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Hello, Welcome to the first ever edition of the ANS Quarterly Insider. The ANS Marketing team have done a sterling job of refreshing the newsletter and introducing lots of new content for you to get stuck into, so make sure you take the time to read all of the news.
Helen Thomas Writer Natalie Yates Graphic Designer
We’ve had yet another fantastic quarter. We would firstly like to welcome all of our new customers and give a big thank you to those that have signed up to our customer satisfaction programme to become an ‘ANS Raving Fan’. We’ve had yet another brilliant quarter. We’ve sealed loads of new deals, welcomed new customers aboard and taken on more new apprentices than ever before! All that’s left to say is pop the kettle on, enjoy flicking through the magazine and make sure to pass on any feedback to marketing to let them know what you think of the new design and content. As ever, thank you for your continued custom. We look forward to continue working with you in the future.
Paul Sweeney Follow us:
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ANS IN THE PRESS Read about our latest wins here.
THIS QUARTER’S RAVING FANS Take a look at our customers who have raved about our services this quarter.
THIS QUARTERS BLOGS Read a handful of the blogs that we have written this quarter.
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UPDATE FROM OUR
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Take a look at what we have been up to here at ANS this quarter to raise money for our chosen charities, and what we have helped them to achieve.
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UPDATE FROM THE ANS ACADEMY Read our interview with one of our apprentices about what it is like to work and learn at ANS.
THIS QUARTER’S WHITEPAPERS Take a look at the whitepapers we have released this quarter, and follow the links to read more.
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TECH UPDATE
ANS GLASS
Find out what all the excitement is about as we get set to launch ANS GLASS mobile.
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P R E S S O D E O N E N A B L E S D E V O P S W I T H R A P I D ODEON, the leading cinema chain in the UK and Ireland, has teamed up with ANS as part of an infrastructure overhaul which will see the organisation roll out unrivalled technology innovation and enhance consumer experience. ODEON chose to utilise pioneering RAPID Private Cloud System and Service Assured management from ANS. RAPID was developed as a standardised, highly configurable, policy driven Private Cloud that’s pre integrated, validated and tested. The infrastructure is delivered workload ready for consumption and is underpinned by ANS’ 28 working day deployment guarantee. Find out how RAPID Private Cloud will be helping Odeon to create an even better cinematic experience by clicking here.
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One of the largest integrated care providers in England, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust have selected existing partner ANS for a strategic network overhaul. ANS have been awarded a transformational five-year Network Technology Refresh project to design and implement the Trust’s data network infrastructure, including LAN Core, Edge and WiFi, in its entirety. The solution will then be supported on an Enhanced Managed Service providing the Trust 24x7x365 network support.
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Eurocarparts.com, the UK’s number one supplier of car parts, has appointed ANS for its datacentre transformation programme. The partnership forms part of a strategic investment plan, aimed at providing a scalable IT production environment, enabling the organisation to support future growth in line with their business vision. The appointment of CIO of Eurocarparts.com (ECP), Andy Campbell, gave the organisation an opportunity to assess their current infrastructure and further align technology to the core of their business and customer interactions. ECP chose to utilise pioneering RAPID technology from ANS which is based on integrated infrastructure from Cisco and NetApp – FlexPod – and delivered to customers within 28 days. To find out what Andy Campbell had to say about the transformation project click here.
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One of the country’s top 100 NHS trusts to work for Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, selected ANS to support their IT infrastructure. The partnership will see ANS’ award-winning Service Management team function as an extension of Salisbury’s own IT team managing the Trust’s network critical systems and their existing FlexPod Infrastructure. ANS will work with the Trust to align business needs and guarantee delivery of SLAs and KPIs whilst offering enhanced management and monitoring support 24x7x365. ANS’ unique ‘GLASS’ portal will offer the Trust an updated and efficient way to communicate requests and stay informed about their managed service. Find out what Linda Dunham, Infrastructure Architect at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, said about the key drivers behind the project by clicking here.
