Client: Ascot

OVERVIEW

General IT expertise, and specialist knowledge of the financial services sector, has led to a long-term partnership between Sota and Ascot. This relationship reaches back almost two decades, to the time when Ascot was founded in 2001. During this time, Sota has progressed from supplying hardware, connectivity, and IT resources for the London office, to meeting the full demands of Ascot’s growing IT infrastructure and insurance platforms as it expands into international markets. The company has transformed, and now provides innovative insurance products across the globe.

BACKGROUND

Ascot is a Lloyd’s of London syndicate, and a leading specialty insurance underwriter, with early growth success due to their expert underwriters, operational staff and systems.

It now has a global presence beyond the Lloyd’s market with offices throughout the world and most notably within the US and Bermuda. It prides itself on providing innovative insurance products to a diverse customer base with quality claims and risk management processes.

CHALLENGE

Ascot has always been forward-thinking in its approach to information technology.  The partnership with Sota had to ensure the Ascot IT estate was scalable, reliable and flexible, to meet the demands of a highly dynamic environment.  With employee numbers increasing into the hundreds, and locations worldwide increasing, Sota had to be an integral part of Ascot’s success strategy.

SOLUTION

During the two decade partnership, Sota has continued to be Ascot’s IT partner of choice. The partnership has built the technology platforms on which Ascot was founded, and, since then, Sota managed and professional services have become an integrated part of operations, helping the Ascot management team to meet their business goals, on time and on budget.

IT Infrastructure Manager at Ascot, Ricky Cox, says “As Ascot began to grow, we chose to continue working with Sota, as we were confident that Sota’s services were scalable enough to support not only the London head office, but our international offices too.” Sota has since supplied high-end IT infrastructure services to Ascot offices from New York to Singapore. Ascot needs high availability and resilience for its international insurance platforms, and Sota continues to deliver solutions which ensure an uninterrupted flow of data and communications throughout the business. This includes:

  • Managed hosting platform – SotaCloud
  • Global connectivity – SotaConnect
  • Managed back-up and cyber resilience – SotaProtect
  • Skype-for-Business unified communications – SotaVoice
  • IT department support with 24/7 global service desk – SotaSupport
  • Private cloud hosting – SotaCloud Colocation
  • Business continuity – SotaProtect Workplace Recovery
  • IT consultancy and projects – Sota Professional Services

The growth associated with this success has increased the need for additional dedicated IT resource on-site to drive projects forward and increase productivity. To address this need, dedicated Sota engineers and infrastructure consultants have become an integral part of the Ascot team. In addition, a SotaConnect managed network provides reliable and resilient connectivity for the London and international offices. With more growth on the horizon, the technology solutions provided by Sota will continue to scale to meet Ascot’s needs.

RESULT

Ascot has benefited from Sota’s experience in delivering IT managed services and complex infrastructure projects, providing a reliable platform which is scalable and agile, with dedicated IT resources successfully integrated with the internal IT team.  Together they continue to react quickly to the ever changing needs of the business. Ascot has the peace of mind that their partnership with Sota is based on a trusted, long-term relationship.