OVERVIEW

Fruit Advisory Services Team LLP (FAST LLP), a growing consultancy firm, sought to modernise their IT infrastructure to ensure high availability, robust security, and future-proof scalability. To achieve these goals, FAST LLP partnered with Sota, an award-winning supplier of business IT solutions and managed services, known for its strong financial stability, market competitiveness, and over 30 years of experience.

CHALLENGE

FAST LLP’s IT infrastructure relied on an end of life (EOL) on-premise Microsoft Server, hosting multiple virtual servers with user and data management. Their backup system consisted of daily backups to tape and a NAS drive, providing inadequate protection for disaster recovery and cyber resilience. Additionally, the company needed to enhance their IT capabilities without disrupting operations or incurring high costs, all while adhering to stringent data protection regulations.

SOLUTION

Sota proposed a comprehensive solution to address FAST LLP’s IT challenges, starting with a cloud migration. They recommended replacing the outdated on-premise server estate with a dedicated cloud solution hosted on the SotaCloud platform. This involved setting up five virtual servers with Windows Server licensing, allowing for flexible compute and storage resources to meet both current and future demands.

To enhance backup and disaster recovery capabilities, Sota implemented the SotaProtect managed backup service. This service provided block-level backups of all virtual servers with hourly incremental updates and a 90-day retention period. Continuous data replication to a secondary data centre ensured robust disaster recovery.

Security was significantly enhanced with the installation of a new WatchGuard firewall, along with multi-factor authentication (MFA) for user access. The SotaProtect Suite service was deployed, offering managed antivirus, email spam filtering, web content filtering, and cybersecurity awareness training.

Sota’s team of experienced consultants and engineers managed the entire project. They conducted preliminary audits, held consultancy meetings, and oversaw the migration, testing, and final deployment. This professional project management ensured minimal disruption to FAST LLP’s operations while delivering a secure, scalable, and resilient IT

RESULT

The implementation of Sota’s solution brought significant improvements to FAST LLP. The new cloud-based infrastructure provided robust security, high availability, and scalability, ensuring business continuity and compliance with data protection regulations. By eliminating the need for on-premise hardware and reducing future utility and upgrade costs, FAST LLP achieved a more cost-effective IT setup.

Additionally, improved performance, seamless remote access, and enhanced security measures resulted in a more reliable and flexible IT environment for FAST LLP’s staff. This enhanced user experience contributed to increased productivity and satisfaction, further solidifying the benefits of the cloud-based system.