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It is our goal to achieve industry leading PR for ANS and you, our valued customers, recognising the innovative solutions we collaboratively provide for you and your community of users. We are aiming to sign up 200 Raving Fans to our customer satisfaction programme, which will only be achieved by maintaining the current exceptional level of service to our customers. This quarter we have welcomed the following Raving Fans...
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Kennedys is a growing international law firm. Over the last 4 years, we have been their chosen infrastructure provider. We delivered their last project very quickly without any issues so they were keen to sign up as raving fans!
Want to rave about the ANS service? Just tick the Raving Fan box on your PSO feedback form.
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This quarter, ANS COO, Paul Shannon has been teaming up with different employees each week to find out what it’s like to work in their shoes! The initiative was devised as a way for senior management to better understand the roles and day-to-day tasks of each department while seeing if there is a way to improve processes, business systems and of course get to know staff better on a one-to-one level. So far Paul has spent the day as an Events Coordinator, Internal Account Manager, Credit Controller and an Apprentice! Paul has been publishing all of his ‘Day in the Life’ diary entries on his Linkedin page so make sure you check them out by clicking here.
W H A T D O E S A ‘ B E S T I N C L A S S ’ A C A D E M Y L O O K L I K E ? We recently announced the news that the ANS Academy has been awarded Pearson Accreditation. The accreditation is an extremely sought after recognition that will allow us to teach several world class qualifications including the BTEC ICT up to Level 4, in addition to traditional subjects such as English and Mathematics. Our centre now has access to a wide range of support services, enabling our apprentices to fulfil their potential. Find out why Pearson thought the academy deserved the accreditation by reading the full blog by COO, Paul Shannon, here.
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A T T E N T I O N : T H E R E A R E N O D E L A Y S E X P E C T E D O N T H E N E T W O R K Our Head of WAN Services, Ian Wharton, recently had an interesting query from a customer that he thought warranted a blog post. The query was about Long Fat Networks, a feature of modern networks and solutions which we are seeing more and more. On the one hand, bandwidths are increasing. Gig connections to head offices are common and almost mandatory into a DC. Businesses are expanding internationally with more branches opening across the globe and we also see the push (at least from suppliers) of cloud based workloads. On the other hand, we still can’t beat the laws of physics just yet and from a networking perspective, this manifests itself as latency. Ian goes on to explain what a Long Fat Network is and goes on to discuss the common misconception that often people think bandwidth with solve everything. Find out why bandwidth isn’t always the answer by reading the full blog here.
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ANS’ Public Sector Sales Director, David Vukomanoic kick started his career at ANS in 2007 when he joined the Manchester office as a graduate BDM. Since then, David has progressed to Director of Sales in our Public Sector South Team. Our COO, Paul Shannon recently caught up with David and asked him to take a trip down memory lane and offer advice to those wanting to follow in his footsteps. To find out how David has worked his way through the ranks at ANS click here.
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Here at ANS, we’ve made a huge commitment to supporting future generations through our fundraising efforts. In 2011, we partnered with the Factory Youth Zone, (our first partner charity) to recruit apprentices and agreed to raise £20,000 annually for the charity. Since then, we have also partnered with Forever Manchester. In addition, this year we have been particularly focused on helping the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital raise money for their Helipad appeal. The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Helipad Appeal The RMCH launched an appeal earlier this year to raise money for their Helipad Appeal. The helipad will enable the creation of a brand-new 24-hour access primary helicopter landing site, the first in central Manchester, allowing the hospital to save many more lives and increase the chances of a full or improved level of recovery for many seriously ill or injured patients. The Hospital needed to raise £3.9m to be able to build the helipad. We wanted to get involved in helping the charity reach their £3.9 million target to be able to build the helipad. One of the ways we helped to raise money was by taking part in Tough Mudder. Tough Mudder This year, eleven ANS members rose to the Tough Mudder Challenge. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the event we can only possibly describe it as 12 miles of hell. The muddy
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“IT’S NOT ABOUT HOW FAST YOU CAN CROSS THE FINISHING LINE. RATHER, IT’S A CHALLENGE THAT EMPHASISES TEAMWORK, CAMARADERIE, AND ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING DAMN RIGHT TOUGH!”
