F.A. Valiant & Son Ltd
Press Start Ltd Provides a Flexible Support Model to Help Drive Business Growth for its Client
F.A. Valiant & Son Ltd
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Introducing modernisation to a business is a significant challenge, especially for a specialist heritage builder like F.A. Valiant & Son Ltd.
The unique nature of its work renovating and repairing historic buildings, churches, Cambridge Colleges, and private residences, features many challenging technical, practical, and compliance requirements. To help support and modernise its business, F.A. Valiant turned to Press Start Ltd to provide a managed IT service for its core business applications, as well as upgrade its systems to support and modernise its business. This was crucial to help it thrive as its customers’ expectations and working methods changed and evolved.
Let’s delve into how Press Start Ltd partnered with its client to maximise the value of its investment in IT, and better serve its customers.
Services used
- IT Strategy
- Managed IT Support
- Managed Cybersecurity
The Challenge
Bringing a Business Up to Date
Like many small and even medium-sized businesses, technology wasn’t particularly high on the agenda for senior managers at F.A. Valiant. So long as there was a website, an accounting system, and basic email, everything was fine – until it wasn’t when the email stopped working one day.
Getting By is No Longer Enough
The critical event that triggered F.A. Valiant’s review of its IT support was the email system failing. A contractor who came on-site when needed looked after the limited technology environment—PCs, printers, and email.
This level of support was adequate when email and the main accounting package were almost a ‘nice to have.’ However, as email became more mainstream in the construction sector, it became clear that a more robust support model was essential.
The contractor was unable to identify and resolve the technical issue caused by a blocked IP address. With the company unable to send or receive email, David Cowle, the company’s General Manager, quickly contacted Press Start Ltd, who was able to resolve the issue within 24 hours.
The Solution
Modern IT Support for a Modern Business
With that issue quickly resolved, F.A. Valiant’s managers recognised that supporting its IT infrastructure was now firmly on their agenda, both for its day-to-day needs and in the longer term, as the business responded to new opportunities and challenges.
The company’s managers recognised that it needed a more effective IT support model delivered in a way it could justify. They turned to their new partner, Press Start Ltd., to see how its managed service model might address their needs.
F.A. Valiant’s use of digital technology was accelerating rapidly, with laptops and smart devices becoming the norm at customer sites and in the office. These devices needed support for issues including hardware, software, patch management, driver updates—the list goes on. Data and device security were also important, given the sensitive information forming part of a typical client engagement for commercial and project managers. Given the original email issue, business resilience was important, too.
The project’s goal was to ensure that the company had the level of tech support it needed daily so that people could do their regular jobs and not be diverted from their duties to fix IT problems.
Partnering for Success - The Press Start Ltd Difference
With the Press Start Ltd managed service delivering as planned, F.A. Valiant’s management team began to chart a way for the business to enhance its management and support new digital capabilities. David and his management team wanted to allow employees to work effectively in any location, to continue enhancing client engagement.
Part of this initiative involved introducing a new accounting package that helped the senior management team better visualise its invoicing and payments profiles, project pipelines, its fixed and variable cost base, and more.
Press Start Ltd also helped the management team plan its office move, which was essential for providing a more flexible workplace for its employees. This involved moving out of the site it had occupied for over 70 years and moving away from a paper-based work process, which both aimed at cutting costs.
This project also involved migrating from an analogue phone system to a VOIP-based platform, which would better support a flexible working model.
Using its extensive experience in similar projects, Press Start Ltd was able to help identify potential solutions, develop the implementation plans, and manage the overall project plan.
Want to read in your own time?
Book a free discovery call
Book a free discovery call to discuss how your business could benefit from Press Start’s IT Support services.
