OIA Global

Claus Rasmussen, Director of IT and Communication at OIA Global, considers moving to ‘the cloud’, customs interface software and all-important support.

“We are a multilingual, multicultural and multi-faceted transportation organisation delivering specialised services within the fast-paced world of international freight forwarding and logistics. Two years ago, faced with an aging physical infrastructure and looking at virtualisation with our own hardware, we found the right providers and solutions, and moved our entire infrastructure into ‘the cloud’. To be honest, I cannot see any advantage or how people gain some sort of confidence by looking at equipment – when I see equipment, I see something that’s about to break.

We build partnerships with companies who offer the best software and best support. That’s where ASM comes in. Sequoia gives us confidence to handle anything that’s thrown at us – we get on with our business while Sequoia gets on with our customs interface. That’s no difference to going into the cloud. Why create solutions yourself when best-of-breed suppliers can deliver what you need?

Migrating from GeMS to Sequoia was really a non-event. We ‘downed tools’ on Sunday, went with Sequoia on Monday and there were no issues. ASM handled the user-side, while our software provider Azyra, worked closely with ASM to build the interface to Sequoia. With Sequoia customs interface software ASM have simply done the right things. They renewed the software when GeMS was getting long in the tooth, and did it in a considered and structured manner.

The real plus point about ASM is their support people. ASM’s support really is second to none. It’s always immediate, professional and handled all the way through, with no stone left unturned. Support is seen as a bit of a burden by many companies but that’s what really makes things work.

From a business-critical point of view we can’t have downtime or bugs. Any downtime blamed on us means we are left paying the bill and that affects our reputation with our customers. Sequoia gives us the confidence and ASM gives us the support we need to ensure we continue to meet our customers’ expectations.”