MEET THE ICT TEAM

LAURENCE BICHENER

Laurence Bichener
Head of ICT Sales

I’ve been with Redcentric for 21 years. I joined originally working for Xpert Systems, a Cisco Gold Partner that was later acquired by Redstone. Redstone eventually became Redcentric. Throughout my career here, I’ve been involved in both the project-based business side, which was largely focused on Cisco solutions, and in managed services. I like that blend of project-based and managed service work, as it allows me to address a variety of customer needs.

I’m part of the public sector sales team and Head of ICT Sales, which is a hybrid role. I oversee a range of long-standing customer accounts, particularly in the healthcare sector, and manage our relationship with our technology partner Cisco, alongside Stephen Rees. I also support the wider team with on-premises solutions for some of the larger managed services customers. My role includes managing established ICT accounts and generating new business, either by acquiring new customers or supporting cross selling opportunities across the wider business.

The majority of our public sector customers rely on Redcentric for robust, secure networking solutions. We typically provide Cisco LAN solutions for large hospitals, which includes wireless networks and security through Cisco firewalls and Identity Services Engine (ISE). These networks play a critical role in patient care and operational efficiency.

Currently, we’re completing a wireless network refresh at a hospital located in London where we implemented an upgraded Cisco wireless solution. This project involved a comprehensive redesign of access point placement to enhance network performance and resilience, critical for a hospital environment where reliable, secure connectivity is essential.

We’re also in the early stages of a refresh project for a hospital in the north-east which involves transitioning them from a legacy Dell network to an upgraded Cisco wireless solution. For each of these projects, our team has conducted thorough wireless surveys. This enables us to optimise access points, install new controllers, and provide professional services to ensure a smooth deployment.

A good example is our work with a private healthcare provider looking for secure, reliable access to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). This connectivity is essential for healthcare providers who need to communicate securely with the NHS, whether they’re software providers or patient-care facilities. In this case, we provided the customer with a secure HSCN connection. This can be achieved either via an environment hosted in our data centre or through public cloud options such as AWS. These solutions are tailored to each customer’s unique needs, ensuring they can access NHS resources securely.

While there’s a broad industry shift towards cloud solutions, large organisations will always need on-premises infrastructure due to their size and specific demands. For example, hospitals are large, physical buildings that require pervasive, reliable networking, and as digital health tools continue to evolve, the need for robust networks will only grow. Clinicians increasingly rely on mobile solutions, and the ability to access digital tools at the bedside, provide remote monitoring, and deliver patient entertainment are all becoming integral to modern healthcare.

Security, of course, is also a major priority. While clinical applications may gradually shift to cloud-based platforms, they still need to be delivered to every corner of a hospital in a secure manner. Over the last 15 years, we have remained a trusted partner for our customers, undertaking complex projects and requiring ongoing hardware maintenance on critical devices.

Redcentric have numerous large customers who rely on us to provide their wide area networks. I believe there is an opportunity to combine the strengths of Redcentric’s managed services and our ICT offerings by providing on-premises solutions to these customers.