When others handle the tedious tasks, there is more capacity to focus on development and business needs. This has been the experience of the Danish construction company Aarsleff since Conscia began managing, securing, and maintaining its network.
By Danish standards, the construction company Aarsleff is a large corporation with a billion-kroner turnover and activities in Denmark and abroad. Like many other companies, Aarsleff needs a strong network for communication and collaboration across construction sites, country offices, and everything in between.
Historically, the construction and civil engineering sector has been known for clinging to outdated manual workflows. However, in recent years, digitalization has made significant inroads, and digital tools and data are increasingly being used to accomplish tasks and support the green agenda – for example, 3D programs for visualization, drones, and sensors that can measure everything from fuel levels to idling times. The increased complexity of business processes has heightened the performance demands on Aarsleff’s network, prompting Aarsleff to look for a new network provider a few years ago.
“We felt that, over time, we had outgrown our previous provider. We wanted to enter into a genuine partnership with our new network provider, where we are on a common mission to solve shared tasks. We found that kind of engagement and those competencies with Conscia,” says Lars Asbjørn Højfeldt, IT Operations Manager at Aarsleff.
He explains that Aarsleff’s choice of a new network partner is also linked to the IT department’s outsourcing strategy.
“There are eight people in my operations department, and only one is dedicated to the network. There is simply too much work for one person with nearly 9,000 employees, 4,000 computers, 40 subsidiaries, and 50 construction sites. We need someone to ensure things get done, so we are not the responsible party for the basic operations. We want to keep the architecture role in-house because that knowledge and know-how need to be anchored with us. But we want to outsource all the routine work to a partner so we can focus on setting the right strategy and developing the business by adopting new digital initiatives and technologies,” says Lars Asbjørn Højfeldt, IT Operations Manager at Aarsleff.
Conscia Managed Services for Aarsleff – A Good Match
Conscia Managed Services for Aarsleff contributes to increased standardization and automation of 24/7 monitoring, incident/response capability, operations, security updates, and general maintenance of the entire network infrastructure. Additionally – and this is a crucial point for Lars Asbjørn Højfeldt – Aarsleff gains access to Conscia’s network experts for advisory support. Networks are not static; they are the infrastructure that ensures daily workflows are smooth and efficient. Therefore, it is highly valuable for Aarsleff to leverage Conscia’s expertise in planning the network of the future.
On a technical level, Lars Asbjørn Højfeldt also emphasizes the strong technology match between Aarsleff and Conscia. Over the years, Aarsleff has invested in many solutions from Cisco, Meraki, Palo Alto, and VMware, all of which are vendors and technologies Conscia has built significant expertise in.
“In this regard, Conscia also assists us with lifecycle management, ensuring we continuously have an overview of what needs immediate replacement, what will soon require attention, and other critical updates. This helps us secure our equipment against hackers and cyberattacks. It’s a massive task covered by the Managed Services agreement,” says Lars Asbjørn Højfeldt.
