How Evolve Cut Ongoing Platform Costs by 80% with Halo

About

Based in Greater Manchester, Evolve is a high-growth tech company powering network connectivity for some of the UK's biggest multi-site brands. The business manages connectivity across more than 10,000 sites across10 countries, with a focus on retail, QSR, hospitality and forecourts.

The Challenge

To support its rapid growth five years ago, Evolve required an enterprise-grade platform. But after working with several implementation partners across multiple platforms and projects, it became apparent that Evolve needed a more bespoke platform due to its unique nature and requirements.

The turning point came with the release of a new case management module. Adopting it would have meant that Evolve would have to adapt its processes to fit the software rather than the system fitting Evolve’s operating model.

For a business that has grown rapidly by doing things its own unique way, it prompted a review of the market.

By then, the day-to-day cost of the platform was hard to ignore. Configuration demanded such a broad range of specialist skills that almost all of it was outsourced, and even simple changes could take 12 weeks to implement.

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“We’re not a typical MSP - the way we operate is quite unique. What we needed was a platform we could shape around our business, rather than one that asked us to shape ourselves around it.” 

Ryan Stephenson-Brown, CIO, Evolve

The Solution

Teams across the business were bracing for a long and difficult migration to HaloPSA. Instead, the initial phase took just 8 weeks and around 80% of the business is now running on Halo, with the final teams moving across alongside Halo's implementation team.

The biggest change has been how easily the platform bends to the business’ needs. Working with outsourced specialists and lead times of up to 12 weeks has now shifted to Evolve's own team being able to make changes in real time, both on its own and alongside Halo's implementation team.

As Halo runs on SQL, the team's in-house knowledge pulls exactly the data they need directly from the database, and with Halo's API, reports and dashboards that once took days to build are now turned around in minutes.

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The consolidation has gone well beyond a single platform swap. Around 15 other systems have been consolidated into the platform, Zendesk, Smartsheet and Harvest among them.

Evolve even runs its own internal change requests on Halo, using the end user portal and software release pipeline to log and track its own configuration backlog.

More recently, Evolve became a Halo partner and began moving its own customers over to HaloITSM. Since their first customers went live, the positive reception has led to conversations with more clients on their potential to make the switch.

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“Understandably, some of our teams were nervous about another migration. Within weeks that had completely turned around - the feedback I get now is that we should have done this five years ago. It’s one of the best decisions we’ve made as a business.” 

Ryan Stephenson-Brown, CIO, Evolve

The Results

Twelve months in, the move is already paying for itself.

• 50% reduction in licensing costs.
• 80% lower implementation and ongoing platform running costs, with configuration now handled in-house rather than through outsourced specialists
• 15 systems consolidated into one platform, including Zendesk, Smartsheet and Harvest.
• Hours saved every week, with a weekly customer AI summary replacing a manual review of thousands of tickets a month.
• Reports and dashboards built in minutes rather than days.
• Customer integrations that once needed constant upkeep now run reliably, keeping Evolve's PSA and customers' ITSM instances in sync.
• First customers migrated to HaloITSM, with Evolve now a Halo partner and conversations underway across the rest of its customer base.

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"Halo does everything we need today, and the pace of development is remarkable - every release brings new capability we can putto use straight away. That gives us real confidence in where the platform is heading.”

Ryan Stephenson-Brown, CIO, Evolve

With the final teams moving across, more customers heading to Halo, and the team only just scratching the surface of Halo's AI, Evolve is confident it won't be going out to market again.

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