LIMA host virtual lunch and learn event exploring Backup as a Service

On Tuesday, LIMA was proud to host their first virtual lunch and learn event focused on Backup as a Service and why having a strong backup strategy aids business resilience in today’s digital economy.

Hosted by Thomas Keighley, Head of Sales at LIMA, the speakers included:

• Ian Heptinstall – Senior Solutions Architect at LIMA 
• Ryan McKnight – Account Director at LIMA  
• Stephen Buckton – Head of IT at Kite Packaging  

The webinar began with a brief overview of LIMA cloud services where Thomas explained a bit more about the consultative approach that LIMA uses when engaging with customers:

“Everything we do is about partnerships at LIMA. Our initial conversations are driven through a consultative approach to understand your organisation and the outcomes you need as a business, and what technology is going to be right for your organisation to help you deliver those business outcomes.” 

Backup as a Service benefits  

Ian, LIMA’s Pre-Sales Architect gave an insight into the benefits of Backup as a Service and although these can vary on a case by case basis, the top three that LIMA see working for all customers are: 

Free up your ​IT team​ – to support more strategic transformation projects whilst quickly adding skills to your ​in-house team with a ​trusted partner. 

Utilising an OPEX operating model​ – it’s more cost-effective than having an on-premise solution. 

Gain anytime access​ – reducing the need ​for on-premise ​backup resources and enabling you to protect your Office 365 data​. 

Click here to read our latest blog which looks at the five reasons you should move to a cloud-first BaaS strategy and the business benefits you can achieve.

Ian added: 

“We’ve used our expertise in designing and delivering the traditional and cloud-tailored backup solutions to provide a more modern, backup as a service solution that meets our customer needs and addresses the challenges you face in this digital age of data. 

 As you can expect from a modern backup as a service solution, we can provide unlimited scale and storage capacity, whether this be long-term retention, business data growth or changes in application services, regardless of whether this data is in the cloud or on-premise. We can grow your backup capabilities fast and seamlessly within our service offering.” 

A Q&A with LIMA customer, Stephen Buckton 

We were delighted to be joined by one of our customers, Stephen Buckton, who gave an overview of how Kite Packaging and LIMA are working in partnership to provide seamless backup and data protection in a Q&A session. 

Having worked with LIMA for over 13 years, Stephen shared why moving to a cloud-first backup strategy was an important step: 

“We were in a situation where we were leaving ourselves exposed, although we had a backup solution in place, we were making a lot of assumptions on how well that backup solution could bring us back online if such a need arose. Although we had the data there, we didn’t have the wrap-around virtual infrastructure that was needed to bring that data back online quickly.” 

Stephen explained that as a lot of accountability rests on his shoulders, the solution gave him peace of mind. He shared just a few of the positive outcomes he has seen from BaaS: 

“We have found ourselves in a very good place for backup and replication, we have a very solid foundation there which we are still building upon… 

In terms of benefits to the business as a whole, there was stakeholder approval and they were happy with what we’d implemented. There is confidence now that we’re in a good place with restoring data and it certainly sits well with business tenders too.” 

Watch the Backup as a Service lunch and learn here 

Commenting on the success of the event, Thomas Keighley, LIMA’s Head of Sales said:  

“The session was intentionally kept informal to allow attendees to find out more about how LIMA approaches Backup as a Service and to gain an insight into how similar solutions could potentially be implemented in their respective businesses. 

Overall, the event was a huge success with almost 50 people attending to learn more about LIMA’s cloud solutions and we’re excited to deliver the next one. Stay tuned on our blog and social channels for more information in the coming weeks.” 

Missed the BaaS lunch and learn? There’s still time to find out about LIMA’s cloud services 

Over the next few months, we’ll delve into one of our services in additional lunch and learn sessions and talk about how they deliver real business benefits. ​

Schedule of topics for our Lunch and learn sessions: ​

• Backup as a Service   ​ 
• Disaster Recovery as a Service ​ 
• LIMA Cloud assessments ​ 
• Security as a Service ​ 
• LIMA ProActive managed support ​ 

On the 15 March we’ll be talking all things DRaaS, click here to secure your virtual seat.

