OCS@Work - This Issue
Relationships and Partnerships
Diary of Events
Client Stories
ISSUE
Spring 2016
2016 — OCS Diary of Events
It now seems that our Summer of Events is fast becoming an OCS tradition and our way of saying thank you to all of our clients for continuing to work with OCS and trusting us to support and deliver projects.
With that in mind, we have started planning our diary of events for the Summer 2016. Confirmed events are as follows:
Sunday 22nd May 2016
Rugby
HSBC London Sevens
Twickenham 9.30am — 5.00pm
Thursday 30th June 2016
Summer BBQ and Drinks
Doggetts Coat & Badge
The Terrace Bar
Blackfriars.
London from 6.30pm
Thursday 21st July 2016
Cricket
Middlesex v Surrey
T20 Blast
Lords Cricket Ground from 6.00pm
Invites will be emailed out in due course but in the meantime if you would like to book your place, please email Linda at lindao@ocs-consulting.com and she will ensure your name is on the list!
We look forward to celebrating another great summer with you.
OCS Consulting—growing with its clients
Just after the millennium the major focus of OCS’ strategy changed from being technology focussed towards being fully client-centric. In doing so we geared up to recruit, train and invest in a wide range of skills and services in order to be able to be flexible enough to support our client’s needs whatever they were. Over the years demands have changed but we continually adapt enabling us to support our clients whether it be changing technology or just differing delivery models.
The idea was that that if we could grow and change with our clients then that would both provide sustainability for OCS but also being a unique match as a supplier to our clients. And so it is, after so many years clients keep on coming back, often asking if we could embark on new projects, learn new technologies, and deliver new types of services. What’s more, and a little unexpected, is the experience we have built up appeals greatly to new clients who can see the benefits of our breadth of experience and quickly recognise how this could be useful to them.
Of course, none of this would be possible if the quality and method of our delivery wasn’t so strong. It means that however we are originally commissioned, clients quickly warm to our approach.
In some cases, we are engaged by a client for a software or application development project and the success of the project leads them to return to OCS for more general IT services and consultancy. In other cases, clients come to us for on-site staff secondment, consultancy or lifecycle services and once this relationship is established and the client is aware of our staff, skills and capabilities it makes us an obvious supplier for new work.
In many cases, what started out as a short-term piece of work has grown into a long-term relationship where OCS integrates into the client’s existing IT supply chain providing a strong IT partner for a multitude of projects, services and technologies.
So why do so many of our relationships flourish into long-lasting ones? We are told time and time again, that simply, they like us and the work we do. They like our ethics, business values, staff and our commitment to quality, flexibility and doing the best for our client. Embarking on large IT projects and transformations can often be a daunting task for companies. It often includes periods of uncertainty, research, trial and error and unexpected problems. By working with an IT service provider that is familiar, this daunting task becomes a lot less so, as a client knows it is not taking a gamble on our staff and expertise. I guess it’s about trust, and our clients know and trust that we will do our best, that they are important to us and that we will put the success of the project first.
Some of our relationships have lasted over twenty years and are still going strong – something that we are particularly proud off considering just how much the IT landscape has changed over this period. In order for this to be possible, OCS has always kept itself on its toes, never becoming complacent. After all, these relationships are at the heart of our company and we value them greatly. This is also reflected in the personal side of these relationships that have gone from strength to strength, something that was wonderfully obvious during our 30th birthday celebrations two years ago.
All the best,
Maurice Aroesti
Group Chief Executive
Client Experiences - OCS The IT Partner of Choice
Our relationship with this international logistics company started in the mid 1990s with some initial project development and support of what is now deemed a very legacy technology (which we still support). By the early noughties, we had undertaken multiple engagements for them including both development services in newer technologies such as Microsoft and staff secondment in the areas of Project Management and Testing.
In 2007, the client embarked on a major international solution development for the retail industry and were looking for an IT partner. OCS was ideally suited to bring all the necessary management and technical aspects of the job together and we undertook the analysis, design and Java development of this project which turned out to be a great success and strengthened the relationship between the two companies with over 300 installations of the solution around the world.
Today, we are the preferred development and consultancy IT partner for this client. We undertake development and support of Java solutions, and Legacy technologies and deliver staff secondment to help overcome the client’s peaks and troughs of demand.
Our relationship with this well-known finance company started with a short-term emergency project in 2007 and has expanded over the years, with OCS now supporting a wide array of applications and technologies. Initially, the company required a mixed technical team covering both Java and PowerBuilder to complete an aggressive short-term project. OCS provided an appropriate team at short notice and enabled the successfully delivery of the project.
This success and the positive relationships between the two companies led to the outsourcing of support for their legacy systems, delivery of consulting services covering everything from Project Management to Technical Development in a number of technologies, and most recently as an important supplier within a major transformation programme they are undertaking where OCS are the preferred supplier for the delivery of application and database support personnel.
The relationship with this automotive client started in 2008, when they asked OCS to put forward a proposal to outsource the support of their Legacy and Java systems. OCS was not initially successful in the proposal but a couple of years later in 2011, this client once again approached OCS for this outsourcing as the collaboration with the previously chosen IT services company had not been successful. OCS agreed to supply an on-site team of OCS staff to take on the support of business-as-usual systems. After successfully delivering the service and the client gaining experience of OCS’ approach and staff, OCS was asked by the client to undertake project developments as part of their major European programme to deliver transformed and centralised systems across Europe.
Today, not only does OCS continue to support its BAU systems with a staff based team but has a full team of Project Managers, Business Analysts, Java developers and testers working closely with the client on the delivery of major transformation.
Our relationship with this global FMCG has grown in strength and breadth over many years. They came to OCS eight years ago looking for a specialist Legacy technology resource to help support systems within their international supply chain. OCS provided one full-time on-site staff member.
After a few years, the client identified a need to undertake Java integration work and due to their experience of our work, skills and staff, they naturally came to us. They, however, did not want the resourcing model as previously used but rather wanted the integration work handled as a project. OCS took this on board and worked successfully with the client to achieve their aims.
In 2012, the client as part of a major transformation programme sought bidders to outsource the support of their supply chain systems. Due to the scope of the services and experience of OCS we were selected for this contract to provide a global support team.
In more recent years the client has decided to replace these systems with SAP technologies. Despite using large SI suppliers for the implementation of these new systems, the client has retained its trust in OCS by first giving us the responsibility for integrating core components of the system with SAP, but furthermore continuing to ask us to support the newly developed integration services and legacy components globally.
