With a move onto the cloud, HCT Group has transformed the performance of its fleet management software after switching to a hosted IT platform. With increasing computerisation, the operator of London and regional bus services realised that they had outgrown their own IT infrastructure and needed to look at ways to improve connectivity, access, security and speed.
Previously, the HCT group-wide fleet engineering software was being hosted on internal servers. A switch to cloud hosting on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the solution provided by software supplier Freeway Fleet Systems, has proved a great success in addressing the previous issues and is realising additional benefits across the distributed operations.
Unlike many bus companies, HCT Group operates across the UK with 6 companies operating across 12 sites. With cloud hosting providing group-wide access to the same software, there are obvious benefits for managing the system; negating the need to arrange access to servers at each site with simpler once-only global software upgrading for all users.
“The switch to Freeway’s cloud hosted service has really transformed the performance of the software: it is just a lot faster and reliable. And the combination of the Amazon Web Services platform and a centrally managed Freeway software service gives us assurance that we now have a very secure and future proofed solution.” Says Donna Norman, Director of Business Systems, HCT Group.
Used to manage the HCT’s vehicle maintenance, compliance and procurement, the Freeway system has been widely deployed as part of a move to paperless working in regional workshops and stores. Freeway gives HCT group-wide visibility of the entire group’s assets and their availability. With everyone using the same system and a common asset database, HCT are benefiting from real-time management reports with centralised purchasing and cost control across the group.
System and data security was also a major concern for HCT Group, and the hosting provided by Freeway on AWS brings a new level of protection that was not possible previously. Freeway also provisions and maintains the cloud infrastructure that is hosted on AWS’s cloud platform and takes care of management of users that need to connect to the cloud in order to run Freeway.
The COVID-19 crisis has also spurred on a general move to online cloud based services and like many organisations being able to access systems via the cloud has been transformational for HCT allowing, for example, home working and the adoption of virtual working for everything from system training to management meetings and operational planning.
