London-based Xceed Group, a leading independent IT management consultancy, has helped RFIB Group Limited to select an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model to support significant future growth plans.

RFIB is a Lloyd’s insurance broker with a global presence, which is poised for significant growth over the coming years through a combination of expansion within existing markets and acquisition. To facilitate this, RFIB needed to improve its IT services by implementing a fully managed support solution that can handle growth without disruption to service whilst also reducing IT security risk. RFIB appointed Xceed Group to manage its transition to an IaaS model ensuring a smooth change management process, within a six-month period.

Xceed Group assessed RFIB’s IT estate and ran the selection process for suitable IaaS providers. In addition, Xceed Group was asked to stabilise RFIB’s existing IT operations and design a target operating model that would provide the necessary business focus and reduce the complexity of managing multiple suppliers.

During the six-month project, Xceed Group transformed RFIB’s IT management to a service -focused model, where IT support could be migrated to a service provider. Xceed Group advised on the process of migrating IT services to the new supplier and introduced change management processes to mitigate potential risks ensuring the transition would run smoothly.

“Xceed Group worked closely with us to analyse our business and technology platforms and make improvements to the stability of our environment,” said Paul Smith, RFIB CIO. “With a clear understanding of the landscape gained from its analysis, Xceed Group developed an RFI which was distributed to a number of potential suppliers.”

The suppliers were assessed for technical competence, understanding of RFIB’s target operating models, the ability to provide a transparent and affordable cost structure, and for cultural fit. Three final prospective suppliers were issued with comprehensive RFPs, and were scored before being interviewed by Xceed Group and RFIB. Following commercial negotiations, RFIB chose IT Lab as its IaaS provider.

“The project was completed within the six-month timeframe and on completion, RFIB was in an optimal position to run its migration and support its anticipated business growth”, says John Casserly, CEO of Xceed Group. “Xceed Group is now working with RFIB on a new project to upgrade a core business application.”

Smith concluded: “Thanks to Xceed Group, we are in a great position to migrate to a secure, scalable and flexible IaaS model that will support our business as it grows. Most importantly, the initiative has improved overall employee satisfaction with the IT function, aligning current team roles with our future business direction.”