Claranet gives Unicef UK the support it needs to extend its charitable reach  

Unicef UK has called on IT services provider Claranet to provide a hosting solution for the charity’s websites.

As the leading organisation for promoting the rights and wellbeing of children Unicef UK is supported entirely by voluntary donations, which means having reliable digital channels is vital.

With digital being at the heart of Unicef UK’s work the charity called on Claranet to provide a hosting solution to help the charity maintain its online exposure and support its campaigns.

Joanne Di Rosa, Digital Technology Manager of Unicef UK explained, the charity’s path to digital success has not been without its challenges: “Digital technology can be difficult to work with because website traffic can vary, particularly if there is a big campaign being executed, which then puts pressure on our hosting arrangements. It’s vital for Unicef to have a live website that is reliable and support our aims to drive support for its important causes and accept donations.”

Joanne continued: “We turned to Claranet for a Managed Hosting solution. They were able to design a more reliable and resilient infrastructure for our websites to sit on, and streamlined the management of the environment to a single point of contact, allowing us to dedicate more of our time to campaigning.”

The Managed Hosting solution, which is underpinned by Claranet’s private MPLS network, supports the majority of Unicef UK’s web presence including the main website, donations funnel and other transactional applications. The infrastructure includes load balancers and Claranet’s Web Acceleration service, which cache the applications and divert traffic away from the servers themselves. This allows the sites to perform effectively during crucial times and when Unicef UK needs their websites most.

“We wanted a provider that could lead us in the right direction and give us the help we needed to get on with our fundraising efforts. Claranet immediately understood the way we work and our aspirations to use digital channels to engage more supporters. We feel confident that, were an emergency to hit, we have the right technical solution in place to support our digital estate and engage the public, driving digital innovation to maximise funds going to children in danger around the world,” Joanne concluded.