Bupa

, Jul 7, 2014

Bupa enjoys healthy growth with Logicalis business solutions

Bupa

Around the world, health and wellness as a market category is growing as people place an increasing amount of priority on their, their families’ and their employees’ health. Bupa is an international healthcare group which provides health, medical and hospital insurance to service this. It has over 22 million customers in over 190 countries, and is experiencing strong growth.

Background

Notably, the company is experiencing growth in its Hong Kong office, which also support its Guangzhou and Jiangmen office operations in China. Consequently, the point came where Bupa needed to expand and renovate its office to reflect its image as a regional headquarters and accommodate new staff.

Growing to 300 staff members made up by permanent, contract and remotely-based staff, the company grew its regional hub in Hong Kong to take up three floors. The office also houses its Customer Care Centre which accommodates in-person, phone and email customer support.

Contemplating the renovations, Mr Ryder Chan, Bupa’s IT Manager, considered his options for providing state-of-the-art IT services to the company. He decided to introduce WiFi to the company for the first time to enable flexible working for staff and for Bupa’s guests, such as those visiting the Customer Care Centre, and other business partners.

Solution

Mr Chan went out to tender for hardware and consulting services to design and build the WiFi network, with security control forming a critical part of the brief.

After reviewing a number of providers and their solution proposals, Bupa eventually chose Logicalis, the international IT solutions and managed services provider.

“We found Logicalis extremely responsive both during the tender and the preparatory phase of the project. We felt the team was committed to helping us deliver a successful project,” said Mr Chan.

Dealing with health and consumer details means that secure authentication and integration with the company’s Windows platform was an imperative. The project included both a fixed and WiFi network build using Cisco Access Point and Wireless Controller in HA mode, all delivered by Logicalis’ professional services team.

Part of Logicalis’ appeal were its credentials in Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) accreditation. Cisco ISE is a security policy management and control platform. It automates and simplifies access control and security compliance for wired, wireless, and VPN connectivity. Cisco ISE is primarily used to provide secure access and guest access by enforcing usage policies in conjunction with Cisco TrustSec.

Successful Outcomes

The project was designed and delivered by Logicalis in four months, on time and on budget with no downtime during the cutover. Mr Chan and his team are now able to create separate groups and permit different bandwidth access levels, for example, granting access to those requiring premium content for their roles, or to senior management.

A success metric was in how happy Bupa’s staff were with the new office facilities and infrastructure, given that technology plays a strong part in how well staff can perform their roles.

Moving into a new office space can make staff feel a little disorientated and Bupa wanted its teams to be happy and settled so as to be productive. Providing a secure mobility strategy for its sales team on the move is an integral part of its customer service delivery, and bodes well for future growth. Customers visiting the Customer Care Centre can now enjoy complimentary WiFi while they wait, as most consumers have now come to expect.

“Bupa’s purpose is to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives, so everything we do must support that purpose. Logicalis helped us deliver a modern and secure network that enables us to continue our growth,” concluded Mr Chan.

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