ANALYSIS
Global shipping works on very defined and tight schedules, so any glitch must be resolved quickly.
If something goes wrong within the system, TKL needs a business technology specialist on the job immediately to find and fix any issue before it becomes a logistical nightmare.
TKL administrator Tory Oliver says because of internal changes within its incumbent IT provider, the support offered wasn’t optimal and threatened the time-sensitive operation of the company. Towards the end of 2020, TKL looked for an alternative provider and selected BTG.
“We have a team of eleven people, so everything is system-based,” Tory says. “Every pallet and every container is uploaded into our system and from that we manage our logistics operation and invoice the coolstores.
“We also generate Buyer Created invoices for our suppliers like the trucking companies, ports and stevedores. It’s particularly important that it all runs correctly.
“BTG understands that the moment something goes down, we want somebody there fixing it immediately, because we don’t have time to slow down.”
Tory says because TKL’s systems are bespoke, there is no “out of the box” solution to manage it
BTG understood that and because they have boots on the ground in Tauranga, they can respond, and they now know a lot about our systems. Their knowledge is continually expanding as they work with us.”
DELIVERY
Ted Ebbing, BTG’s business development manager, says being local was especially important for TKL.
“We’ve got multiple specifically skilled staff on the ground, which is a significant factor in reducing risk and ensuring there is really good uptime. TKL need people who understand its environment and how their people need to work to get their job done,” Ted says.
“That we’re able to immediately respond with the right highly experienced staff is a vital part of providing the assurance they need.”
BTG also reviewed and implemented new disaster recovery solution including offsite backups alongside moving their systems into the cloud.
While TKL is a relatively small business, because of the scale of its operation, Ted explains it needed a big business approach.
“We provided them with higher resiliency, using our own network to improve communications into their environment and tightened up security significantly.”
TKL was also working with ageing infrastructure. Its office-based servers were reaching the end of their useable life, so BTG developed a plan to transition the entire system to its NZ-based cloud-based solution and strengthened TKL’s link to the world with new fibre and added backup connections.
Tory explains one of the main issues the TKL team had been experiencing during its Covid Response Plan was a problem using TKL’s remote desktop.
She says the remote desktop provides a lot of functions while working offsite, but it had become slow and unwieldy.
“BTG implemented a remote desktop system which is far superior to what we had. In fact, almost all of us use it daily now whereas before we would avoid using it because it was too slow. And [during Covid-19 lockdowns] when we were all trying to work from home, if I was trying to run something I had time to go and make a cup of tea while waiting for something to happen. It’s now about 1000% better.”
