Project specialists do business, not IT
When project and programme delivery specialists Metaskil needed calendar sharing and email access for their mixed PC/Mac environment, Perceptive Online proved more than equal to the challenge.
Established over 20 years ago, Metaskil specialises in project and programme delivery for a broad range of customers, typically in the central government, financial services, telecoms and media technology sectors.
With an increasingly mobile workforce, it became apparent by 2005 that Metaskil needed a robust, mobile email and calendar sharing facility. "With our sales team out on the road, and myself and other directors often working away from our head office, we needed a hosted email and calendar service," Ian Faulkner, Managing Director, remembered. "That meant Microsoft Hosted Exchange. I asked our web host for recommendations and they put me in contact with Perceptive Online."
Worthwhile relationship
It was the beginning of a most worthwhile relationship. Through the provision of Hosted Exchange and a managed server for Metaskil's websites, wiki and discussion forums, Perceptive has, according to Ian, enabled the business. "We don't need to worry about IT any more," he said. "We know our sites will be up and running, and our wiki and forums accessible. We can share calendars and access emails from wherever we happen to be. And we don't need to concern ourselves at all with keeping it all working. Perceptive really do live up to their strap line, 'Do business, not IT'."
Metaskil's PC users access their emails and calendars through Outlook, which connects to Perceptive's Hosted Exchange server. In common with many other businesses, Metaskil also has a number of Mac users, of whom Ian is one. The Mac users needed to be able to share calendar information with their PC-based colleagues, and that meant setting the Macs up to work with the Hosted Exchange.
Rising to the challenge
"Perceptive rose to the challenge, as I knew they would," observed Ian. "They supplied Entourage - Microsoft's personal information manager for the Mac - and set it up to communicate successfully with Hosted Exchange."
Ian was particularly impressed with the way the Perceptive's engineers took on the challenge. "There was none of the 'going through the motions' that you often get with support staff. These guys obviously love their work and they always focus on what we need, rather than the niceties of the technology. They spent several hours with us, making sure that the system worked exactly as we needed it to."
The combination of Entourage on the Macs, Outlook on the PCs, and Hosted Exchange on Perceptive's servers has revolutionised Metaskil. Staff can now access their emails from wherever they are working and, when arranging a meeting, they can call up the calendars of everyone who needs to attend, again, from wherever they are working.
Liberating
"It's enormously liberating," commented Ian. "It's enabled us to focus much more ruthlessly on our core business, which in turn means we can deliver more, to a higher standard."
Despite being deeply impressed by the technology, though, Ian's most enthusiastic praise was reserved for Perceptive's staff. "This is how customer service should be done," he noted. "They are always available, but never pushy. They take issues on and resolve them, never seeking to fob you off in any way. And they're a really nice bunch of people. It really is fantastic service!"
For more information on Perceptive Online, call 01635 234100 or visit www.perceptive-online.com. For more on Metaskil, call 0118 9819316 or visit www.metaskil.com.
July 2008