At a time when budgets are being stretched to the limit as the financially squeezed population cut back on donations, charities are increasingly looking to work efficiently and ensure IT investments provide value for money. In a bid to cut costs, while improving communications and fundraising, many charities are turning to IT managed services, an approach where the day-to-day IT management responsibilities are outsourced as a strategic method for improving operations.

Using a professional outsourcer enables charities to concentrate on core services, rather than spend time training staff on new technology or solving IT problems. In addition, organisations can be assured IT services are efficiently managed and only the most innovative solutions deployed to reduce costs, improve communications and streamline operations. These are all benefits no charity should overlook.

In fact, many charities are embracing the use of IT managed services to reduce overheads, improve communications and increase fundraising. Given the success these charities are having deploying IT managed services, other Should consider taking a leaf out of their book as they too could realise the same benefits if they follow suit.

To read more from the Charities Management Magazine click  http://www.charitiesmanagement.com/Magazine-No87/sub-bg26r/page-3.html   

SaintGroup is pleased to announce that the initial phase of its deployment of Microsoft's System Centre Operations Manager (SCOM) has now gone live. The initial scope of the project underpins the operational delivery of SaintGroup’s Didsbury, Manchester based Network Operations Centre (NOC). This has therefore kept the focus on migrating the current customer infrastructures, managed by SaintGroup into Systems Centre Operations Manager. 

SCOM is now the primary operational tool being used by SaintGroup. The monitors and rules configured in SCOM are supported by the polling carried out against the customer environments. This allows SCOM to receive both statistical data and alerts of varying breadth and depth. We currently have nearly 300 Management Pack Templates deployed in SCOM; each of these contain the business rules which include the performance counters and measures, monitors, triggers and thresholds that we are monitoring.

This initial scope has been focussed on providing a like for like Capacity and Availability service for the existing customer estates managed. As the data flows into SCOM we are now building a repository of information and our data warehouse now has a range of reports and management information that is available for our Service Delivery team to exploit. Sessions are now being progressed with our SCOM project team in order to further develop the management information we provide to our customers.

To read the Microsoft Case Study on SaintGroup's implementation of SCOM, click on the following link:  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=710000001429

To read more click here: http://www.SaintGroup.com/resources/item/SaintGroup-selects-microsoft-case-study?category_id=3 

Getting in on the ground floor with hardware projects is the only way to managed services glory.
By Doug Woodburn

SaintGroup Managed Services has quashed talk that it is abandoning its managed services aspirations and returning to its roots as a reseller, following a wholesale management shake-up at the firm.

Clark has moved to bring in his own lieutenants, including former HP Networking man Clive Hallam as sales director and former Pervasive Networks sales manager Mark Adderley as the new business sales manager.

Shortly after buying the firm from administration in 2010, venture capital firm Better Capital brought in Martin Mackay to help shift SaintGroup further from its heritage as a reseller and deeper into managed services that yield recurring, subscription-based revenue.

But rumours that Better Capital has forced SaintGroup to abandon or water down that strategy because it was not generating enough cash are wide of the mark, Clark told ChannelWeb.

But he did confirm that SaintGroup is re-igniting its hardware business as a means to drum up annuity sales, admitting that approaching customers cold with a managed services proposition had been a tough sell.

"Not many customers will completely outsource their IT to you if you have not first done a project with them," he explained. "You have to do something to gain their trust and confidence."

Previous management had de-emphasised SaintGroup's business with storage vendor Brocade – historically its most important hardware partner – but this relationship has now been rekindled, Clark confirmed.

"We will be selling Brocade, Juniper, VMware and HP as a lead in, then the success rate will allow us to develop a proposition to the customer around managed services," he said.

"This is not a U-turn or a revolution, but an evolution. We are not a tin shifter, and never will be and this is not about selling product for the sake of it, but to gain the customer's trust and show our capabilities."

Clark also strenuously denied suggestions that Better Capital was not prepared to pump any more cash into the firm, stressing that SaintGroup is on course to quadruple its EBITDA profit to £1.2m for its fiscal year to 31 December on sales just shy of £30m.

The firm has also just made a £0.5m investment in its infrastructure-as-a-service capabilities, he added.

"This business is not short of money," he said. "We are cash rich and have plenty of money in the bank. Better Capital is very happy with the progress we have made in the past few months.

"Once we have got the fundamentals of the business correct, we will look at acquisitions."


Read more: http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2230240/SaintGroup-reignites-hardware-biz-after-management-shakeup#ixzz2ENkoGpPh

UK businesses demand vendor transparency as mobile working gathers pace

London, 24 May, 2012 – Unified Communications is recognised as a key enabler in preparing UK businesses as flexible and mobile working gathers pace but IT professionals are still concerned by risks surrounding this and other communications strategies supporting agile working, says research by leading independent managed service provider SaintGroup.