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The company
Goblet Lavandier & Associés offers all the traditional technical engineering consulting services alongside a wide range of specific deliverables, including operating permits (commodo / incommodo), swimming pools, communal kitchens and energy consulting.
Administrateur délégué - Goblet Lavandier & Associés
Founded in 1948, Goblet Lavandier & Associés is a family company that now has some 135 employees. The firm caters for a clientele from across all sectors: tertiary, education, health care, industry and commerce. The company has also had a representative in Trier since 2017, allowing Golav Engineering GmbH to look after its German customers from a local office.
Goblet Lavandier & Associés is keen to embody the philosophy of a partner that offers a combination of quality, innovation, rigour, reliability, proximity, efficiency and sustainability.
Roby Eischen, Goblet Lavandier & Associés's managing director, willingly adds the concept of social responsibility to this list. And responsibility not just in terms of efficiency, optimal customer advice and services but also in terms of optimal work conditions for his employees –not forgetting the more legal context of data preservation and the traceability of processes and projects managed on behalf of customers.
All this means that Roby Eischen fully endorses the idea that: "We’re not in an information age anymore. We’re in the information management age. Our employees need to be able to find the required project information efficiently and reliably at anytime and anywhere for a whole host of reasons: productivity, responsiveness, employee well-being, lower transaction costs between stakeholders and for the sake of professionalism towards customers."
The company's entire infrastructure, together with all its IT solutions (servers, work stations, management solutions, emails, document management systems, etc.) were installed and managed on its own premises.
The fact that salespeople, technical engineers and technicians used remote access on a regular basis highlighted the technological gaps experienced by the company, especially in terms of bandwidth. This meant that a review of the computer system was needed so that the company could maintain a high level of competitiveness and satisfaction.
It was immediately apparent that the Cloud, which is a booming technology, was THE IDEAL SOLUTION, guaranteeing everyone the ability to connect from anywhere and access their data instantly.
Goblet Lavandier & Associés was able to take advantage of all the required graphical calculation performances and resources via a Cloud hosted and managed by System Solutions. In addition to these services, the Luxembourg IT provider was also able to respond positively to a very specific requirement for the client's line of work: 3D design and drawing (DirectX / OpenGL, etc.).
The expensive graphics stations have been virtualized, replaced by a hosted infrastructure based on the idea of "System Solutions Graphics Computing as a Service" (graphics acceleration), which is accessible and usable by all employees wherever they are.
"Just as much but much better"
"We now have access to – and can provide – any document or information to clients and partners in real time without going endlessly back and forth. This saves us precious time, not to mention the image of efficiency it gives us in the eyes of clients and partners", says Roby Eischen.
The Cloud also helps Goblet Lavandier & Associés slash the cost of managing its IT assets and its investment. "From the moment we decided to centralise everything in the Cloud, what was the point in continuing to manage two systems and two infrastructures?" asks Roby Eischen.
In terms of raw strength, Goblet Lavandier & Associés expected System Solutions to guarantee the same level of performance at the very least. "A handful of optimisation operations were needed regarding memory space and processor capacity but we got there. And, just as importantly, we did it without having to change the software or fundamentally alter our habits and skills", adds Roby Eischen.
Goblet Lavandier & Associés' IT infrastructures had been duplicated on two separate sites to avoid the threat of layoffs (with catastrophic consequences for the company) and for the sake of business continuity. Today the Cloud and the redundancy scheme introduced by System Solutions, with its three data centres and dedicated configurations, ensure total availability (systems and data).
For Roby Eischen, the savings made by the Cloud aren't just financial: they also result from the improvements in operational flexibility and employee responsiveness as well as the number of working hours and meeting times saved in terms of follow-up, document searches, and problem-solving with clients. "The volume of tasks we can carry out in real time has increased. We've also enjoyed performance, credibility and flexibility gains. And that's down not just to the Cloud but also to the in-house management tools that we've been rolling out for many years."
RIGOROUS PREPARATION
Although the advantages of the Cloud are now self-evident, the switch to this type of service is still a big step in the life of a company, and one that needs rigorous preparation. It is important at the outset to evaluate the Cloud infrastructure requirements properly: nasty surprises can be avoided if there is regular, fluid dialogue with the service provider. Roby Eischen compares a Cloud project to open-heart surgery.
"Everything needs to be planned carefully, and there has to be maximum communication between the client and provider. The 'proof of concept' stage is crucial. You have to challenge each other, asking yourself – and the other firm – all the right questions"
Choosing the right partner is crucial for the project to run smoothly. In addition to their technical expertise, one of the arguments that won the day for System Solutions was the provider's knowledge about Goblet Lavandier & Associés's environment and their business.
"I personally attach a great deal of importance to the trust factor, the human touch and a stable relationship. System Solutions was already our support partner. Listening and respect are also important factors above and beyond the technical values."