1. Comprehensively simplified the technical environment and challenges for DO’s incumbent provider.
2. Increased the resilience of the Peppermint solution including full fail-over which was not offered by the original setup.
3. Provided the ability to upgrade to the latest version of Peppermint which would have been difficult with the incumbent solution. Note: this is run on a completely different version of Dynamics and SharePoint; remaining with the original “on-site” solution would have meant a complete overhaul of the infrastructure and significant investment in that work).
4. To complement the new hosting approach and working with the CEO and some partners we negotiated an improved (from standard) contract with Peppermint and ensured that DO had a robust but equitable final contract with all the protection you would expect from a cloud service provider and which addressed previously unmanaged risks, also creating a detailed exit plan.

1. Ensured that Peppermint was delivered to the desktop in a way which was compliant with Peppermint and Microsoft’s requirements.
2. Addressed issues with Peppermint not reliably filing emails – a must for DO’s compliance requirements.
3. Increased reliability of applications integrations with Outlook.

1. A dedicated resource to provide formal training and support to increase end-user knowledge and efficiency within Peppermint.
2. Focus on supporting the mid to long-term needs of DO in its adoption and use of the Peppermint platform.
3. A internal Peppermint expert who is capable of undertaking system customisations thus reducing reliance on and cost of the Peppermint professional services team.

The recommendation to move to Azure and Office 365 not only aligned DO with Peppermint’s own strategic direction, it was also a recognition that, in our view, the “Microsoft Cloud” approach will become the de facto IT platform of choice for the majority of medium-sized firms.It’s particularly interesting to note that since going live in mid-October, there has been a lot of press relating to Farrer & Co and other major law firms announcing that they are planning to follow the same strategy as DO and move to the Microsoft Azure platform. Contributing factors include :

1. The Azure platform provides tier-one grade security and reliability at a cost which is affordable to a top-200 law firm. This, together with tools such as remote device management, multi-factor security, Microsoft’s commitment to GDPR compliance and provision of UK-based data centres, alleviated any regulatory concerns.
2. Many law firms remain nervous of cloud-delivered technology but, in truth, the security and products provided by Microsoft Azure are much greater than a firm like DO could achieve on its own, which means that DO’s responses to tenders or in regulatory questionnaires will now be a much better proposition.
3. Microsoft Azure platform provides a level of security and reliability which is, frankly, over and above the capabilities of most other IT service providers’ bespoke solutions.
4. DO’s strategy means that, should the IT service provider fail to deliver to the agreed SLAs, DO will not face having to move the whole solution again. Instead, the services would continue to be delivered via the Microsoft Cloud and a new Helpdesk and support provider.
5. The Office 365 platform provides a full range of functionality which will address DO’s immediate and long-term needs.
6. We also believe that the cost of the solution will go down over time.

During our review, we had identified the challenges of operating Peppermint in a Citrix environment. Having thoroughly investigated this avenue, it was our conclusion, based on the impact on end-user experience and system stability, that delivering Peppermint via Citrix was not a sustainable option.

1. A fundamental change in the new environment had to be the removal of Citrix and a return to a traditional PC deployment and with that the aligned need to ensure there was robust internet connectivity and monitoring and patching of the local devices.
2. The return to using local computer power and functionality also meant that end users could benefit from technologies such as touchscreen, handwriting recognition, working off-line and speech recognition, none of which was possible in the Citrix environment and which have aided productivity since go live.

The project was managed by the firm’s powerful IT steering group which was responsible for (and to which we at BDC were accountable to) governance and delivery of the IT strategy and its component projects.BDC ran a detailed and unique procurement process that covered everything from ‘fit’ with DO’s culture; through to an assessment of capability, ROI, customer credentials and an ability to deliver on a tough SLA. Our invitee mix therefore included large generic IT providers, niche, nationally-known, legal-sector specialists and local IT service providers. This rigorous process gave DO the confidence that our vision was leading-edge and could truly give the benefits outlined rather than being another case of IT consultants over-promising and under-delivering.

1. Defined a bespoke selection process and created a detailed requirements document.
2. Analysed the market of potential partners casting the net wide to ensure that our vision was subject to rigorous external challenge.
3. This was a transparent process where all potential partners were provided, (under NDA), DO’s vision and operational/security requirements.
4. Respondents were also given the opportunity to put forward any alternative solutions which they felt would be a better fit to the challenges identified.
5. Eight potential suppliers were invited into the selection process and given the opportunity to meet with DO to ensure that they fully understood what was expected of an IT service provider.
6. In a tough competitive world it was disappointing to see some invited suppliers’ lack of engagement. For example, several of the vendors did not take the opportunity to come into the office to meet the DO management team and, instead, just submitted standard proposals. It was hardly a surprise that such firms were discounted from the process very quickly – This was in effect ‘natural deselection’.
7. We then undertook a detailed analysis of the ITT (RTT) responses via a balanced scorecard approach covering the levels of engagement with the process, their proactivity in and quality of questioning and any thought leadership which they had shown during the response period. A detailed analysis paper was presented to the IT steering group and three potential supplier partners were shortlisted.
8. After the second-round presentations and due-diligence process Quiss Technology was seen as the best fit for DO. We then entered into an often forgotten rigorous preferred-supplier, due-diligence process, which included a thorough contract review and renegotiation.
9. This included definition and negotiation of a challenging, performance-focused service-level agreement, which included end-user performance targets for key applications.