About British Sugar

British Sugar plc is a leading supplier of sugar to the UK market. British Sugar produces over one million tonnes of sugar in the UK and an additional 500,000 tonnes of animal feed from sugar beet pulp. Using Combined Heat and Power plants, British Sugar exports enough electricity for 150,000 homes and use the hot water and carbon dioxide from the process to grow 140million tomatoes.

In 2007 British Sugar invested in the UK’s first Bioethanol plant, producing 70 million litres of renewable fuel. British Sugar products can be found on supermarket shelves under the Silver Spoon brand, one of the UK’s leading food brands and in goods from a wide range of manufacturers.

The Challenge

In 2004 British Sugar selected JD Edwards to replace their legacy SAP application and associated technologies as they had become increasingly costly to manage and support. 

The strategic importance of JD Edwards demanded a high quality, robust and effective maintenance and support partner to ensure that the system ran smoothly and any support issues were resolved fast and with minimum disruption to British Sugar’s operation. Business continuity and relieving pressure and over reliance on existing personnel was also important factors in their partner choice.

The Solution

British Sugar selected Netential as their partner to manage, maintain and support the JD Edwards software platform. From day one, Netential worked closely with British Sugar to ensure that the transition from legacy SAP software to JD Edwards was seamless. Since deployment, Netential has provided full technical management for the application infrastructure, day-to-day management and end-user support of the software.  This has relieved pressure on the internal IT team and allowed them to tap into additional expertise and experience.  

"With Netential in charge, it just works and is one thing less for me to worry about.” Dave Richmond, British Sugar

Dave Richmond, business development manager at British Sugar, explained: “Netential provide excellent support and maintenance of our JD Edwards platform.  They enable British Sugar to focus on driving the business forward with peace of mind that our core system is supported to the highest standards. With Netential in charge, it just works and is one thing less for me to worry about.”

To ensure a first class service, Netential employees’ work four days per month at British Sugar’s offices. The onsite presence means that Netential has an intimate knowledge of the people, systems and company that ensures the application runs smoothly and any issues or support queries are resolved fast.  As a result Netential is fully integrated, trusted and recognised as part of the British Sugar team.

A comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Business Continuity policy was defined by Netential to reflect the business critical nature of the processes supported by JD Edwards. This ensures a consistent and high level of service that significantly reduces risk and means British Sugar is protected 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In addition to maintenance and support of JD Edwards, British Sugar regularly uses Netential for consultancy services to advise them on future developments and enhancements of the application. 

The Results

Using Netential to manage, maintain and support JD Edwards is much lower than the cost of employing an internal team with the same capability. British Sugar estimates it would need an extra three fulltime employees in the IT team to manage and support the application to the same standard without Netential. This combined with improved efficiency resulting from Netential’s expertise of JD Edwards applications ensures a healthy return on investment.

"They are not just a voice at the end of the phone; they are fully integrated and part of the British Sugar team, which has undoubtedly saved us time, money and headaches.” Dave Richmond, British Sugar

Dave Richmond continued: “Netential’s key strength is the quality of people who work for them. They are not just a voice at the end of the phone; they are fully integrated and part of the British Sugar team, which has undoubtedly saved us time, money and headaches.  Netential is a company we trust and can rely on.”

Crucially Netential’s support helps British Sugar’s IT team hit their target of spending 80 percent of their time on development.  This enables British Sugar to focus on developing and delivering their own solutions to remain one of the UK’s leading companies.