The Property Centre

Implementing a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) for Gloucester and Worcester's leading estate agency

Customer Profile

The Property Centre is the leading estate agent in Gloucester and Worcester with 5 branch estate agencies and a further 2 offices offering associated financial services and administrative support.

As the number one selling agent in Gloucester and Worcester and with a commitment to customer service second to none in the industry they have invested in the latest technology to support their business.

Investing in the latest Estate Agency management software has meant that The Property Centre is able to respond to customers more quickly in a fast moving housing market, offering much improved levels of customer service. However, each branch office was operating independently and there was a clear identified need to share more information between branches and Head Office and to really leverage the maximum benefits from the investment in software.

Situation

As their technology partner for over 4 years The Property Centre turned to First Solution Technologies Ltd to implement a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) to connect up all the branch offices to enable them to work more effectively. Some of the identified benefits were:

• Access to Property Details from all branches and Head Office
• Real Time Management Information for all branches
• Access to Customer Information from any branch
• Ability to respond to Customers more quickly
• Improved resilience, system data can be backed up centrally
• Centralisation of administrative function
• Considerable cost savings

During the project scope phase a number of specific issues were identified:

• Security of customer information
• Existing Internet infrastructure
• Incompatible broadband services
• Existing Branch Office IP addressing scheme
• Security and Encryption
• Impact on other services
• Storage and Backup of data

As a Cisco SMB Select Partner and a Microsoft Certified Partner, First Solution Technologies were able to design a robust Branch / Head Office VPN infrastructure using Cisco 800 Integrated Service Routers and integrate the branch data network into the head office Microsoft domain to maintain integrity and security.

The project scope included:

• Upgrade to Head Office Internet connection to support Branch VPN traffic
• Standardisation of Business Class DSL Broadband connections at Branch Offices
• Cisco IOS 128bit encryption of VPN traffic to ensure security of data
• Automatic update and transfer of branch office data to Head Office Server
• Upgrade of Head Office Backup system to cope with increase data
• Username and Strong Password authentication imposed to enhance security

Testimonial

"First Solution Technologies Ltd have been our IT Partner for the past 4 years. When we needed to improve communications between our branch offices and our head office First Solution Technologies Ltd were able to deliver a cost effective and reliable solution connecting our offices using secure VPN."

"All of our branch offices worked independently, and there was no way to access property details that had been entered at one branch, from another. First Solution Technologies Ltd linked up all our offices using a secure VPN. We are now able to communicate and share information much more effectively."

Stuart Nash, Director, The Property Centre