Taking on all things wireless for an Australian food manufacturer
An Australian food manufacturer needed end-to-end wireless maintenance and support for increasingly complex multisite operations. Affinity Blue stepped in with a Managed Services offer that delivers exceptional Wi-Fi experiences with minimal client-side effort and zero bill-shock.
The situation: Little to no in-house Aruba expertise for rapidly growing wireless needs, leading to critical failures in some infrastructure.
The solution: Managed Services solution combining flexible pricing with best-in-business technical acumen for fast, reliable fixes.
The results: Significant and continuous improvements in wireless uptime, performance at scale, and overall user experience.
1. THE SITUATION
A food manufacturing firm needed wireless network infrastructure to support and grow with its business, which included everything from its head office to critical production and warehousing facilities in both Australia and New Zealand. However, the firm lacked the specialist Aruba expertise to maintain its Aruba footprint at peak performance, especially as the business expanded geographically and in its scope of operations. That complexity demanded support from specialists who could understand and enhance not just the network’s technical facets, but also the critical business operations relying on it.
After witnessing strong results from deploying Aruba access points to its head office, the manufacturer’s IT team sought a partner that could replicate the same high-quality user experience across multiple sites while also fixing existing issues. Such a partner would need to provide ironclad assurance that they could fix any network issues or disruptions, no matter how complex or dire, in a timely manner with both skills and equipment on-tap.
The manufacturer instinctively sought out the two-man team that had pioneered Aruba’s deployment earlier – both of whom were now running their own network solutions firm named Affinity Blue. “(Technical Director) Neon and I both knew the team and infrastructure relatively well, which helped us quickly fashion both technical and commercial solutions that addressed their situation,” says Simon Hayward, Managing Director of Affinity Blue
2. THE SOLUTION
To plug the food manufacturer’s skills shortage, Affinity Blue proposed a Managed Services solution that would maintain and scale up its existing use of Aruba access points to all facilities. The team devised a “hybrid” commercial model which involved a baseline retainer covering monthly service-level agreements (SLAs) and reporting; as well as 20-hour time blocks that the company could purchase and use to resolve network issues whenever required.
“The transparency of Affinity Blue’s commercial model played a big part in choosing to partner with them,” said a company spokesperson. “It signified that they understood our concerns about common managed service pricing models; and were ready to meet us in the middle with flexible terms which allowed us to see and control exactly where our network spend was going.”
Affinity Blue’s technical team proceeded to hit the ground running, taking on increasingly critical performance issues as the Managed Services relationship matured. In one instance, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) – small robots used for warehouse operations – began frequently disconnecting from the network in the company’s Melbourne warehouse, creating backlogs that forced staff into overtime and cost the business thousands of dollars.
After Affinity Blue ran comprehensive wireless surveys and investigated the network’s overall performance, the team found several key issues with the wireless infrastructure and incompatible devices – the legacy of a previous provider that had failed to adequately maintain wireless integrity during their contract. The team’s subsequent remediation plan rapidly stabilized the Melbourne site’s wireless network, eliminating the connectivity issues and driving up broader operational efficiency.
Affinity Blue also bundled in monthly reports on wireless network performance and suggested remedies; as well as full, ongoing management of the firm’s Aruba licenses. This smoothed the way for the company to extend the Aruba experience across its entire organization, including:
- Aruba Central as a single cloud-based source of visibility of all network infrastructure;
- Aruba ClearPass for consolidated security and identity management; and
- Aruba access points and switching across three Australian sites, with a fourth expected to be added soon in New Zealand.
“Affinity Blue has proven adept at bringing together every element of our wireless solutions to create seamless Wi-Fi experiences across even the most complex organizations,” said spokesperson from Aruba. “Their work on this project highlights the value of partners who can get the best out of Aruba’s technology by combining best-practical technical implementation with a rock-solid commitment to business priorities and real-world use cases.”
3. THE RESULTS
Affinity Blue’s Managed Services solution has significantly increased uptime, reliability, and overall user experience across the manufacturer’s wireless network. “Our Wi-Fi experience went from being a frequent pain-point to frictionless performance,” said a company spokesperson. “Affinity Blue has translated Aruba’s powerful wireless capabilities into a consistently excellent Wi-Fi experience where you can visit an entirely new office and automatically get connected there like you’ve never left. They’ve been a true and trusted partner in getting our digital environment to the place of strength it’s at today.”
Today, Affinity Blue looks after the company’s wireless network footprint through Aruba Central. The dedicated support team ensures updates and improvements are immediately delivered to all sites in a consistent and timely fashion. Affinity Blue’s monthly reports have also evolved over time to meet the firm’s changing requirements, including comprehensive performance and health metrics as well as clear indicators of how the team’s time (and budget) is being spent.
“Business is always changing, so we’re constantly looking for ways to improve the visibility and value that we deliver to customers,” said Hayward. “We want our customers to know they can trust us to do the right thing by their business. Over time, we’ve been able to build up a deep understanding of our customer’s technology footprint, operations and culture that really allow us to go above and beyond with them for the long haul.”