Paradyn enables mobile working in €150K deal with Flow Technology

Paradyn, Ireland’s only end-to-end IT and communications service provider, today announces that it has designed and implemented a full IT network and system upgrade for process engineering firm, Flow Technology. In a deal valued at €150,000, Paradyn’s solution provides high-speed broadband, increased reliability and security. It also enables flexible mobile working for Flow Technology’s employees.

Established in 1978, the privately-owned process engineering company based in Charleville, Co. Cork, is one of Ireland’s leading process engineering firms that designs, manufactures and installs specialist equipment and systems for the manufacturing sector across the biopharma, pharmaceutical, beverage, food, and dairy industries.

Flow Technology has experienced significant growth over the last five years, with staff numbers increasing from 39 to 63 during this time. Annual turnover has also grown almost 10% year-on-year since 2013. Earlier this year, in response to increased customer demand, Flow Technology made significant investment in a second fabrication building that increases its capacity by 250% and provides a world class process module fabrication facility with two five tonne overhead cranes giving it the capacity to manage multiple concurrent projects.

Outdated IT infrastructure and a slow broadband network made mobile working very difficult and staff were also spending a significant amount of time on IT management, these factors were hampering company growth.

Paradyn designed and implemented a full network and IT system upgrade including a new on-site IT command centre where all of Flow Technology’s IT is centrally controlled. This included a highly secure, confidential network along with super-fast wireless broadband, with failover to fixed line broadband. Paradyn also installed a cloud-based solution, so that staff can now work between Flow Technology’s two sites – from home and on the road, thus facilitating mobile working.

Security was a crucial element in the new infrastructure and to protect against cyber-attacks, Paradyn implemented a full disaster recovery plan, including multiple forms of back-up and security on mobile devices. Flow Technology is supported by Paradyn’s fully manned helpdesk.

Cillian McCarthy, CEO, Paradyn said, “The value of this integrated solution for Flow Technology is that our engineers can see all elements of Flow Technology’s IT, security, communications, and network infrastructure. This means fast resolution times – 90% of faults get fixed during the first-call, significantly less time spent managing IT and a higher return on Flow Technology’s investment on IT and communications systems.

“Paradyn is Ireland’s only end-to-end managed service solution for IT, telecoms, security, network, and business connectivity. As we can build, monitor and securely maintain every aspect of a customer’s IT and communications infrastructure we were well-positioned to provide Flow Technology with a new secure IT infrastructure and high-speed broadband.

“Our engineers monitor all aspects of Flow Technology’s infrastructure from our operations center, our solution also means that Flow Technology’s employees are spending less time on IT management which increases efficiency while also improving security.”

Kevin Whooley, managing director, Flow Technology said, “Following the tendering process, we knew that Paradyn was the right fit for us as they were capable of managing the entire setup from desktops to servers to phones to connectivity. The new solution has provided us with an infrastructure that enables mobile working, improves IT reliability and maintains the highest level of security which improves our business performance.

“For us to serve the needs of Flow Technology’s customers and realise our growth targets we needed a secure, reliable, integrated IT infrastructure. Mobile working and security were key elements of the new infrastructure requirements. A large proportion of our customer base are multinationals, making robust information security a critical prerequisite to working with them. The improved mobility capability provides our onsite installation teams, some who are based permanently on customer sites, the ability to work remotely more efficiently and improves communication with our office-based teams and our customers.

“Since we purchased a second building which is more than twice the size of the existing building, we need huge flexibility to be able to have seamless access to our IT infrastructure in both buildings. Similarly, with the new solutions, all our staff – engineers, craft, sales, and accounts – can all work remotely giving us greater flexibility and mobility to meet the needs of our customers.

“The investment in the system will pay for itself as little as four years, if not less.”