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IT works! and Berkshire Records Office relocation

     
Focus of study:
  Hardware & software requirements
Sector:
  Public
Impact:
   Local
     
The business benefits of working with advisers with Technology Means Business accreditation
 
Jill Upton is and adviser with Technology Means Business accreditation and the Managing Director of IT Works! Jill founded the company to provide a complete IT support service for her clients. She saw the TMB accreditation process as an ideal way of continually developing her skills to meet the needs of small businesses.
 
Technology Means Business is an organisation within the Institute of Management and supported by the DTI through UK Online for Business. The TMB initiative is an accreditation programme to identify and promote advisers properly equipped to give business information and communication technology related advice to small and medium sized businesses. Jill has successfully shown that the advice she offers is exactly what businesses need to get the most effective use from technology. The case study below illustrates how companies benefit from working with TMB accredited advisers.
 
Smooth move, thanks to TMB accredited adviser
 
When Berkshire Records Office was moving premises, they appointed WS Atkins as architects and project managers. David Morriss headed up the WS Atkins operation and it was his job to appoint a contactor to be responsible for the IT requirements at the new site.
 
Jill Upton of Bedfordshire based IT Works! was recommended to him by one of his other contractors, who had worked with them before but it wasn't just this vote of confidence which swung David's decision. "Three companies," David explains, "tendered for this contract and the IT Works! proposal was the most cost effective, but what also influenced me was the way Jill Upton runs that company. She's a very hands-on person, she gets involved and, both during the project and since, I've always been able to speak to her when I need to. She sees a project through rather than hand it over to some unknown colleague once the initial contacts are made. It's this personal service that we really appreciated".

 
Working together to achieve the business objective
 
There were two parts to the project. First Jill had to work closely with both David Morriss, project manager and Elizabeth Hughes, the Berkshire Records' deputy archivist, to determine the finite requirement and floor positions of IT equipment and telephones before the electricians came to do the installation. Elizabeth Hughes appreciated this attention to detail. "Things were pretty hectic!" she said, "but the contract installed the IT and telephone equipment where it actually needed to go so we didn't need a secondary contract to modify or install extra cabling. This was typical of the way Jill went out of her way to fully understand our needs and to suggest the most cost-effective way to achieve what we wanted".
 
The second part of the project was to assess the existing hardware and software and to propose a specification to meet the staff's requirements in the new offices. Jill and her team then upgraded the old PCs and systems in the staff's temporary office, then installed the new PCs and printers in the new building.
 
Inevitably, as with any major building or relocation project, there were delays to proceedings. So how did Jill cope with these hold-ups? "She was flexible," commented Elizabeth Hughes, "and was able to rearrange her schedule to fit in with changes to our timetable. What's more, she was happy to advise us beyond the constraints of the original brief."
 
The IT part of the relocation project was completed to time and to budget. W S Atkins and the Berkshire Records Office team were very satisfied with Jill's involvement. "I'd definitely work with Jill and her team again," summed up David Morriss, "and, if the opportunity presented itself, I'd recommend the company to others as well".