LIMA are experts in cloud services and our technical specialists will deliver the right solution for your business, making sure you get the flexibility you need from your cloud services whilst maintaining effective financial control. Click here to speak to one of our Account Managers to find out more. 

LIMA host Disaster Recovery as a Service lunch and learn webinar

On Monday, LIMA was delighted to host the second of our Cloud Services lunch and learn webinars, this one focused on Disaster Recovery as a Service.

Hosted by Thomas Keighley, Head of Sales at LIMA, we were pleased to welcome some familiar faces on the call with attendees joining who were with us for the first session on Backup as a Service. You can click here to watch the recording of that session.

So far, the lunch and learn webinars have proven a huge success and have been a great way to introduce people to LIMA Cloud Services, whilst knowledge-sharing in an informal and interactive way.

For the DRaaS webinar, we were joined by:

• Ryan Ratcliffe – Chief Sales Officer at LIMA
• Ian Heptinstall – Senior Solutions Architect at LIMA
• Andrew Naylor – Director of Transformation at Mawdsleys

Throughout the Cloud Service webinars, our main objective has been to focus not only on the technology, but to share the key outcomes and benefits that can be gained from implementing cloud solutions. As a business, we are dedicated to delivering outcome lead solutions whilst becoming an extension of your business which breeds collaboration and nurtures partnerships.

LIMA’s Disaster Recovery as a Service solution

LIMA’s Senior Solutions Architect, Ian Heptinstall, gave us an insight into the benefits of DRaaS and how LIMA can help protect your business should an outage occur, ultimately threatening business continuity.

Ian shared what LIMA consider to be the top three benefits of DRaaS…

Top three benefits of a DRaaS strategy

Save money whilst receiving expert support

DRaaS is cost-effective allowing you to maintain strong financial control whilst benefitting from LIMA’s expert support to handle unexpected events, efficiently and quickly.

Achieve business RPO and RTO

Provides peace of mind and ease of recovery to achieve your business RPO and RTO.

Reduce IT complexity and business risk

DRaaS reduces IT complexity and frees up your IT team to focus on strategic business projects whilst providing peace of mind.

A Q&A with LIMA customer, Andrew Naylor

We were delighted to be joined by Andrew Naylor, Director of Transformation at Mawdsleys, who has been a customer of LIMA, across multiple organisations, for 14 years. During a Q&A, Andrew shared an insight into the beneficial outcomes they have experienced by implementing LIMA DRaaS and the strategic partnership.

Andrew explained:

“Mawdsleys is a global pharmaceutical wholesaler and provides a wide range of services to the pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare sector more generally. Here in the UK, our biggest customer is the NHS and we provide a variety of services such as the delivery of life-saving medicines to hospitals across the country.”

Andrew explained that he initially introduced LIMA to Mawdsleys because of our ability to deliver IT and business outcomes across multiple technology stacks and solutions. He shared just some of the risks associated with the previous disaster recovery solution that Mawdsleys had in place and ultimately, why they decided to move to LIMA DRaaS:

“We previously had multiple complex technologies to deliver backup and replication, there was very limited testing in place, no robust DR plan and we had no out of hours support. Overall, it was a very difficult and risky time for Mawdsleys. Ultimately, having the risk of not being able to get the life-saving drugs that we produce out to the NHS when needed.”

Finally, he told us why he would recommend LIMA:

“LIMA has a vast amount of experience in supporting these types of transformational programmes. We work really well together and LIMA act as an extension to our business… It’s not just a DR solution for us, we lean on LIMA for advice and expertise when we’re trying to do our own things internally as well, it’s a working balance between us all.”

Missed the DRaaS lunch and learn? You can click here to watch the recording.

Don’t worry, there’s still time to find out about LIMA’s Cloud Services

Over the next few months, we’ll continue to explore our Cloud Services in interactive lunch and learn sessions following the below schedule:

• LIMA Cloud assessments ​
• Security as a Service ​
• LIMA ProActive managed support ​

The sessions aim to discover how LIMA Cloud Services deliver real business benefits whilst providing attendees with the opportunity to hear from one of our customers who is directly benefiting from that service.

