Petrolab
Looking after IT was becoming overwhelming for the GM of a Cornish mineral analysis business – until he turned to Aztek’s Managed IT Support.
Petrolab
Introducing Petrolab
Based in Redruth, Petrolab has a three-decade history of providing technical support services to the mining, minerals processing and materials industries. With a team of over 15 geologists and scientists, it analyses the content of rocks, minerals, ores, aggregates and concrete from all over the world.
As you might imagine, these people have the right skillset to look after everyday IT – and Director and General Manager, John Fletcher, did just that. However, as the business grew, IT demands became increasingly complex and John found more and more time was spent dealing with tricky IT issues and onboarding staff.
Aztek introduced a fully managed IT Support plan with unlimited helpdesk support and much more besides. Petrolab now has an IT team behind them ready to step in and help with any day-to-day issues. They also have more reliable, productive and secure systems.
As John says, ‘IT is now off my plate, allowing me to focus in other areas of the business.’
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- Implemented fully Managed IT Support, taking pressure off internal teams.
- Manages procurement, and onboarding and offboarding of employees.
- Advised and delivered on new network equipment to upgrade existing infrastructure, providing much greater visibility and productivity.
- Helped secure the estate’s security by implementing next-generation endpoint anti-virus software, a firewall and 24/7 device-monitoring and management software.
- Delivers unlimited helpdesk support during office hours, 24/7 asset monitoring and network support.
- Consulted on moving onsite data to the cloud.
THE CHALLENGE
Petrolab's Challenges
Tech-minded teams often do a great job managing their own IT. But when the business grows, so does IT complexity. Things invariably come to a head.
Says John, ‘When there were just a handful of us, my co-director and I would run cables, wire switches and install software. As the business grew, staff numbers increased and that meant more IT-onboarding, more networking and more storage. Basically, there was too much to handle without a more resilient growth strategy.’
Aztek had previously reached out to John. In response, he did some digging about our business and liked what he found. He says, ‘They were local, but with national capability. Speaking with them personally showed that they wouldn’t impose a prescriptive one-size-fits-all approach.’
John also liked the fact that we worked with companies in mining industries, including Cornish Lithium.
He asked us to provide our Managed IT Support service, which would include cyber security hardening. He also enquired about hosting from an onsite database, which John built himself, to a cloud environment. We set to work examining Petrolab’s requirements and proposing a solution.
THE SOLUTION
Solution and Results
Aztek rolled out a fully managed IT Support plan with unlimited helpdesk support, 24/7 asset monitoring and network support.
Our service agreement also covered some of the thornier and time-consuming aspects of managing an IT estate, including IT Procurement management, and onboarding and offboarding employees. This enabled John and his team to focus on their core responsibilities.
- Implemented fully Managed IT Support, taking pressure off internal teams.
Some of our initial work included hardware and network improvements, which has increased stability for users of Petrolab’s IT systems. This involved updating infrastructure in stages, with new cabinets and switches for a maintainable, scalable solution. Security was provided by a next-generation endpoint anti-virus software and a comprehensive firewall.
- Advised and delivered on new network equipment to upgrade existing infrastructure.
Our Managed IT Support solution includes a dedicated account manager. As well as acting as a single point of contact to help roll out jobs like the above, they help to guide future IT strategy by recommending new solutions based on IT needs or emerging cyber security threats.
John came to us because he quickly saw we weren’t going to impose a boilerplate approach, or try to sell him unnecessary kit or services. This was demonstrated in our solutions focused discussion with John around moving hosting of his onsite database to a cloud environment.
We discussed the requirements with John and undertook comprehensive investigations. Ultimately, we didn’t go ahead with any work. Cloud services simply didn’t provide the same functionality as the tailormade, onsite environment John had built. (Nice work, John!)
Says John, ‘It was valuable to be informed of the possible options but not be put under any pressure to choose one or the other so that Aztek could make a sale.’
- Consulted on moving onsite data to the cloud.
This approach was corroborated by Andrew, Petrolab’s Operations Manager, with whom Aztek provided consultancy on telephony networks. He says, ‘Our previous provider was interested only with sales. Aztek knew the scale of our business and weren’t interested in overselling us. They provided a solution to meet our needs. It wasn’t a generic out-of-the-box product like what we’d been offered before.’
Of our overall approach, John says, ‘It was very personal. I was visited by Patryk, the Head of Sales and the Managing Director, Anthony and they were very interested in our setup and evolution, and our need to provide the continuity of our existing systems.’
Summing up the benefits of our work, John says, ‘Onboarding new staff is a more efficient process, networking across the building has been improved and made scalable, and security is better. I no longer need to organise procurement and implement IT set-ups for new staff, or deal with random general IT hardware and operating system issues. Support is rapid, same day or next day for important issues – even low priority jobs are planned and communicated in a timely manner.’
‘With Aztek as a partner, the worry has gone, the knowledge is provided and planned improvements are implemented. IT is largely off my plate, allowing me to focus on other issues.’
Since the initial enquiry and solution delivery, Aztek has taken on the broadband line and Business Mobile SIM management. For Petrolab, moving all their communication services to Aztek makes support and upgrades much simpler.
Says John, ‘We have been building a partnership between our staff and Aztek over the first year, and I think this will continue to strengthen over time.’
GET IN TOUCH
Speak to an IT Specialist
Does Managed IT Support sound like a solution that could work for you?
Talk to an Aztek IT specialist by calling us on 0330 056 2233, or arrange a free consultation call.
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