Motorpoint is a leading independent UK retailer of nearly new and used cars. Founded in 1998, the business will soon have 21 stores across the UK and is proud to offer customers a multichannel car-buying experience.
“Node4 provides the IT foundations for our business,” explains Neil Gaskell, Head of IT Engineering and Operations at Motorpoint. “Basically, all the connectivity and infrastructure that makes it possible to sell cars and other vehicles across the country.”
Migrating from Node4’s MPLS to SD-WAN
Motorpoint had been using Node4’s MPLS offering to provide Internet connectivity to its UK stores, HQ and vehicle preparation centres. Neil recalls that MPLS was a great fit for the business, but it now made sense to migrate to Node4’s SD-WAN offering.
“That way, we could retain the tried, tested and trusted MPLS core – and the same support team – but get a bandwidth boost and even more flexible, resilient connections,” said Gaskell.
“Node4’s SD-WAN gives us 100% redundancy and resiliency in each store, because every site has two independent Internet connections. If one carrier fails, the SD-WAN will automatically reroute traffic without the store or its customers noticing.
“Furthermore, everything is centrally managed, provisioned and maintained by Node4, so our store managers don’t need to give any real thought to the IT systems – focusing instead on customer engagement and selling.”
A long-term partnership based on mutual trust and respect
“We’ve been a Node4 customer from the very beginning. In fact, Motorpoint was actually Node4’s first customer, so, if you like, this is also an origin story,” comments Mark Carpenter, CEO at Motorpoint Group. “At the time, we were very disillusioned with the standard of service from our IT service provider – it seemed like their hearts weren’t in it, and that we were just another name on their books.
“We knew Andrew Gilbert before he was Node4’s founder and CEO and had told him about our predicament. Andrew said he could do things differently if we gave him a chance. We duly put our hosting provider on notice and became Andrew’s first customer.”
Today, Motorpoint’s partnership with Node4 goes beyond simply ordering a new kit or calling to adjust server capacities.
“Aside from delivering that vital connectivity via the SD-WAN, Node4 also hosts many key elements of our website. Node4 provides multiple services, infrastructure and support that touch so many parts of our business,” notes Gaskell.
“For that reason, we’ve always seen the Node4 team as consultants and a trusted source of knowledge. We take a collaborative approach, which means my team often calls Node4 to chat through potential tech scenarios and get advice and input. We’ve recently brought this informal consultancy role into a new services and support contract that sets the tone for the chapter of our partnership.
“Since we started working together, Node4 has remained a true and dependable IT partner. We can always depend on the Node4 team for a consistently high quality of service – delivered with that all-important human touch and personal service.”