Stay tuned on our social channels in the coming weeks to find out more about how you can secure your virtual seat.

LIMA are experts in cloud services and our technical specialists will deliver the right solution for your business, making sure you get the flexibility you need from your cloud services whilst maintaining effective financial control. Click here to speak to one of our Account Managers to find out more. 

Join us for our cloud webinar | Five factors for successful cloud migration

We’re delighted to be launching the latest episode in our cloud webinar series, five factors for a successful cloud migration.

The recent transition to remote working has highlighted the need for digital resilience and most specifically an IT infrastructure that’s flexible, scalable and reliable. As a result, we’re seeing organisations wanting to review and develop their cloud strategy with some playing catch up against competitors that may have already made the switch.

Drawing upon our vast experience in the industry, we’re in the perfect position to provide straightforward advice for your cloud journey. That’s why our webinar on 29 April will focus on the most important factors to consider for achieving a successful cloud migration, from having the right cloud-first mindset to phasing the approach to achieve optimal results.

By joining our webinar, you will learn the top five factors to a successful cloud migration and hear from one of our customers, Claire Davidson from Transform Housing. Claire will participate in a Q&A session sharing an insight into their journey to the cloud and her first-hand experience of working in partnership with LIMA to migrate their services.

How to register

Unfortunately, this webinar has now passed, but don’t worry, you still have a chance to learn more about LIMA Cloud Services. Follow us on our social channels to find out more about our next upcoming cloud webinar and how to register.

How can LIMA help you on your cloud journey?

Attending our cloud webinar to learn more about how cloud migration is driving digital transformation and the factors to consider for a successful switch is a great way to kick-start your cloud journey, or to give you some advice along the way. However, LIMA can also provide additional support, advice and guidance with the use of our managed cloud solutions.

Whether you’re looking into your cloud options or need help deciding the best solution for your business, we can help guide the process with our cloud readiness assessments, strategy implementation and continuous optimisation.

We pride ourselves on taking a consultative approach so we can advise on the most appropriate services to migrate, which ones may need redesigning and some that may be more suited to staying on-premise. Click here to speak to one of our Account Directors to find out how we can help your business

Catch up on our latest webinar: Five factors for a successful cloud migration

Last week, LIMA was delighted to host another cloud services webinar, focused on cloud migration and the most important factors to consider for successful adoption.

Using our blend of expertise and vast experience, we delved into the most important factors to consider for achieving a successful cloud migration, from having the right cloud-first mindset to phasing the approach to achieve optimal results.

The webinar was opened by Ryan Ratcliffe, LIMA’s Chief Sales Officer, who briefly described the journey that LIMA has been on over the past 10 years and how we’ve adapted our services to meet the changing landscape of the IT industry and the needs of our customers.

Ryan was delighted to be joined by:

• Martin Ingham – Technical Director at LIMA
• Claire Davidson – IT Consultant at Transform Housing & Support

Five factors for a successful cloud migration

LIMA’s Technical Director, Martin Ingham, shared an insight into the critical factors that should be considered and planned into any cloud journey, whether you’re at the beginning, the middle, or even if you’ve completed the initial transition to the cloud.

We share a snippet of his recommendations below. Click here to watch the full webinar.

1. Align your cloud migration ​to your business goals.

Martin said: ‘This is about making sure you’re clear about why you are wanting to adopt cloud. We often see that customers don’t really plan what they want to achieve by having cloud and it’s really important to identify these reasons upfront so that you have something to measure the success by.’

Attendees were asked ‘do you have a cloud strategy that is aligned to your business goal?’, 38% said ‘yes, but it needs reviewing’ with an equal amount answering ‘not as such, but I talk to the SMT about our IT roadmap.’

