Following the completion of a major client project, I was asked to put together a case study, not only to show how happy our client was with the result of a brand new IT infrastructure that was built within budget and time frame, but also to help guide other organisations to achieve the same. It’s always nice to hear from a happy customer especially when the project didn’t start off as smoothly as they would have liked.

Driving towards the new purpose built premises of Pioneer Manufacturing Ltd Waiwhakaiho, New Plymouth, I was starting to get a sense of the extent of their requirements for the build. The beautifully tarmacked car park with oversized parking spaces gave way to a perfectly positioned entrance surrounded by blacked out windows. A perfect place to work on important heating solution projects.

Having completed the building and the move, Pioneer’s Finance and Administration Manager, Tracey O’Doherty, contacted Staples Rodway’s IT team to ask for a little help.

“We didn’t initially make contact with Staples Rodway as we believed the IT company we were dealing with could take charge of the whole project. As it turned out, their expertise really lay in infrastructure wiring the building and telecommunications. Creating a top quality IT environment was our next goal. After several delays and with the Christmas deadline fast approaching, we still didn’t have our new server installed. Having worked at Baker Tilly Staples Rodway in the past I knew they would be efficient, thorough and extremely knowledgeable, so I contacted them immediately.”

Having previously been located in Inglewood, the family-run business has been around for over 20 years, and is well known in the industry for manufacturing and supplying Metro Fires nationwide. The Metro Fires network comprises of over 300 agency partners made up of heating specialists, hardware stores, plumbers, installers and chimney sweeps.

The new state-of-the-art building is now the hub of the wood fire manufacturing company and houses the Metro Fires National Office, Research & Development Centre and is the Distribution centre for Metro Fires’ nationwide network.

Baker Tilly Staples Rodway IT Director, Rob McEwan said: “Pioneer had brought their existing systems up from Inglewood, however those systems were slow, insecure, impeded productivity and were a constant frustration to the team. Much of the IT landscape had changed, so we spent time educating them on what was now possible. We worked with Tracey to define the road map for their IT journey, gained their approval and started planning.”

Pioneer still wanted to implement over Christmas. So Rob and the team agreed a go-live date early in January to match the return to work from the holiday season. Preparatory work was all done before Christmas so the change-over could happen while the office was closed for the holidays and testing occurred in early January so any issues were sorted before the staff returned.

Tracey said: “I was really impressed, even from the initial meeting, they addressed my concerns and provided the best solutions to any queries I had. Expecting a few teething issues on the first day back after the Christmas break, a lot of stress was taken away by their team being on site to respond immediately. To this day, Baker Tilly Staples Rodway are on hand when we need them and even supply sound advice on areas outside of their expertise. I know that no matter what the problem, Baker Tilly Staples Rodway have the solution and I look forward to a long and trusted relationship with them.”