BEST PRACTICE: 

Efficient, dependable IT is critical to Bamber and Reddan’s architects practice. Which is why it outsources all its IT to Doherty.

“As architects, we believe if you walk through a building that works well, you don’t actually notice anything in particular. Design it right, maintain it right and most people don’t see what you’ve done. It’s just the same with great IT; if it runs smoothly, you never think about it; it’s just there.”

Bamber and Reddan is a well-established architectural practice with a strong reputation for reliable delivery. Their clients include major companies such as Peter Jones, Takenaka, Waitrose and House of Fraser. Efficient, dependable IT is essential to the practice’s operation, especially as project delays can result in substantial costs and possible claims.

The importance of first-class IT support is recognised by Cyril Reddan, Managing Director. “We once experienced a total server failure. It took about 3 weeks to get a new one, have it rebuilt and migrate all our information. We had 30 staff sitting on their hands. The waste of salaries was the least of our worries; the most critical thing was maintaining our deadlines with clients and building contractors. It was catastrophic.”

The practice had been experiencing frequent, unexplained systems crashes that required employees to reboot the server. It was calculated this was costing so much in staff time that it would be more efficient to completely outsource all IT support. Bamber and Reddan were looking for a partner who would assume total, single-point responsibility and discussed the issue with Doherty Associates.

Doherty first conducted a health check of Bamber and Reddan’s systems. Their server was extremely unstable and system back-ups were not being consistently carried out, which potentially left documents vulnerable in a crisis. Doherty implemented a full back-up programme and conducted a server migration, eliminating the server crashes that had been plaguing the practice.

After a year’s Silver support contract, Bamber and Reddan decided to upgrade to Gold. “Our confidence in Doherty really grew during that first year; it became a genuine partnership. The Gold contract entitles us to regular onsite maintenance as well as constant monitoring of our systems. I think this is a major benefit that’s easy to overlook; to make things run smoothly, you need to be proactive!”

Proactive monitoring enables engineers to fix most issues before staff even notice. As a result, the practice rarely needs to call or email the helpdesk although they have unlimited access to it.

Bamber and Reddan also use Doherty for project work, such as upgrades, migrations, mobility consultancy and buying hardware and software. “It’s the comfort of having someone like Doherty; they’ll set it up, get it right and if there’s a problem they’ll solve it quickly. We really can’t afford to have things go wrong.”

Wherever possible, Doherty works out of hours to minimise disruption to business. Staff will leave the office on a Friday afternoon and by Monday morning everything is up and running. As Cyril points out, “we even give them the keys to our office; there’s not many companies you could say that about.”

Doherty are always available to advise on new products and the most cost effective ways to invest in IT. For instance, the practice installed Workspace’s application suite and needed to upgrade their internet to support it.  Doherty offered a range of options at various prices. “You don’t feel someone’s trying to push a sale onto you” observes Cyril. “Rather that they are trying to save you money. The cost-saving advice is really important to us; in some cases we don’t need to do things we think we need to do.”

For Bamber and Reddan, total IT outsourcing has proved to be the low-cost option. And service has been enhanced. As Cyril remarks “Doherty goes beyond the call. They are certainly the best IT people I’ve ever dealt with, and we have been into IT since the early ‘80s”

 

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