4C Strategies Ltd

Cloud IT Consultancy

Our independent Cloud IT Consultancy service is for organisations that require an experienced consultant to help with the transition to cloud IT services. Our service includes Business Needs Analysis, Strategy Development, Business Case, Procurement and Implementation with due consideration of security. We are familiar with all the latest technologies.

Features

  • Independent, we are a totally independent and impartial ICT consultancy
  • Sector focused approach (NHS, Education, Local Government, Blue Light, Charity)
  • Covers IaaS, SaaS and PaaS, Cloud Workload Analysis
  • Cloud Data Protection, Cloud Service Accessibility, Cloud Security and Compliance
  • Technically focused, we understand cloud services
  • Innovative, we understand how to use features for business benefit
  • User consultation, we can consult with users as required
  • Infrastructure audits, we can audit existing technology infrastructures
  • Options analysis, both financial and non-financial
  • Deliverables are professional and comprehensive documents

Benefits

  • Our service minimizes project timescales
  • Our service allows internal resources to concentrate on business-as-usual
  • Our service allows you to benefit from our previous experiences
  • Our service helps to achieve best value on procurements
  • Our service minimizes project risks
  • Our service delivers high quality project documentation
  • Our service helps to deliver digital transformation and cloud enablement
  • Our service helps to minimize the risk of supplier challenges
  • Our service provides a project audit trail
  • Our service helps to educate internal resources

Pricing

£400 to £950 a person a day

  • Education pricing available

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at pridge@4c.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

1 8 5 0 7 8 8 5 8 1 2 3 7 9 3

Contact

4C Strategies Ltd Paul Ridge
Telephone: 01858 438938
Email: pridge@4c.co.uk

Planning

Planning service
Yes
How the planning service works
To help organisations to plan for the implementation of cloud services, we undertake a number of activities including a) undertake user needs analysis, b) undertake infrastructure audits, c) develop the strategy, d) build the business case, e) build the project plan, f) develop the Statement of Requirements, g) undertake supplier evaluation and h) assist with contact award.
Planning service works with specific services
No

Training

Training service provided
No

Setup and migration

Setup or migration service available
Yes
How the setup or migration service works
To help organisations to migrate to the cloud or move between cloud services, we undertake a number of activities including a) consulting with users to ascertain the configuration requirements, b) building the user database, c) identifying enabling works, d) liaising with the supplier and e) providing project management and governance.
Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services
No

Quality assurance and performance testing

Quality assurance and performance testing service
Yes
How the quality assurance and performance testing works
To help organisations to do quality assurance and performance testing we undertake a number of activities including a) liaising with the supplier, b) building a user acceptance test schedule, c) undertaking user acceptance testing and d) project managing remedial works.

Security testing

Security services
No

Ongoing support

Ongoing support service
No

Service scope

Service constraints
None

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
We respond to emails within 1 working day.
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Support levels
We allocate a Lead Consultant to each assignment. The Lead Consultant is contactable via phone or email Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
No
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Other security certifications
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

4C Strategies are actively, working toward a carbon neutral footprint by the end of 2022, by:
• Working from home where possible – making use of technology for communications and collaboration
• Encouraging staff who live locally, to walk or cycle to our head office
• Using public transport, where feasible, to attend client sites
• Re-cycling and re-using wherever possible
• For our reduced carbon footprint, subscribing into a carbon off-set scheme in areas that will benefit our clients

In addition, our work advises client on the use of IT and as part of this we can advise on how they can improve fight against climate change – in particular in the following areas:

• Design Phase - we will review our client's requirements to determine the opportunities to build a green / sustainability approach into as many areas as possible.
• Scope of Work - we will work with our clients to build a set of fundamental sustainability principles into the requirements
• Business Case - we will work with our clients (where appropriate) to build business cases and procurement processes that are sensitive to all the client's sustainability initiatives
• Procurement Process - we will work with our client's to build sustainability principles and requirements into the heart of any Invitation to Tenders and associated evaluations.
• Delivery / Implementation - we will work with our clients to select suppliers to ensure that all commitments made during the procurement process are implemented and realised as part of any project.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

4C Strategies will:
- Actively seek to create employment opportunities for those left unemployed by COVID-19
- Support the physical and mental health of employees affected by COVID-19, by offering private healthcare services and also coaching and mentoring services to those employees affected. This will reduce the demand on health and care services.
- Improve workplace conditions that support the COVID-19 recovery effort including working from home where possible, effective social distancing and sustainable travel activities
- Our IT Consultancy work facilitates new ways of working for our clients, which will help then to manage and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

4C Strategies has a Social Value plan which aims to tackle economic inequality and includes the following:

We have a track record of hiring locally:
• 60% of our staff live within 15 miles our Head Office
• We promote from within, keeping knowledge and experience within our company
• Our staff are actively encouraged to undertake voluntary work in the community
• Where possible we utilise local supply chains, by buying from local independent suppliers and local branches of national suppliers
• Becoming carbon neutral by 2022

We will produce an annual Social Value report that details our performance against the following Social Value areas:
• Hiring locally
• Community Volunteering
• Work from home and reduced travel
• Working towards a Carbon Neutral Footprint
• Spending locally with local businesses
The above areas will all have a positive impact on the local economic, social and environmental well-being out our local area.

All of our work is project based and we will work with each of our clients to deliver our work in the most environmentally friendly way. In addition, our work advises client on the use of IT and as part of this we can advise on how they can improve their social values – in particular in the following areas:

• Encouraging the use of IT solutions that enable staff to work from home, with communication and collaboration tools and easy access to the applications that they require
• Working with clients to specify IT solutions which will have a low carbon footprint and to also include social value criteria within their IT procurements.
• Project Managing our client projects to ensure that social value commitments are realised as part of the IT solution deployments by the chosen suppliers.
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

4C Strategies has an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy in place. The aim of our policy is to ensure that no job applicant, employee or worker is discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Key elements of our action plan include:
• Training – to provide for all employees and contractors
• Recruitment and Selection – to adopt a consistent and non-discriminatory approach to job adverts and ensuring that all applicants who apply for jobs with us receive fair treatment and are considered solely on their ability
• Monitoring – to regularly monitor this our performance against this policy, so that appropriate action can be taken to ensure our compliance
Wellbeing

Wellbeing

We are reviewing our multidimensional wellbeing for our employees, as a result of the recent pandemic. Key areas that we will be prioritising:
• Healthy Work-Life Balance
• Staying Connected with colleagues
• Remote Team Building activities
• Mental Health Services from our Healthcare provider
• Physical Health
• Safe Working environment

Pricing

Price
£400 to £950 a person a day
Discount for educational organisations
Yes

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at pridge@4c.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.