N3 data centre requirements and designing a solution that met theirneeds, maintaining a secure environment with fast connectivity and to ensure that the complete solution metgovernance requirements.

www.sovereign-plc.co.uk | [email protected] | 6PM Blithe Case Study ©2015 Sovereign Business Integration Group PLC

www.sovereign-plc.co.uk | [email protected] | 6PM Blithe Case Study ©2015 Sovereign Business Integration Group PLC

Carter Holmes undertook the IGSoC audit as afundamental part of the design and planning activities ofthe project to highlight any potential changes to the IGSoCsubmission of 6PM Blithe or Carter Holmes.

Andy Carter, Director at Carter Holmes explains,

‘Understanding the 6PM Blithe roadmap and future enhancements allowed us to design a

future proofed infrastructure within a sensible security framework’.

Once Carter Holmes had managed the full approvalprocess with HCSIS, Sovereign planned and managed therelocation of the 6PM Blithe servers with minimal impactto the client. As a 24/7-service provider, Sovereign canmanage the relocation outside of peak working hours ofits clients. Once the servers had been installed in CarterHolmes’s racks, full testing was carried out to make surethe equipment was fully functional and 6PM Blithe wasnotified that the relocation was completed.

A partner 6PM Blithe can reply upon

Now that the service is in place both Sovereign and CarterHolmes continue to manage the access and security environment of the infrastructure along with any routingrequests for connection to other N3 end points.

Deklan Van De Laarschot, Infrastructure Manager comments,

‘Sovereign’s data centre is very customer serviceorientated. We have the ability to access our racks

ourselves any time, or we have access to Sovereign’s teams of engineers on site who can

provide us with technical support and make quickchanges if we don’t have time to do it ourselves.

This combined with the fantastic additionalfacilities that we have use of on site such as store,

build and meeting rooms means my team canmaintain productivity wherever they are based and

our customers continue to be happy with our service’.

Since the relocations, a segregated internal network hasbeen created that securely allows 6PM Blithe and theircustomers to only access their Lillie Sexual Health Management System from N3. This was important to 6PMBlithe as they are managing their own software environment in the bounds of their own IGSoC.

The N3 network architecture was a vital element of theproject to deliver the business requirement, ensuring thatit was both compliant and resilient. Sovereign and CarterHolmes continue to assist with router and firewallrequests to connect to N3 end points, back up support,the health and wellbeing of servers, remote access andon-going design support as 6PM Blithe add additionalfunctionality such as online booking of appointments viathe Internet to their customers’ patients.

Lucy Palmer, Account Manager at Sovereign concludes,

‘Building the client relationship is vital for us to beable to do our job. Once a project has been

defined, we need to be able to get on with thework to make sure client deadlines are met. From

the start, 6PM Blithe has given us that trust, allowing us to get on with what we are good at andmaking sure they have a service they can rely on.

It’s been great working with them and CarterHolmes’.

Bridging the gap between Technology & Business Success

About Sovereign

It is at the heart of every business – equally, our clients are at the heart of ourbusiness. This is why our goal is to align technology with the organisationsstrategy and objectives so IT best supports your business.

As technology continues to advance and transform the way businesses work,companies need IT to be reliable and responsive to change. We are committed to delivering world class IT solutions that are scalable,appropriate and timely for our clients.

Sovereign is an IT service provider that solves business challenges with tailored IT solutions. Demonstrating a strong service offering of industry specific business and IT skills, Sovereign provides 24/7/365 support from it’s head office and data centre in north London.

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or challenge, please contact us:

Sovereign Business Integration Group PLC

T: 020 8216 3333E: [email protected]

W: www.sovereign-plc.co.uk

6PM Blithe Case Study ©2015 Sovereign Business Integration Group | Publicly available 02-011115