2. Develop a cloud-first culture​.

Commenting on developing a cloud-first culture, Martin added: ‘Culture is probably one of the most important factors that is often forgotten about or not taken seriously. Cloud is a completely different change of mindset and ultimately, if you approach it in the same way that you have always approached the delivery of IT services in the on-premise world, you will more than likely fail or not deliver all of the outcomes that you were wanting to achieve. It’s really important that you empower the entire business to be effective cloud consumers.’

3. Security needs for your cloud services.

Martin shared: ‘From a technology and a governance point of view, security is one factor that you need to get right upfront, but you have to have time to plan. Most people tend to jump into a service, and we’re seeing an increase in this due to Covid, with security as an afterthought. However, cloud, more than any other technology, requires a multi-layered approach to security.’

100% of attendees agreed that their remote workers are not as secure as those in the office.

4. Use a phased approach​.

Talking about adopting a phased approach to cloud migration, Martin added: ‘This is the part where it’s key that you work with a mature partner that understands how to adopt, consume, and onboard these technologies. This method is focused on taking an application-led approach. Not only does that break it down into manageable workstreams but it makes it easy to identify the dependencies of likeminded systems into batches of work. Ultimately, it’s about planning. The more you plan, the more successful the outcome will be.’

5. Future-proof​ your strategy​.

Sharing an insight into the fifth factor, Martin said: ‘Most cloud consumers stop at the end of the cloud transition phase and think that it’s ‘job done’ because that’s how it’s always been done. However, that is not the right way to approach cloud adoption and you now need to take advantage of all of the benefits of being in that cloud environment. That’s why we created our cloud optimisation service as we bring the skills, controls, and insights to you so that you can lean on us to support you on continuous improvement of your cloud environment.’

Click below to watch the full video, learn more about the five factors for a successful cloud migration and hear from LIMA customer, Claire Davidson, as she shares more about Transform Housing’s journey to the cloud.

Missed the cloud migration webinar? Click here to watch the recording.

How to get involved in LIMA’s cloud webinars

Over the next few months, we’ll continue to explore the cloud through our interactive webinar sessions.

Stay tuned on our social channels in the coming weeks to find out more about how you can secure your virtual seat.

LIMA are experts in cloud services and our technical specialists will deliver the right solution for your business, making sure you get the flexibility you need from your cloud services whilst maintaining effective financial control. Click here to speak to one of our Account Managers to find out more. 

Register for our webinar | How to accelerate digital business success with cloud optimisation

Join us on 29 July for a lunch and learn Q&A to find out how to maximise your cloud cost savings, performance and productivity with cloud optimisation.

The rapid increase in cloud adoption has seen many organisations now looking to take advantage of the value of cloud by migrating their applications and workloads. Cloud services are easy to implement and consume but are often left running without any review, continuous improvement, or any ongoing alignment to your business strategy.

So, as cloud computing becomes the norm, how do you ensure your applications are managed and optimised to ensure they are running efficiently and achieving the right results?

We’re delighted to be hosting our latest cloud webinar where you will discover how cloud optimisation delivers efficiency that ensures optimal performance and cost savings, whilst keeping your applications secure. We explore how identifying potential improvement opportunities in line with your business needs can ensure you get the most out of your cloud environment and boost your operational agility into the future.

Hear from Ollie Potts, LIMA’s Cloud and Optimise Manager as he presents a unique perspective on cloud optimisation – and how it can help you see business results faster.

Join us for our cloud optimisation webinar to discover:

• How optimising your cloud environment can ensure business success.
• The value of cloud in meeting business objectives.
• What LIMA’s cloud optimisation service offers.
• A Q&A session with our cloud experts.
• A free cloud optimisation workshop with a cloud consultant.

Claim your free cloud optimisation workshop

Register your place for our webinar and receive a free cloud optimisation workshop with one of our expert cloud consultants.

During the 30 minute session we will cover:

• An insight into the current cloud trends that we’re seeing in your market.
• We’ll explore more about your journey to cloud, including what you want to achieve and any challenges you may be facing.
• We’ll then provide you with several actionable points that you may want to investigate further including what areas you should be focusing on to suit your needs and potential improvement recommendations.

