* LLU broadband
* ADSL Max
* Up to 24MB
* Branch billing
* Resilience
* Top quality support
* Reduced overheads

Background
Bell Group is the UK’s largest and most successful independent commercial painting contractor. The firm was originally founded some 27 years ago, it now has over 20 branches in the UK and is still growing.

The challenge
The company previously had 13 sites with broadband connections through 3 suppliers, but these sites were not connected to Head Office in Airdrie. To gain access to the network, each user had to activate their own VPN. Although the company had consolidated their services into 1 broadband supplier, that supplier was unable to provide the resilience and connectivity that Bell Group required to enable a router to router VPN.

Bell Group was looking for a ‘one stop shop’ solution that seamlessly connected all sites into one network, and delivered considerable cost savings.

The solution
HIGHnet were chosen to supply Bell Group through one of our Channel Partners, Dovecote Park Technologies (DPT), who were managing Bell Group’s network. DPT introduced our LLU Broadband service to the company, which delivers high bandwidth broadband and includes free voice lines with each circuit. This allowed existing sites to increase bandwidth from their previous 0.5MB connections to up to 8MB downstream, and more recently, sites are being moved onto our super fast broadband providing speeds up to 24MB. Where LLU is unavailable, ADSL Max circuits were provided.

The results
Our LLU services were able to deliver the required resilience and increased bandwidth, as well as save them over £500 per annum at some branches. We were able to provide LLU with more availability than other providers as well as provide better service on the ADSL Max circuits, and still be more cost-effective.

Mark Matheson, Group IT Manager, is happy with the service he is receiving: “The support is excellent; you’re not phoning a call centre, you’re phoning a person, and when that person says he’ll get back to you with an update, even after 5.00pm, it happens.

They provide me with all the performance reports and information I need. Our Account Manager has taken the time to learn about our business operations in order to provide the right service and support to reinforce our business strategy. She keeps us  up-to-date with new products in the market that may add value to our operations. The financial billing structure is streamlined and user friendly.

We believe HIGHnet is the right partner to support our organisation in its quest for excellence and dominance of our market.”

“Although HIGHnet is a large national company they are not too large whereby you get lost in call centres when you have a fault; you can speak to the same person with ease and not someone different everytime you call, this is very important to me. HIGHnet support is hassle free. Now in our 2nd year with HIGHnet, a further 6 sites have recently been added because of the reduced costs which have helped greatly in the current economic climate. HIGHnet has helped us to reduce our costs and become a more competitive company.”

Mark Matheson - Group IT Manager, Bell Group UK