COMPANY

Bongo is a rapidly evolving business in an IT scene that is changing even faster. The company, which is well-known for its gift vouchers, selected Cheops Technology as its partner to help it make its IT processes faster, safer and more sustainable. It also wanted to reduce its costs significantly. Cheops’s solution? Virtual hosting.

 “Bongo relies primarily on external partners for IT services, as does the rest of the Smart&Co group in northern Europe, so we believe good IT contacts and contracts are vitally important”, Dirk De Ryck, Bongo’s IT manager, explained.

Bongo shops

In addition to selling products through retailers, Bongo has a number of shops that combine the functions of sales outlet and customer service department. Cheops is also involved in setting up these shops all over the world. “The IT setup of our shops is dealt with really quickly. Cheops handles everything, from supplying and installing materials and creating new user accounts to ensuring internet connectivity. The entire IT infrastructure of a new shop is sorted within four weeks", Dirk De Ryck said.   

Why hosting 

Following a thorough analysis of the IT infrastructure, a network was constructed in which a number of critical applications were hosted by the Cheops data centre. Five Citrix servers, two servers that support the Navision ERP application, an Exchange server, an SQL server and virtual servers for a call centre application were hosted. Cheops set up a network that connected all of Bongo's offices and shops in northern Europe with each other and with the data centre in Edegem. The connection is based on Belgacom Explore.

“There are a number of reasons why we opted for this hosting project,” Dirk De Ryck explained. “In view of the steady growth of our business, and given that Bongo did not have the space, the technology or the staff to deal with constant additions to our IT system, calling in the services of an external data centre was definitely the right way to go.” This decision resulted in a number of benefits. First, as the Cheops data centre has a greater bandwidth, Bongo’s e-mail system and ERP package now work much more quickly and efficiently. Its call centre application, which ensures that incoming telephone calls and e-mails for the customer service department are allocated correctly, has also become much more effective. Moreover, Bongo’s decision to have its servers hosted by the data centre has led to a sharp cut in its electricity costs. “The main benefit for Smart&Co’s business is the rapid time to market.” Dirk De Ryck added. “Our business is now able to open branches and get them up and running in a very short space of time, as there’s no need for a local server infrastructure.”

Step-by-step virtualisation

In addition to a hosting project, Bongo also decided on phased virtualisation. “At large organisations, virtualisation is always implemented in phases. From a budgetary and practical perspective, virtualising the entire IT infrastructure in one go isn’t a realistic option,” Filip Goos, managing director of Cheops, explained. Initially, Cheops virtualised the server that supports the telecom and e-mail applications. VMware Vsphere virtualisation technology was selected. Dirk De Ryck: “We had reached the point where we needed to extend our telecom application, but we realised that there was little point in making another investment in an expensive physical server. Blade servers are cheaper in the long term, they are much easier to manage, and extending applications is very simple. Besides, you can't tell the difference when using the IT applications, so why shouldn’t we invest in virtualisation?”

Following the virtualisation of the server for telecom and e-mail applications, the mail server is dealt with. This second project has been fully implemented and approved. Bongo’s Navision server will be virtualised too in the near future.

Cheops services

Bongo opted for the Managed Hosting services offered by the Edegem-based company. This meant that Cheops designed the network as well as the entire setup of the infrastructure – from sizing to selecting technology. Moreover, the platform that it created is highly scalable. This was a prudent move that takes future developments into consideration.   

Cheops chose Citrix technology for the desktops. The applications run on Citrix servers, which provides end users with a robust, secure working environment. Applications are automatically presented in the right format based on the user’s needs and location.

Cheops also monitors the security of the Bongo network with Remote Backup, Remote monitoring and Managed E-mail Security. Furthermore, Bongo is also very satisfied with the Cheops Helpdesk. “Under the Gold SLA (Service Level Agreement) we have access to Cheops’s experts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  All we need to do is make one phone call and Cheops will deal with the problem. That said, there is a very good chance that Cheops will have identified it already and be working on a solution.”

“We are very happy about all aspects of our working relationship with Cheops - the hosting services, the virtualisation of our servers and the roll-out of new sales outlets. But I believe the greatest added value is that I can always count on receiving advice on additions and new applications. What’s more, Cheops’s customised managed services fulfil all of our needs,” Dirk De Ryck concluded.     

About Bongo

Bongo is an experience in a box.
The Bongo gift voucher success story started in May 2000 with the launch of www.weekenddesk.be, a website offering hotel package deals and daytrips. The first gift vouchers were launched shortly afterwards, and the experience gift vouchers have been sold under the ‘Bongo’ brand since 2006.
In the autumn of 2007 Bongo became part of Smart&Co, an international group based in France that is active in 13 European countries as well as Brazil, Canada, Japan, Russia and the United States.
The company has a total of 74 employees and reported revenues of EUR 60 million for the Benelux for 2008. 
 
About Cheops

Cheops is an independent IT services provider that offers top-quality total solutions for complex IT infrastructures, covering advice, design, installation and proactive management.
The mission of Cheops is to help enable its clients achieve operational excellence.
The services offered by Cheops can be grouped into four activities: System Integration, Managed Services, Managed Hosting, and Consulting. Cheops has received recognition of its competencies, and is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, HP Gold Preferred Partner, VMware Enterprise Partner, Cisco Premier Partner and Citrix Gold Solution Advisor.