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(understatement) obstacle course is designed to test physical strength, stamina and mental grit. With no podiums, winners, or clocks to race against, it’s not about how fast you can cross the finish line. Rather, it’s a challenge that emphasizes teamwork, camaraderie, and accomplishing something damn right tough! It’s only fair that we say a massive well done to all of the guys who not only signed up for the event but actually finished the course – it was certainly no mean feat! ANS Family Fun Day We also raised money by hosting our very own ANS Family Fun Day. The Founder and Chairman of ANS, Scott Fletcher offered to host the event in his back garden! We invited ANS staff, partners and children to the event which included music, food and drink, games and even a bouncy castle for the kids. The day was a huge success and we managed to raise £3,000 for the Helipad appeal. Check out some of the photos!
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Since launching the appeal, The RMCH announced last month that they have now reached their £3.9m target needed to build the helipad one year ahead of schedule. The building of the helipad will commence very soon! Watch the Thank You video from the RMCH on the previous page. Coming up… Last year we launched MeANS Christmas which saw ANS donate over 200 presents to The Factory Youth Zone. The charitable event was devised in an effort to raise gifts for children from deprived areas, many of which may not have received any presents at Christmas. The event was such a huge success that we are running it again this year. To find out how you can donate a gift please contact marketing@ansgroup.co.uk
Our mission is back! We’re collecting gifts on behalf of the Factory Youth Zone for children from deprived areas, many of which may not receive a Christmas present this year without your generosity.
Please email marketing@ansgroup.co.uk to ďŹ nd out how you can donate a gift.
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A N S A C A D E M Y The ANS academy presents an opportunity to kick start an exciting IT career at the cutting edge of technology. We’re combining fast-paced, onthe-job instruction with real work – guaranteeing that our apprentices won’t just be stuck in a classroom all day! We’ve caught up with ANS Academy Manager, Anna O’Brien to see how our latest recruits are getting on and we’ve been chatting to new apprentice Kirsty Fitzpatrick.
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e established the ANS Academy in 2013, which provides real jobs, with industry leading training and hands-on experience for up to 20 apprenticeships each year. Fourteen new IT apprentices have recently joined the ANS Academy where they will be completing their extended diploma in IT & Competence (Level 3) and Professionalism in IT (also Level 3). We’ve split our apprentices into two group. Group 1 comprises 6 apprentices which are currently distributed in roles around the Service Desk, from DC ops to back-ups and Logic Monitor to Enhanced Alert. The remaining eight apprentices in Group 2 are completing training which has covered Health & Safety, Emails and Security. Each quarter we’ll be interviewing one apprentice to find out what they think about life at the ANS Academy, so without further ado, here’s Kirsty Fitzpatrick who joined the Academy in July 2016 as a 2nd Line Technical Analyst.
“I DIDN’T WANT TO BE STUCK IN A CLASSROOM ALL DAY WHEN I KNEW I COULD BE EARNING... ” What made you want to join the ANS Academy rather than pursue a more traditional education path such as college or University? I didn’t really want to stay in full time education. I didn’t want to be stuck in a classroom all day when I knew I could be earning while learning practical skills. All my friends are just starting university and I’m so glad I’m here applying myself and not getting into loads of debt! What are you enjoying the most about the apprenticeship? At the moment I am moving around all the departments and getting a feel for lots of
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different roles. It is so interesting to see how everything works. I’m also loving meeting new people. I have such a good laugh with everyone and the atmosphere is mostly quite relaxed. Is there anything you’re finding particularly difficult or challenging?
