CorplexOutsourced SIAM Service Desk

What needed to change?

Corplex operates in the dynamic world of reusable packaging manufacturing, which is continually evolving to meet the two expectations of innovation and sustainability. With the acquisition by Olympus partners, the company had a strategic need to transform its legacy IT operation carried from its former incarnation as DS Smith Plastics. Post-acquisition, the need for a scalable, vendor-integrated, and outsourced managed IT Support service for the business was paramount.

The three key areas of Corplex’s business IT requirements were networking, workplace services, and IT Support services. The company additionally needed an independent, robust ITSM platform that would be both managed by a team offering 24/7/365 service support and aligned with core ITIL processes, including Change and Problem management. Simon Clarke, Chief Information Officer at Corplex, also wanted a “light touch” approach that wouldn’t require the recruitment of large teams of staff.

Why choose Pink Elephant?

Pink Elephant has more than 40 years’ experience in providing IT Support, Consultancy, Training, and Technology solutions. Pink Elephant’s expertise and adaptability also means its IT Support team can self-manage and be compatible to any company’s requirements.

Corplex had initially engaged with several vendors but, thanks to the above credentials, Pink Elephant was always the “frontrunner”.

Simon had noted that Pink Elephant did not just act like vendors but communicated like partners. He added:

“Pink always approached the requirements with an open dialogue, a willingness to engage, and a flexibility that no one else could match.”

The solution

Pink Elephant’s strategic solution was a streamlined SIAM (Service Integration & Management) operating model, positioning the IT Support team as the lead service provider. This solution not only enabled Corplex to speak to one partner for all its business IT Support services, but also freed up internal management resources. Corplex was also able to tap into Pink Elephant’s vast pool of industry expertise, best practice, and innovation, which would have demanded significant investment in terms of time, money, and resources if developed in-house.

Sam Smith, Pink Elephant’s Head of IT Support, who worked closely with Simon during the project, said:

“The overall solution provided to Corplex keyed perfectly into Pink Elephant’s strengths – People, Process, and Technology.”

Sam added that Pink Elephant recognised the scale of Corplex as a global business required the interface to IT Support services – namely, the Pink Elephant IT Service Desk – to be accessible to Corplex’s entire multinational staff.

The solution also involved Pink Elephant’s standard practice of ensuring that its Service Desk team are highly skilled technically, trained to industry standards such as ITIL, and truly understand the business of each client.

Sam said:

“The ability to offer multilanguage IT Support, a self-service IT portal, and email and direct telephone support, 24/7, 365 days a year, was essential to ensure the success of the strategic operating model.”

Pink Elephant understood the nuances of Corplex’s global operations from the outset and recognised that a successful solution was not solely about resolving IT Support issues but about becoming an extension of Corplex – a strategic insight that only comes from experience and expertise.

Implementation of the solution

Cherwell ITSM

During the tooling selection process, Pink Elephant recommended a hosted instance of Cherwell (ITSM) as the ideal, cost-effective solution for achieving the core integrations and ITIL process functionality that Corplex required. This approach was pivotal to the Corplex IT operating model, minimising dependence on onsite services and their related expenses while harnessing the scalability and reliability of a fully managed and supported toolset.

Pink Elephant’s collaboration with Corplex’s management team was structured around a 12-week work programme, employing agile methodologies to ensure timely realisation of key components such as Incident and Request processes, SSO, Knowledge articles, and self-help options, all within a user-friendly, navigable interface. In response to an additional request from Corplex, Pink Elephant adapted the portal interface to be available in both English and French.

Multilingual 24/7/365 Service Desk

To deal with the complexities of operating across multiple regions and languages, Corplex sought the strategic functionality of a centralised IT team with shared IT Support services, escalation routes, and governance across all IT functions and vendors – without the requirement to manage each provider.

This necessity drove the adoption of a SIAM Service model, uniquely embodied by the ‘one-stop-shop’ offered by the IT Service Desk at Pink Elephant’s Managed Service Excellence Centre (MSEC). This comprehensive support solution, including French-speaking IT agents and dedicated staff, ensured a seamless service operation.

Adopting a Service Desk function typically takes eight to 12 weeks, subject to business size and complexity. Implementing a SIAM operating model, however, takes longer as it demands a robust project team and full engagement from all supporting vendors for a successful end result.

With Corplex, given the intricacies of the service and the maturity of the business processes, initiating the service operation took approximately six months, including cross-vendor, business-user acceptance testing. This highlights Pink Elephant’s dedication to thoroughness and quality.

Outcomes and successes

Pink Elephant successfully delivered a multi-channel and dual-language outsourced IT Support service operation within a SIAM framework. This centralised service from a single location provides 24/7/365 support for Corplex’s business IT Support services operation.

For Simon, success transcends metrics and KPIs:

“I am far more focused on quality and the reaction of the Corplex staff. I received a good number of positive feedback emails and messages, and for anyone who has ever worked in these kinds of environments, that’s a major win in itself.”

Simon is also pleased with how well Pink Elephant self-manages:

“My effort is fairly low in order to maintain the relationship, which is exactly what was requested during the first quotation phase of the project.”

Reflecting on the partnership, Corplex’s satisfaction is evident. “I am very pleased,” Simon said. He added:

“I am happy to call them our support partner. They are always ready and willing to help no matter how small, large, or bizarre a request might be. We never need to spend time reviewing contracts or getting into the finer text – if they can help then they do. It’s a simple yet refreshing approach.”

Conclusion

This case study has shown how Pink Elephant’s unrivalled ‘People, Process, Technology’ strategy, coupled with its four decades of thought leadership and expertise, enabled the seamless implementation of its outsourced Service Desk. More than just resolving IT issues, Pink Elephant’s Service Desk works as an extension of Corplex and is a ‘one-stop shop’ for the company’s current and future IT operational service requirements. Corplex’s former IT assistance model has been successfully upgraded to an independent managed IT Support services operation – a strategic vision delivered and realised.

Six reasons to choose Pink Elephant