In a warehouse in Vestby we are welcomed by Kent Nicolaysen. He is CTO of Collicare, and thus has the responsibility for the IT systems that make everything work. Nicolaysen has been on the whole journey and knows the company as his own pocket.
The facility he shows us around is almost brand new. Close to the E6 and Østfoldbanen, the company has recently established a warehouse of 30.000 m 2, which among other things houses warehousing and logistics management for customers such as Porsche and Tesla.
Did not want own servers and IT staff
On the upper floors there are 3.000 m 2 with offices, with functions related to administration, handling of sea and car freight, customs clearance and customer service. But there are no servers with flashing diodes and noisy fans, and only a few IT staff.
We pass heavy boxes of Tesla batteries and enter a part of the warehouse which is filled with rims and car tires from floor to ceiling. Every package has its place. Nicolaysen goes on to talk about the IT solution that makes everything work:
— Braathe delivers our infrastructure, i.e. backend, servers and the internet lines, and supports the databases. The employees sit on so-called thin clients and work towards a remote desktop solution. It works just as well now that we have 400 employees, as when we had 20 12 years ago, says Nicolaysen.
Nothing runs locally, not even mail
All operating systems, storage systems, transport systems and accounting systems run on the servers Braathe. Nothing runs locally, not even mail. Users land in through a secure Citrix connector, which is also accessible via home office and mobile devices.
- For us, it is important with that flexibility Braathe gives. This means that we can work at home, when travelling, and that we have access to the systems everywhere, says Nicolaysen.
When we take the elevator up to the office premises, basically everything looks like any office landscape. Only models of lorries and maps of European transport routes testify that it is logistics that is being worked on. Without the solution from Braathe had they also had to place a larger IT department in this landscape.
- We had to have a completely different IT capacity, including IT rooms, double lines and not least people with expertise in server stability and maintenance, and it is a stomach ulcer I would prefer not to incur, says Nicolaysen.
Crucial with a scalable solution
Nicolaysen says they don't quite know how much and in what areas Collicare will grow in the years to come. Therefore, the ability to scale the solution is crucial.
Now this is something that happens completely invisible to the users. There is an ongoing dialogue with Braathe and the software suppliers with regard to capacity, then it is scaled up when there is a number of new users or new departments are to be opened.
That Collicare chose Braathe when they started up was not accidental. That Braathe was a local player, with head office just over a mile from Moss, was important in choosing an IT supplier.
- For us, it was important to have a local player to have a proximity to the IT supplier to get quick decisions and support for the growth that we planned. We have in a way grown together with Braathe, and is very satisfied with the collaboration, concludes Nicolaysen.
