Downtime? No thanks!
When you are running a website bringing in tens of thousands of pounds-worth of business every day, downtime cannot be an option. That's why online travel booking specialists The Travel Gateway went to Newbury, Berkshire based Perceptive Online for dedicated hosting services for their Ferry Savers website, www.ferrysavers.co.uk.
Having bought the Ferry Savers brand in 2006, The Travel Gateway had suffered a number of problems with their existing hosting provider. "With the Ferry Savers site on the original host's shared space, we suffered a couple of weekends of downtime," explained Michael Howe-Davies, Director at The Travel Gateway. "That cost us dear in lost bookings, and on top of that, response to support calls was slow, and resolutions were slower still."
Michael knew that in order to achieve the near 100% uptime that The Travel Gateway needed for Ferry Savers, a dedicated server was essential. While The Travel Gateway have the skills and resources to host their own sites, the Ferry Savers site needed to be hosted by an external provider for Search Engine Optimisation reasons. Unable to offer a dedicated server, The Travel Gateway's existing web host recommended Perceptive Online, specialists in hosted and managed services.
"Perceptive were proactive and extremely quick off the mark," recalled Michael. "They called me to get a clear picture of what we needed and a couple of days later had produced a detailed, costed specification. It hit the nail squarely on the head."
Those initial discussions occurred just before Christmas 2007. Time was short, as The Travel Gateway had a brochure mailing to some 400,000 homes planned for 10th January - just a couple of working weeks later. It was vitally important that the Ferry Savers website, with its online booking facility, was up and running before the mailing went out.
Michael was impressed with Perceptive's speed of delivery. "When they get their teeth into a project, they really go for it," he noted. "The Ferry Savers site is far from simple, and our near 100% uptime requirement meant careful planning and resource allocation. Nonetheless, everything was up and running well in advance of our 10th January deadline. From initial enquiry to full operation it took well under a month - and that with Christmas intervening."
The Travel Gateway's dedicated server is an example of Perceptive Online's individual and tailored approach to hosted and managed services. While many providers offer a range of pre-set, off-the-shelf options, Perceptive takes a consultative approach, with every solution tailored to the exact requirements of the customer. The flexibility of the company's solutions means that as customer requirements change with time, Perceptive's provision adapts to remain in line with those requirements.
"Perceptive have more than proved themselves with the Ferry Savers site," said Michael. "They are easy to work with, technically extremely adept, and they really go out of their way to make sure that things run smoothly." So, would he recommend them? "Certainly - and we will no doubt be using them for future projects, as well," he concluded.
For more information on Perceptive Online's dedicated servers and other services, visit www.perceptive-online.com or call 01635 234100. For more on Ferry Savers, visit www.ferrysavers.co.uk.
March 2008