30th April 2004
IT outsourcer Digica today announced it has signed a three-year contract with Wine Cellar, a leading drinks retailer.
Under the contract, Digica is providing hosted infrastructure management of Wine Cellar's midrange iSeries (AS/400) servers, which are used to run SAP applications. These machines provide core business IT functions such as financial and materials management. Wine Cellar decided to outsource as it was more cost-effective than handling these functions in-house, and because outsourcing allowed it to take advantage of Digica's specialist skills.
“We chose Digica because we were impressed by its professionalism, and its expertise in midrange infrastructure management,” said David Walker, IT manager at Wine Cellar. “We're not iSeries experts, and we felt that Digica could guide us in this area.”
The transition from Wine Cellar's previous outsourcer to Digica has already been completed successfully. The move took place over a weekend, starting on a Friday, and all services were available by Monday morning, with zero unplanned downtime. “The transition went very well, and the change was transparent to our users,” commented Walker.
Wine Cellar's servers are now hosted in Digica's Leeds data centre. Digica is also providing support and helpdesk services, and 24x7 operations and cover.
“We have daily contact with the Digica team who provide status updates and keep us informed of any operational issues,” said Walker. “We have been impressed with the technical staff we've dealt with.”
“We are delighted with this new contract, and that Wine Cellar has chosen to utilise our expertise in hosting,” said Nick Jinks, sales and marketing director of Digica. “By combining iSeries and SAP skills, we can meet the needs of companies who want to gain all the benefits of outsourcing, while still ensuring their SAP platform is managed optimally.”
With over 250 high street retail stores, Wine Cellar Ltd is one of the UK's largest independent drinks specialists. Its outlets operate under the Booze Buster, Right Choice and Wine Cellar names. The company has also sold wine online for more than nine years.
“We chose Digica because we were impressed by its professionalism, and its expertise in midrange infrastructure management.”
David Walker, Wine Cellar