Firstserv have been working with CFA UK for over 10 years, and provide a variety of hosting services for them, primarily hosting CFA UK’s largest website.

“Firstserv support our biggest income generator, the IMC [Investment Management Certificate] website,” states Martin Davies, IT Manager at CFA UK. “If that system wasn’t there, we would have no money.” Through this website applicants are able to sign up for training materials for their exams, register and pay for exams, check their results and registration status, and sign up for resits if necessary. Firstserv’s services are perfectly suited for this. Customers will log on as soon as the results arrive, and Firstserv’s guaranteed uptime means CFA UK’s system can easily cope with the spikes in traffic at these times. Firstserv’s systems are secure, meaning payment details can be taken safely, which helps CFA to manage this important income source. Due to the 24 hour support service, any required changes can be scheduled in advance and made out of office hours, to cause minimum disruption. The Virtual Server that the site is hosted on provides reliability and stability.

Firstserv are also a carrier for CFA UK’s email, and provide a DNS management tool and SSL certificates. “Email is key to any business,” comments Martin, “and since Firstserv carry our mail we don’t need to worry about anything like virus checking and scanning, as that is all managed by them. The new DNS control panel is very nice too!”

Martin adds that “In 10 years we have never had any major problems, the pricing is reasonable, the support guys are friendly and helpful, and they get back in good time. If things go down unexpectedly, Firstserv support always jump on it quickly, and keep us informed. The best testament to how happy we are to work with Firstserv is that we keep renewing our services with them. Having our stuff on their servers makes my life easier.”