Click here to register your place

Join us for a live Q&A session where you can put your questions to our cloud experts.

When? Thursday 29 July 2021
Where? This is a virtual session, simply register your place here.

Click here to register your place to learn how to optimise your cloud costs and performance so you can focus on what matters most.

Meet our speakers | Top NHS CIO and VMware’s Chief Technologist feature in our exclusive NHS webinar

We’re delighted to introduce the expert speakers featuring in our exclusive Q&A webinar on Gloucestershire NHS Trust’s journey from IT laggard to award-winning digital aspirant.

Gloucestershire Hospitals’ large-scale digital transformation programme enabled the Trust to roll out an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system in five months, supported over 500 clinical systems and allowed 2000 people to transition to remote working, almost overnight.

Mark Hutchinson, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Martin Hosken, Chief Technologist of Cloud Services at VMware will discuss how working with LIMA led to a successful digital transformation programme using VMware’s Cloud Foundation.

Meet the speakers

Mark Hutchinson joined Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust as the Chief Digital and Information Officer in October 2018. During his 22 years working in Acute NHS Hospitals, Mark has been involved in several ground-breaking projects delivering large scale, complex transformational projects.

Mark’s previous experience saw him implement England’s first Telemedicine system in Airedale NHS Trust, delivered electronic patient records at Salford Royal Foundation Trust (awarded Global Digital Exemplar status) and delivered the first electronic patient record at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Passionate about how well-implemented technology can improve the safety and reliability of patient care, Mark has most recently delivered the fastest UK implementation of an EPR system at Gloucestershire Hospitals.

Since becoming CDIO, he has championed investment in accelerating digital change. The success of Gloucestershire Hospitals’ digital transformation programme has accelerated the need for more agile access to systems, providing clinicians with live patient data whenever they need it and in turn ensuring that all patients receive the best care.

Their long-term aim is to provide agile and mobile computing experiences to colleagues to meet the expectations set with the implementation of their EPR, encouraging collaboration with colleagues across Gloucestershire’s health community and delivering better outcomes for all.

Mark’s achievements in Gloucestershire Hospitals include:

• Delivered the fastest implementation of an EPR system in the UK.
• Planned a clear roadmap to HIMSS level 7 in five years.
• Featured in the CIO Top 100 in 2020, shortlisted for HTN Leader of the Year 2020.
• Increased investment in digital and IT with board and executive support.
• Improvements in business intelligence and reporting, significant improvements in data quality.
• The rapid rollout of remote working capability during the pandemic.
• HTN award winner for Major Project Go Live (EPR) and Best use of Data (Covid-19 dashboard).

Martin Hosken is the Chief Technologist for Cloud Services at VMware. Having worked for VMware for over 7 years, Martin works at the evolution of VMware Cloud Services, the intersection where IT architecture, solution architecture and software development meet.

His primary focus is on cutting edge solutions in today’s complex cloud market and helping customers and partners prepare to make the most of the opportunities presented by emerging technology and software development practices.

His role leads on providing the intersection between research and development, engineering and sales functions helps organisations like the NHS deliver solutions that are innovative and align with their cloud strategy.

Martin is a double VMware certified design expert in Data Centre Virtualisation, Cloud Management and Automation. He has been awarded the annual VMware vExpert title for the past seven years. Amongst his achievements, Martin is an author of three books, dozens of papers, blogs and articles based on cloud technologies.

Register to hear from tech experts at our exclusive Q&A

Don’t forget to register your place for our exclusive Q&A with technology experts Mark Hutchinson and Martin Hosken. Click below to secure your virtual seat.

Can’t make the date? Don’t worry, simply register your interest in the event below and we’ll send you a copy of the recording and all of the supporting documents.

When: Tuesday 14 September 2021, 11.30am – 12.30pm.
Where: Click here to secure your virtual seat.

LIMA is an insight-led, strategic IT partner with vast experience in supporting NHS Trusts for the past 10 years on digital transformation programmes that enable resilience, optimisation and growth. Click here to speak to one of our Account Directors to find out more.