Don’t be frightened by a male dominated industry! Men are just the same as women. I was the only girl in my BTEC ICT class so I learnt to get on with lads on a daily basis very quickly. By the time I got to ANS I was already used to the lads and the banter. I actually think I prefer MOMENT I AM working with guys anyway!
“AT THE MOVING AROUND ALL THE DEPARTMENTS AND GETTING A FEEL FOR LOTS OF DIFFERENT ROLES.”
There isn’t anything really. My workload is well balanced and I’m not really struggling with anything at this stage. It is so refreshing to see young women taking on technical roles which have previously been dominated by men. You’re clearly helping to break the mould so what would your advice be to young girls who might be put off careers in IT?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
Hopefully I will complete the apprenticeship within the next 3 years. I can’t say at this stage which department I’d like to work in because I haven’t had a feel for them all yet.
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W H I T E P A P E R S This quarter the ANS Marketing Team has been busy writing and publishing a series of whitepapers in collaboration with customer participants check them out below.
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The clock is ticking. The time to innovate is now. Fail to prepare for change and you should prepare to fail. A readiness assessment is both a worthwhile and necessary exercise. The more significant the project, the greater the imperative for a readiness assessment. A readiness assessment should offer a clear analysis of your existing infrastructure and applications, provide a detailed audit report and a roadmap for future solutions and allow you to confidently deliver the appropriate business and technical strategy. To learn more about the purpose and benefits of a Readiness Assessment read our whitepaper today.
U P T I M E O F T O D A Y . S P E E D F O R T O M O R R O W . CIOs are struggling between two competing pressures. Uptime vs Speed. These two deeply different demands are creating conflicts within the IT organisation: How do you maintain the uptime SLA you require whilst enabling the speed you need to compete in the marketplace? How do you utilise DevOps to differentiate? How do you make more real-time decisions? How do you streamline the code release process? How do you innovate and operate better, faster? Click here to read the full whitepaper
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One of the most disruptive trends of the century is the Cloud First initiative. Promises of unrivalled speed and agility for infrastructure, platforms and application services have driven many enterprises to adopt a Cloud First Strategy. Even after 10 years of Cloud hype, confusion is still common. To get to the crux of the Cloud First Strategy, we interviewed a group of leading IT leaders to discover how Cloud adoption is influencing their business strategy. To discover more read our Cloud First whitepaper today.
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A R E Y O U D I G I T A L L Y M A T U R E ? In November 2015, NHS England asked all secondary care providers to self-assess their digital maturity using a range of criteria as part of a nationwide Digital Maturity Assessment. The release of performance rankings and assessment data put Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, amongst the top 3 in NHS England’s Digital Maturity Assessment, with the Trust receiving the highest possible marks, 100/100, in the Infrastructure category. ANS caught up with David Walliker, CIO at Liverpool Womens Hospital NHS Trust and Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust to discover how he has redefined ‘thinking outside the box’ and has led Liverpool Women’s on the pathway to innovation. Download the Digital Maturity Whitepaper and interview with David Walliker today.
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The Bimodal approach primarily focuses on developing two distinct modes of IT working together in parallel. The advice to organisations is clear; adopt a Bimodal IT approach today or be left behind tomorrow. The Higher Education sector must not only acknowledge that change is happening, but also strive to put stringent processes in place that can help to create a pro-active digital workplace initiative focused on new, more effective ways of working. To get to the crux of the Bimodal Strategy, we interviewed a group of leading Higher Education IT leaders to discover if, and also how, Bimodal adoption is influencing their IT strategy. Download the Bimodal Whitepaper to find out what they had to say.
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This quarter we have been particularly busy with ANS GLASS Mobile. The app, with native iOS and Android compatibility, will shortly be at your fingertips. The app will enable you to add incidents and changes and view updates on the move. The majority of functionality that is available via the Portal will be available using the smartphone app. Our Directors, Account Managers and Service Managers will also be able to utilise GLASS mobile to view your information on the move.
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