SAS International Strengthens its IT Resilience with ANS
Watch the video: SAS International & ANS
Background
SAS International is a leading design and engineering organisation specialising in high-quality ceiling solutions.
Operating on a global scale, their mission is to empower designers and architects to create exceptional spaces, supporting creative and functional design across a wide range of environments.
Their technology strategy focuses on enabling designers with uptime and speed, while additionally supporting the operational needs of their international offices.
Challenge
As a global business, SAS International faced increasing complexity in managing multiple technology partners across different regions. Their legacy infrastructure was struggling to keep pace with the demands of modern operations, particularly with connectivity and performance, and the organisation recognised the need to migrate its ERP system onto a new Private Cloud environment.
Strengthening security was also a top priority during this infrastructure transition and for future growth, not only to proactively safeguard their data but to position the business to win higher-value projects. However, with a smaller IT team, navigating governance and compliance amid rapid change posed a significant challenge.
Additionally, their main application, Site Line, was receiving complaints about slow performance, impacting end-user experience. Committed to empowering their partners in the most effective way, SAS International recognised the need for a modern, managed service solution.
Solution
To address these challenges, SAS International partnered with ANS, beginning with a focus on connectivity and ensuring seamless access for users across all global sites.
ANS provided Private Cloud hosting and wrap-around managed services, including Managed Detection and Response (MDR) for enhanced security and comprehensive support around connectivity.
The infrastructure transformation included migrating the ERP system into ANS’ environment, laying the foundation for improved performance and reliability.
ANS playing a pivotal role in helping SAS International to tighten their cybersecurity posture. Following a review by ANS’s Security Centre of Excellence, SAS International received a detailed report outlining areas for improvement. With ANS’s guidance, they are now working towards achieving the Cyber Essentials Plus certification – a key requirement for winning high-value project tenders.
Outcome
Since partnering with ANS, SAS International has seen significant improvements in system performance and network speed. Users and internal teams have reported faster response times with quicker data processing, making for more reliable transactions. The infrastructure is now more stable, with increased uptime.
The partnership has also reduced the burden on SAS International’s internal IT team. With ANS proactively identifying and resolving issues, the team consequently has more time to focus on strategic initiatives. Crucially, the team have benefited from the fact that support is just a call away, with ANS’ dedicated account manager providing same-day responses and giving direct access to technicians.
What primarily began as a cloud and connectivity project has evolved into a strategic partnership with an ongoing focus on security. SAS International and ANS are now exploring future opportunities together, with mentions of AI-driven innovations and further enhancements to their digital infrastructure.
“What I’ve found with ANS is that they’re contactable. When we go to our customer account manager, we get a response on the same day. We can also contact technicians directly to give us some support if we wanted some advice.”
Shaun Keddy, Senior Systems Analyst, SAS International.
