Urban Homes have a reputation for creating beautiful homes throughout the Waikato region. They have become renowned for their exceptional workmanship, quality, style and attention to detail, treating every home as an award-winning xmasterpiece.
Urban Homes CEO, Daniel Klinkenberg, says, “Our business experienced rapid growth, and our IT Systems were starting to struggle to keep up. They had begun to get somewhat ‘clunky’ and outdated.”
This was particularly evident for users working remotely, as Daniel explains, “The user experience our hosted email and file solution provided was sub-standard. We needed a solution that could work in the office, for consultants in show homes, and for the team on sites.”
A number of workstations had also become outdated, and security measures were largely reactive, an example being missing security patches. “We needed to mitigate both security and Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) risks”, says Daniel.
Urban Homes required an IT System that would support its rapid growth and innovative approach to business. To achieve this, Daniel explains that Urban Homes were seeking “A managed service provider who could suggest innovative solutions to streamline business processes and add efficiency.”
It was recommended that Urban Homes migrate its hosted email and files to Office365, eliminating the need for an onsite and hosted server. “We could see that this solution was scalable and would overcome frustrations when accessing files outside of the office”, says Daniel.
Although this would be a significant change, Daniel says, “My confidence grew in both the solution and the service of IT Partners after consulting a number of references.”
To mitigate security concerns, Urban Homes were also aligned with IT Partners industry best practice, layered security solution. This was accompanied by the replacement of several workstations while the remaining were upgraded to Windows 10.
“In addition to providing an effective recommendation, it was evident that there was strong value alignment between IT Partners and Urban Homes. Both companies actively capitalise on the first mover advantage”, says Daniel.
Overall, the successful role out of a highly complex onboarding process was achieved. Daniel explains that “Any roadblocks were met with excellent communication and the provision of proactive solutions.”
“The transition to Office365 was outstanding, with next no downtime being experienced”, Daniel says, with the benefits being immediate, “There is now no difference when working remotely. Whether staff are in the office or offsite, we have one seamless platform that provides an identical user experience. It is also excellent to have access to emails and files on both iPads and iPhones.”
An ongoing partnership between Urban Homes and IT Partners has now been established, says Daniel, “We have interactions at many levels of the business. I meet with Andrew, our People and Culture Teams meet, and our Finance Manager has support from IT Partners Professional Services. In addition to regular technology road map meetings with our Account Manager and Senior Engineer.”
Daniel emphasises that “IT Partners did not win our business and then sit back on their laurels; they actively support the best interests of our company. They continually help to ensure that we are future-proofed; we have confidence in the fact that IT Partners can handle the growth to come as they are forward thinkers.”
