Since its launch as a mail order company nearly fifty years ago, EVRi, formerly known as Hermes UK, has grown into the UK’s biggest dedicated parcel delivery company. Every year it delivers around seven hundred million parcels for individual senders, small businesses and some of the country’s leading retailers, including M&S and John Lewis.
With a growing network of more than 8,500 local one-stop parcelshops, lockers and state-of-the-art distribution hubs and depots, its 18,000+ couriers provide delivery solutions right across the UK and to more than 220 international destinations. Technology plays a pivotal role in its operations. EVRi has won awards for its innovative approach in using IT for operational success and its fleet of green delivery vehicles places sustainability firmly at the heart of everything it does.
Key facts
- UK's biggest dedicated parcel delivery company
- Over 700 million parcels delivered throughout the UK and internationally
- More than 18,000 couriers and a growing pick-up and distribution network
The Challenge
In an era of rising costs for businesses of every size and type, EVRi was keen to consolidate and drive down the cost of its essential IT services. It's existing managed security agreement with Crowdstrike, a leading provider of AI-driven cybersecurity solutions, was scheduled for renewal.
Softcat provides EVRi's Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplace solution, and EVRi was keen to explore the possibility of reducing its costs by renewing its Crowdstrike service through its existing platform agreement. In doing so it could take advantage of AWS Marketplace's Enterprise Discount Programme (EDP) to drive down cost and achieve better value for the business.
Critical success factors
- Consolidate services and drive down costs
- Renew existing cybersecurity agreement with Crowdstrike
- Reduce expenditure through Enterprise Discount Programme
The Solution
EVRi and Softcat have collaborated on multiple projects over the last seven years. It's helped to establish a close working relationship built on trust and a pragmatic approach to delivering high-value IT solutions. Discussions took place between EVRi's security and procurement team and Softcat's security and account management team to scope out the best possible solution.
Softcat illustrated how through increasing overall expenditure with AWS marketplace, EVRi could benefit from enhanced discounts, while implementing a market-leading solution. Given just how critical enhanced security provision is to EVRi's business model, Softcat recommended a managed Crowdstrike service, Overwatch. The Cloud-based, AI-driven threat response and vulnerability protection service would help EVRi minimise the cost and complexity of protecting its most valuable data and assets.
Highlights
- In depth discussion to scope fit-for-purpose solution
- Market-leading, AI-driven threat and vulnerability protection
- Minimised cost and complexity for in-house IT team
The Benefits
From a financial perspective, procuring the Crowdstrike solution through AWS Marketplace enables EVRi to qualify for a significant discount and squeeze extra value out of its relationship with Softcat. It adds spend to EVRi's EDP, ensuring that it reaches its AWS commitments and will benefit from further discounts to help minimise ongoing cost.
From an operational perpective, the CrowdStrike solution's automated functions and capacity to filter out false positive detections that could negatively impact operations has been particularly positive. By removing the noise, it helps ensure the in-house IT team is free to concentrate on genuine threats to the organisation.
The solution has been deployed across the whole AWS platform and thanks to features like autoscaling, it's delivering optimal security and enhancing operational efficiency. It's helping to ensure that EVRi is protected from external threats, such as ransomware, and the activities of an increasing cohort of bad actors.
Marcus Hunter, Chief Technology Officer, EVRi said "Softcat's own Security Team and Account management team made the whole process of negotiations and procurement very simple and swift."
Benefits at a glance
- High performing security solution
- Elimination of false positive detections
- In-house IT team free to concentrate on responding to confirmed threats
Why Softcat?
EVRi invested in Crowdstrike prior to this engagement. It's become an essential component of its security and endpoint detection response due to its capacity to be easily scaled through cloud-based services and seamless integration with exisiting Linux environments.
The long-established, productive working relationship EVRi has with Softcat meant EVRi trusted it's specialists to identify and recommend the most cost-effective route to securing its IT estate. Softcat's deep industry expertise, marketplace knowledge and relationship with leading IT solution providers ensured it could help EVRi procure the right technology at the right price.