Ice and a Slice: Simon’s Story

Highlights

• 14 employees, half remote
• Small office in remote location that needs reliable WiFi
• Reduced time spent on downloads by 30%

Their Story

For creative marketing agency Ice and a Slice, conventional simply won’t do. That’s why they’ve forgone the busy economic and cultural hubs of Oxford and London and instead established their office amidst the picturesque Oxfordshire countryside, roughly equidistant between the two urban centers. In the past, this may have put them at a disadvantage, but as a young and tech savvy team, they’re eager to challenge old paradigms. That extends not only to the award-winning work they’ve done for their clients, but also to how they approach technology.

For their 14 employees, half of whom work remotely, maintaining their office in such a beautiful setting requires top-notch tech that keeps everyone seamlessly connected.

The challenge

When Head of Digital Simon Williams first moved his team into their new office, they were delighted to find that the previous tenant, an IT business, had installed a high-speed internet line. The team frequently works with large files—typically in the form of high-quality images and videos—that they need to be able to send back and forth to clients and remote team members without a hitch. Unfortunately, while their internet line had enough bandwidth in theory, their network hardware was not keeping pace. Every time the modem buckled under the pressure, Simon would have to restart it, losing productivity time that could not be billed to clients. The current hardware also offered nothing by way of security, which was not ideal when working with privileged client data.

Simon was eager to find a solution to these tech challenges that he could manage himself and that wouldn’t break the bank. He initially heard about Meraki Go from Ingram Micro, a Meraki Go partner. After comparing a few different solutions, he decided that the ease and convenience of Meraki Go made it the obvious choice.

The solution

Meraki Go provided Simon with a simple, out-of-the-box solution that upgraded all of their network hardware. The Meraki Go access point replaced their outdated modem, the Meraki Go security gateway kept all of their data secure, and the Meraki Go switch made it simple to connect their phones and other devices to the network. Best of all, the Meraki Go app made it simple to manage all of their network devices in one convenient place and from anywhere.

Beyond just managing devices, the app enabled Simon to be strategic about how the team was using bandwidth. For example, he could provide more bandwidth to the creative team, who deal with large files, and less bandwidth for an account manager. He could even limit access to certain sites, like Gmail, where large files were often being transferred. Finally, he was also able to create a dedicated guest WiFi with a professional splash page to delight clients when they visit.

The result

Today, none of the staff at Ice and a Slice would call themselves IT experts, and that’s perfectly okay. Meraki Go provides the team with everything they need in a simple and convenient package. Any team member can access the network via the Meraki Go app, and the intuitive interface doesn’t require extensive training to understand. It’s a boon for this tech savvy and enthusiastic team. Now they can devote all of their time to their clients without losing productivity due to shoddy internet connectivity—and Simon still gets to be a hero.