Escape's Caithness office secures five-year contract worth £100,000

9th June 2010

Escape Business Technologies has secured a contract worth up to £100,000 with the Pentland Housing Association in Caithness. This is the first new contract to be secured by the firm's Caithness office, recently launched to serve the growing Highland business community.

The deal, to supply ICT maintenance and support services, is worth £50,000 with extra project work expected to bring the total value to £100,000.

The contract is the first 'managed services' type project that Escape has taken on to date. This service involves the client paying a monthly fee per device (servers, workstations, printers, and switches/routers) and Escape providing unlimited telephone/remote support, proactive management and monthly site visits.

Anthony Wicks, Network Operating Centre Manager in Escape, said: "We are delighted with this win, having a contract of this size as our first win is a major achievement for us. Establishing a local presence in Caithness has already helped us to build new business relationships and increase the levels of work we do with existing clients, it was a smart move.

"We owe a lot to the team in the Caithness Chamber of Commerce, they introduced us to the Pentland Housing Association which resulted in us being invited to tender for this contract. They have been very helpful to us in terms of networking and introductions as well as enabling us to offer a 10% discount on our service charges to other Chamber members."

There are several benefits to a managed service contract as it is more streamlined, so clients only have one point of contact for all network issues and a single supplier instead of multiple vendors which reduces the Total Cost Ownership (TCO) for the client.

Other benefits include defined service levels as well as known costs for management and fixed price contracts. It provides customer peace of mind as the network is constantly monitored.

David Brookfield, chief executive at Pentland Housing Association, said: "We chose Escape Business Technologies as our ICT Services supplier as they have the experience and know-how that we require. A five-year contract is a long-term commitment but their tender won out with their price, experience and commitment to providing the best possible service to us. I look forward to working with them"

The Pentland Housing Association is a charitable company providing a high standard of accommodation at affordable rents for people in housing need. The Association employs 14 members of staff at the Traill Street offices in Thurso.

Escape's Caithness office operates as a network operating centre (NOC) and is responsible for the development of a £250,000 network monitoring tool designed to further improve efficiency of remote maintenance activities.

Headquartered in Aberdeen, Escape employs 35 people and reported a turnover of £3million in 2009. Escape is one of Scotland's leading providers of business technology solutions offering IT infrastructure consultancy and outsourced IT solutions to both UK and International companies.