Project Background
Arcadis is a worldwide Engineering Consultant considered the leader in built and natural asset design and management. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic saw the need to rapidly provide their 1000-strong Australian workforce with work-at-home capabilities.
Arcadis turned to Datcom to quickly find a solution for staff to smoothly acquire the hardware needed to continue their work in a safe environment with minimal disruption.
“We needed a solution that was safe and secure, at scale. We needed it to be quick and we needed it to be smooth.”
Amy Baxendale
Regional HR Manager, Arcadis Australia
Solution Approach
“The supply chain was the biggest issue. A lot of businesses were going through the same process, so accessing the hardware we needed, as quickly as we needed it, was a huge challenge.”
Arcadis are responsible for a number of large scale critical infrastructure projects. The huge complexity of these projects, and inter-dependency of various tasks, meant it was imperative all staff were able to continue working with minimal disruption – in a safe environment.
This was complicated by general difficulty obtaining large quantities of equipment as most businesses shifted to the home environment. Datcom coordinated the solution of this challenge from start to finish.
The Datcom and HP Partnership was leveraged
As a HP Gold Partner, Datcom was able to leverage the partnership to secure priority access to the large quantities of hardware Arcadis required.
HP provided demonstration hardware for review
To ensure the safety of their team and suitability of the equipment, Datcom managed the provision of HP samples for review, for everything from computer screens to office chairs.
Commercial pricing and guarantees were negotiated
Datcom negotiated commercial pricing with HP for all equipment, with HP guaranteeing the models for 1-2 years and honouring the pricing until all staff had a solution.
A bespoke portal was developed
Datcom developed a dedicated ordering portal for the Arcadis team. Here they could purchase available equipment at the negotiated prices, making access and cost claiming simple and smooth.
Datcom managed the supply chain
Arcadis were provided with a dedicated Datcom resource to project manage everything, from supply chain management to resolution of technical issues.
The Results
“Having a dedicated portal made setting up everyone to work from home really simple. What could have been a huge challenge was turned into a smooth and really easy process for our whole team.”
Arcadis were able to quickly present their staff with a bespoke portal through which they could order all hardware required to set up a home office – even items not typically supplied by an IT company, such as office chairs.
The ease of this solution saw 80% of Arcadis’s team utilise the portal to quickly and safely transition to home offices, with minimal disruption to Arcadis projects.
Datcom, supported by HP, kept the portal open, giving staff full access to the negotiated prices, for the entirety of 2020 and into 2021. This provided ample time for all staff to complete the most appropriate home office set-ups.
Arcadis benefitted from:
- All staff having access to a dedicated procurement portal with preferential pricing for hardware or software
- Easy tracking of purchases for expense claiming
- Quick and seamless transition of staff to safe home working
- Minimal disruption to Arcadis projects
- Exceptional customer service, including assembling chairs before delivery