Photo: (L-R) – Brian Lee, COO at London CIV – Dan Kitchen, CEO at razorblue – Tim Harris, Head of Operations at London CIV
A leading managed service provider which works with over 500 companies across the UK has been tasked with managing the cybersecurity, resilience and continuity strategies for the body responsible for pensions across all 32 of London’s boroughs, and the City of London.
Over the last three years, razorblue has been working closely with London CIV which manages £11.2bn of Local Government Pension Scheme assets, to build and implement a robust IT strategy.
With razorblue by its side, London CIV has achieved close to a 30 per cent increase in income and doubled its headcount in the last two years – and the North East-headquartered IT provider has continued to increase its service portfolio, skills and resources to support the company’s development journey.
Head of Operations at London CIV, Tim Harris said: “It is vital that our chosen IT partner understands our business and the importance of working as a partnership.
“The FCA regulatory framework requires a comprehensive framework that covers all areas of our IT Business, we are regularly subject to Thematic reviews from the FCA or alike authorities. We therefore take cyber risks extremely seriously and the development of our Operational Resilience will be an important milestone for us. We will continue to work closely with the team at razorblue to not only combat risks when they do arise but prevent them from happening in the first place.”
razorblue has implemented industry-leading, cloud-based next generation firewalls, e-mail security, and zero-trust access significantly reducing the threat landscape for London CIV. Regular strategy review meetings ensure that the firm’s IT roadmap remains relevant, flexible and scalable, and regular penetration tests, mimicking hacker attempts are carried out to identify any vulnerabilities.
CEO at razorblue, Dan Kitchen said: “There are too many Managed Service Providers out there that simply take the IT budget and run with it, but we take a more measured, strategic approach.
“We, like London CIV, want to work in partnership with our clients and build bespoke IT roadmaps that align with their specific goals. That can’t be achieved without getting to know the business, the people and the vision first.”
Disaster recovery is a key focus, as Dan Kitchen explains: “A lot of disaster recovery starts by asking the ‘what ifs’, both financially and reputationally.
“We ask important questions like, ‘How would your business operate if you lost your office?’, ‘How would you access data, files and folders?’ and ‘what would be the business impact if you lost connectivity?’.”
razorblue continues to work closely with London CIV to ensure the company is ahead of the curve and that its data and reputation is secure with the help of best-suited technologies.
Tim Harris concludes: “We are looking forward to scaling up our relationship further with several significant projects in the pipeline. We trust that razorblue remains the ideal partner to support and drive our continued growth plans and cybersecurity strategy.”
Established in 2015 by London Local Authorities, London CIV manages the London Local Government Pension Scheme. Responsible for all 32 of the London boroughs and the City of London, London CIV is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
