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« IT requires competencies, but also great responsiveness. »
Hamon & Cie is a global player in the engineering and contracting sector. Specia- lised in the installation and maintenance of air cooling and purifi cation systems, heat exchangers and chimneys, the company has over thirty sites throughout the world.
At the beginning of 2013, Sven Van Montagu became head of the group ́s IT management on an international scale (except for the USA). One of his priorities is to harmonise the existing IT procedures. « To remain eff ective, our presence in the four corners of the world requires standardised IT infrastructures. It’s the challenge that I face every day, both in Belgium and abroad, where I travel very often. »
One day when he was at the group’s headquarters in Mont-St-Guibert, Sven Van Montagu met Jean-Paul de Cannière, General Manager of System Solutions. Fortunately, their respective companies are located in the same scientifi c park! They quickly discovered professional points in common. The IT world moves very quickly, and my busy schedule leaves me little opportunity to follow all the developments », Sven Van Montagu admits. « What we need is a partner who isn’t just an expert in IT solutions, but also very responsive and fl exible. » A quality that System Solutions is very attached to, and which the geographical proximity makes even more feasible.
Together, Hamon & Cie and System Solutions are working to update the servers of the group’s diff erent sites, as well as the backup and storage of data. Sven Van Montagu drew up a detailed action plan: « First China and South Korea. Then India, and fi nally Europe. » For each stage, System Solutions proposes to him a solution that is implemented once agreement has been reached. « We function as pragmatically as possible », Van Montagu explains. « I appreciate the added value of the System Solutions team at each stage in developing the solution: deployment - transfer of competences - maintenance. It ́s essential. »
He insists in particular on the importance of the knowledge transfer. « System He insists in particular on the importance of the knowledge transfer. « System Solutions organises internal training courses so that ultimately we can handle certain tasks ourselves. This takes place in perfect transparency and with a spirit of openness that’s a real pleasure. »
And he adds: « The contract we concluded with System Solutions is clear. We regard our partner as a service provider more than as a hardware provider, even if, at this stage in our development, we are fully benefiting from its expertise and advice with regard to IT equipment. »
« Moreover », he concludes, « we’re delighted with the HP hardware that System Solutions supplied to us. This choice is all the more relevant as it’s the same brand as the pre-existing installation, which facilitated the changeover from one system to the other. »
The building blocks installed by System Solutions at Hamon & Cie guarantee a maximum of simplicity and flexibility. They consist of:
- HP 3PAR StoreServ, the world ́s most advanced cloud storage platform. Effective, flawless and based on a unique architecture, it’s ready for the future.
- HP StoreOnce, the autonomous backup system that reduces by up to 95% the quantity of data to be stored, thanks to the HP StoreOnce Catalyst optimisation and deduplication technology. This system guarantees an automated backup on disk as well as a very high-performance instantaneous restoration.
- HP Data Protector, the federated backup software which effectively protects large volumes of distributed data, instantly restores the strategic applications and protects the critical data, thanks to an unequalled degree of integration and optimisation.
- Serveurs HP (BladeSystem and racks), ultra-dense server blades with recognised reliability and optimised performances for flexible deployment and rapid commissioning. Optimal continuity of services guaranteed. Servers especially designed for low-cost virtualisation and consolidation.
To optimise the partnership, several IT engineers from System Solutions joined the IT department of the Hamon group, some permanently, others on temporary assignment. Sven Van Montagu: « You can count on System Solutions with regard to human resources as well. A while back we had to find an expert in extreme urgency to reinforce the IT team. I called Jean-Paul and, within 24 hours, the right person was at our door. It was a huge relief... »
The human aspect is another link between the two companies. As Sven Van Montagu emphasises: « To work here, it’s absolutely necessary to combine techniques abilities and people skills. System Solutions and Hamon are working here in perfect harmony. »
Concluding, he notes: « If I had to sum up our partnership with System Solutions in just a few words, I’d say: competence, openness, flexibility and pragmatism. »
More information at Hamon & Cie: http://www.hamon.com
SystemSolutions-Hamon-UK.pdf