Epping Forest District Council

Epping Forest see the wood for the trees with Hosted HotH

Epping Forest District Council have been customers since 2015, using HotH to manage their IT Support, Change Management and Asset control.
In 2020 they took the option to move to our Hosted solution and at the same time review their processes and extend the functionality they were using.

Paula Tredgett, ICT Service Team Manager, was involved from the start and we asked her for to give us her feedback on the project. We started by asking about her experience of the setup and configuration process.

“In July 2020 we decided that our existing HOTH on-prem based need to be in the Cloud, as that was the way our services were now going to be held. We had a visit from the managing director who personally showed us what a new Cloud based HOTH would look like and all the functionalities it had to offer a business going forward. We organised a small project team to work with the experts at HOTH and they carefully planned a manageable process and happily assisted with the configuration of a system that would assist us working in a dynamic ICT environment. No task was too small, and they really helped us to evolve CAB and Problem Management. “

We were also interested to hear if, and how, the HotH Service Management Software had helped Epping. Paula’s comments were encouraging for us and show how well things have been going.

“We weren’t working towards managing SLA’s, automation was incorrectly used, even the categories were causing us problems. HOTH gave us virtual support and were readily available to answer any queries and guide us through their experiences, on what they felt would work best for us as an organisation. We introduced a test system, tested CAB and Problem Management in a controlled environment and rollout into a live in a controlled manner and acceptable timeframe. The business agreed that our SLA’s would be 95% and I’m pleased to say by getting the foundation right in HOTH, we are now averaging our SLA’s on 98%.”

Paula was particularly keen on the Change process which has given them much better control of that part of their operation and made her life much easier. When asked what she particularly liked.

“The Clean interface, with a dashboard full of useful data and reporting information at your fingertips. CAB has worked out extremely well, the support that I received to deliver this project was second to none, nothing was too much trouble and CAB has become one of my favourite items in HotH”

Her message to others considering HotH was encouraging for us both from pricing perspective and for Paula’s response to our service.

“There are lots of ticket management systems out there, but the customer service that we receive is outstanding, nothing is too much trouble, not question is too silly to ask, and the system does everything you would want it do. It’s a good price in a competitive market with exceptional customer service.”

At HotH we are always trying to improve things and let other customers benefit from our experience and the experience of others. Asking Paula what advice she would pass on to others she stressed inclusion and testing.

“I would ensure when first installing HOTH that you have the right people working on the project and that they don’t go off on a tangent and start tailoring it to what they think. The vanilla is very good with minor tweaks and use the test site and g et other colleagues from all over your business to test before you put into live.”

We continue to work with Epping to extend the use of the service and help them get the best from our Software and Services. If you think we can help please get in touch and see what HotH can do for your organisation.