{"id":84437388,"date":"2025-09-04T15:52:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/?p=84437388"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:34:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:34:45","slug":"case-study-financial-services-infrastructure-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/?p=84437388","title":{"rendered":"Customer Success Story: STS Commercial"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"84437388\" class=\"elementor elementor-84437388\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2b06335 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"2b06335\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cb0eef3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cb0eef3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Customer Success Story: STS Commercial<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2093d02 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2093d02\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Financial services | IT Infrastructure Design\u200b<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c85c566 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c85c566\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>STS Commercial are a financial services operation providing tailored finance packages and solutions in the UK and US. They manage a portfolio of credit brokerages that support their clients in securing the best loan offers on the market, and help brokers to connect their customers with reliable access to funding.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c14d21b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"c14d21b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-eed3525 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"eed3525\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e22aecb elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"e22aecb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Issues \/ Challenges:<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-77d2db6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"77d2db6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ageing IT infrastructure.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Ever-growing storage demands.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Bottlenecks in the network.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>High cost of system downtime.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<p><!-- \/wp:list --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-99f1fd5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"99f1fd5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Objectives:<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b5f52a1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b5f52a1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Validate the belief that ageing hardware was the root cause of system bottlenecks and poor processing performance.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Implement a storage solution that would allow for company expansion.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Reduce the number of bottlenecks and under-utilised virtual machines.<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Replace ageing hardware with the most cost-effective solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bfa5569 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"bfa5569\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-59079dc elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"59079dc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-768x384.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-84437649\" alt=\"A network infrastructure in need of IT upgrades to meet the evolving needs of the finance sector and financial services.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-1024x512.png 1024w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-1536x768.png 1536w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-2048x1024.png 2048w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-600x300.png 600w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Case-study-images-2-1-min-64x32.png 64w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5de4eea0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5de4eea0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-49798156 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"49798156\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>Project Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>STS Commercial was running ageing infrastructure, including HPE ProLiant Gen9 servers, which struggled to keep up with the workload of processing a large number of loan applications. It was our initial belief that the servers were limiting performance and creating bottlenecks, but to validate the need for an outlay in investment, we first used <strong>HPE\u2019s CloudPhysics tool<\/strong>, which looks at any unused and underutilised resources.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Using HPE CloudPhysics, we identified that the company had its infrastructure configured correctly for its current environment, and more processing power was required to keep up with the ever-expanding workload. <strong>This evaluation piece gave the company confidence in their purchasing decision<\/strong> and encouraged the shareholders to release the required funds to update their servers. After assessing that the STS systems would have to be updated, we quoted a couple of solutions based on our findings, including a new retail solution based on Gen 11 servers, and a refurbished solution based on slightly older HPE Gen10 Plus servers.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>STS also looked at migrating to the cloud, which quickly proved unfeasible. Initial pricing came in at <strong>over \u00a3185,000 annually<\/strong> to move to the cloud<strong>, <\/strong>making this an unsustainable long-term solution. Although it was felt that cloud solutions could eliminate some of their energy costs and simplify management, the on-premises hardware was calculated at a far more favourable price point.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Our Solution: Refurbished IT Hardware for Optimal Price and Performance<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>By sourcing high-quality, refurbished HPE hardware, <strong>we delivered a cost-effective solution.<\/strong> The HPE Gen10 Plus servers were equipped with high-performing Xeon processors, and an HPE MSA 2062 provided the necessary storage expansion. The hardware was installed onsite, and all the latest firmware was updated. Everything was connected in a testing environment prior to going live.<\/p>\n<p>The solution met STS Commercial\u2019s heavy processing needs and provided ideal longevity with a three-year lifespan.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Through our <a href=\"https:\/\/steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/sustainable-it-solutions\/it-asset-buy-back\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;utm_campaign=case-study&amp;utm_content=stscommercial\"><strong>Trade-In service<\/strong><\/a>, we also bought back STS Commercial\u2019s HPE Gen9 servers, which gave them an even bigger saving than first expected. <strong>Ultimately, the project came in well under budget.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-17ed20e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"17ed20e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;gradient&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-88fcc51 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"88fcc51\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>By choosing refurbished hardware over the cloud, the financial impact was substantial: <strong>more than \u00a3120,000 saved in the first 12 months, and up to \u00a3400,000 saved across the 3-year lifespan of their refurbished Gen10 Plus servers.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b601913 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"b601913\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6453782 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"6453782\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6a4e0d7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6a4e0d7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>Recommending Steel City Consulting<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSteel City Consulting delivered exactly what we needed \u2014 clarity, confidence, and a clear plan forward. They helped us assess the true condition of our ageing infrastructure, identify performance bottlenecks, and validate the need for investment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> Our development team has been reinvigorated by the improved performance, and the entire process was handled with professionalism and transparency. I\u2019d confidently recommend Steel City Consulting to any business.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Will Sinclair, Director at STS Commercial\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3a7c466 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3a7c466\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e272d16 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"e272d16\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-768x281.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-84437390\" alt=\"Steel City Consulting logo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-768x281.png 768w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-1024x374.png 1024w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-1536x561.png 1536w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-600x219.png 600w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed-64x23.png 64w, https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Steel-City-Logo-compressed.png 1971w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Customer Success Story: STS Commercial Financial services | IT Infrastructure Design\u200b Overview STS Commercial are a financial services operation providing tailored finance packages and solutions in the UK and US. They manage a portfolio of credit brokerages that support their clients in securing the best loan offers on the market, and help brokers to connect [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":84437649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84437388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84437388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84437388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84437388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84437649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84437388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84437388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.steelcityconsulting.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84437388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}