Virgin Holidays Service and support delivered as promised to Virgin Holidays by OISG Group
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SERVICE IS EVERYTHING
Virgin Holidays
Service and support delivered as promised
to Virgin Holidays by OISG Group
customer success story
at a glance:
Challenges: Solution: Benefits:
>> Uptime critical to continued success >> Cleaned up existing support failures >> User population now trusts IT
>> Rapid growth demands tight budgetary control >> Next-day’ fix solution for standard support issues >> IT staff no longer frustrated and demotivated
>> Existing support infrastructure could no longer cope >> Four-hour’ fix solution for emergency support issues >> Increased productivity and profitability within the
company
© 2013 OISG Group / Virgin Holidays Case StudyVirgin Holidays 1 Virgin Holidays needs no introduction. It is the UK’s leading long haul holiday company specialising in destinations in the USA, Caribbean, Africa, the Middle and Far East, the Indian Ocean and Australasia. But perhaps surprisingly in these difficult economic times, it is also a rapidly expanding holiday company. Where it currently has around 70 retail stores operating in High Streets through the UK, it will have 150 by this time next year. © 2013 OISG Group / Virgin Holidays Case Study
Challenges 2
Information technology is central to the that it could provide its hardware faster, cheaper “I challenged them to go away
company’s operation. Customers like and more efficiently than other sources. Maria set and find me a thin client, XP
to walk into a store, search for the right a challenge. She knew exactly what she wanted. not Linux, for this price. It was
“I challenged them to go away and find me a thin
holiday, and book it on the spot. This specifically a difficult task. Cost-
client, XP not Linux, for this price. It was specifically
means that the IT infrastructure must be a difficult task. Cost-efficiency is important to us
efficiency is important to us
fully operational all the time. – I shop around for everything. And OISG Group – I shop around for everything.
delivered.” And OISG Group delivered.”
In its early days, Virgin Holidays operated with
just eight stores. At that time the company could Support was also becoming an issue. “I’d been
handle all of its IT requirements in-house under pushing for a while to have an external company
the supervision of Maria Tether, its Infrastructure look after our retail stores. We only have six
Manager. But as the company grew, new demands people on the IT service desk; and they couldn’t
were placed on Maria’s team. Supporting 70 remote possibly get to places like Aberdeen, Manchester,
retail outlets is a different proposition to supporting Birmingham, Wales – all over the place – just to fix
just eight. a small problem.”
Outfitting these new stores is also a challenge. Virgin Holidays went to tender for a support
Expansion requires a tight control over budgets – company to service its growing number of retail
and this is where OISG Group first showed its true outlets.
colours. OISG Group suggested to Virgin Holidays
© 2013 OISG Group / Virgin Holidays Case StudySolution 3
Let’s be honest here. OISG Group didn’t The OISG Group service and support solution is “ ... they cleaned up the mess
immediately win the service contract. based on two SLAs, and detailed and consistent left by the previous company.
Virgin Holidays, seeking to keep costs reporting. The first SLA is a next-day fix. Maria’s And to this day, they have
own team still gives first line support to the stores;
down, chose the cheapest option and never missed an SLA,”
but if the problem is something that can’t be fixed
gave another company a three month over the telephone, a call is logged to OISG Group.
trial contract. “It was a disaster,” admits They then send an engineer to fix the problem
Maria. “In the three months we worked the next day. The second SLA involves a 4-hour
with this other company, we were left with emergency call-out. “They haven’t missed any of
30 calls outstanding – 30 problems in 30 these,” says Maria.
different locations – retail stores that are
Virgin Holidays was so satisfied with the service,
taking business.”
it gave OISG Group an additional contract: to
Maria went back to OISG Group. Part of its proposal outfit the new stores before supporting them. Both
had been the offer of a 30-day no-commitment free contracts are backed by detailed reporting to
trial. She had challenged them once before – she the customer. “There’s a monthly service review,”
challenged them again. OISG Group delivered; explains Maria, “which usually takes about three
and won the contract. In those 30 days, “they minutes because there’s never anything to review;
cleaned up the mess left by the previous company. and weekly email reports. Every time a new store
And to this day, they have never missed an SLA,” goes live they send us a full email with details on
comments Maria. each individual piece of the installation: the line’s
gone live, the PCs have gone in and they’re working,
the printer is in and operational.”
© 2013 OISG Group / Virgin Holidays Case StudyBenefits OISG Group in 3 words: 4
“What OISG Group has done for my guys on the service desk,” Supportive
says Maria, “is to make their lives a lot easier. The retail stores “It comes down to a good service with regular communication,
trust IT now. Why? Because they know they’re going to get a level keeping people informed and not missing deadlines.”
of service they can rely on.
Enabling
“The staff were frustrated, and demotivated. Now, with everything working “They enable us to run our retail stores without hassle and
nicely, we’re finding that there is increased profit. All the time that there’s
aggravation. They enable me to get on with my other work
equipment down in the stores, not only does it put customers off, the store
can’t take bookings. So there’s increased productivity, and increased
without having to manage the relationship with the supplier
motivation.” because things are going wrong.”
Reliable
“It’s rare to find a company that actually does what it says on the
“Their motto is ‘service is everything’. Well, they’re sticking by that.
tin.”
They do what they say they will do - which is just, well, unusual to
find.”
“It’s doing it right the first time – that’s what is most attractive about
the OISG Group solution.”
- Maria Tether, Infrastructure Manager, Virgin Holidays
© 2013 OISG Group / Virgin Holidays Case StudySERVICE IS EVERYTHING
OISG Group
Formed in 2004, OISG Group has grown year on year into the UK’s
foremost technology partner. We specialise in the complete service,
from initial procurement of IT to the design, implementation and
optimisation of cutting edge solutions to all requirements. Working
closely with both vendors and clients, we bring unparalleled
experience to all of our solutions – product knowledge and expertise
are our keywords, service is everything is our ethos.
What we do: Contact us: Follow us:
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