Cornwall Hotel Collection
When a Cornish hotel group’s IT lead needed more hands on deck, we suggested our co-managed IT Support solution.
cornwall hotel collection
Introducing Cornwall
Hotel Collection
The best hotels provide a luxury experience for guests, but did you know their IT departments sometimes require a little TLC too?
The growing Cornwall Hotel Collection has acquired some of the county’s most iconic and unique destinations: The Greenbank Hotel in Falmouth, with its stunning harbourside setting; historic The Alverton Hotel in Truro; and The Falmouth Hotel, with its enviable views across the town’s famous beaches.
Between them, these destinations deliver stylish accommodation, fine dining, spa facilities and large events. As you can imagine, this requires a seamless IT operation, too.
Enter Ian Mitchell, new IT manager. He had form with hotels in the collection, previously bringing successful IT to The Greenbank and The Alverton. However, when he came on board full time, his remit expanded to The Falmouth Hotel and a sister hotel, The Penventon Park Hotel in Redruth.
You can probably imagine where this is going. Several hotels, some running their own idiosyncratic and outdated IT, needed consolidating. Even Ian, a true veteran of managed IT in Cornwall, required back up and that’s where Aztek came in. Providing a co-managed IT support agreement, we’ve become his ‘wingman’, helping him upgrade and harmonise systems, and deliver consultancy and third-tier support on tap.
With Aztek’s assistance, Ian now enjoys being at the helm of centralised, fast and secure IT across the estate. He says about Aztek, ‘It’s a truly personal approach – they understand what I want to achieve and go above and beyond.’
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- Improved operational efficiency with unified IT support and standardised systems across all hotels, reducing complexity.
- Estate-wide phone system boosted communication and service.
- Protected guest and business data by meeting cyber security standards, ensuring compliance and threat defence.
- Strengthened connectivity with upgraded networks, leased lines, and failover systems to maintain uptime.
- Streamlined financial management via cloud-based platforms, improving access and reporting accuracy.
- Modernised IT infrastructure to support current operations and future growth, ensuring consistent service.
- Proactive support kept systems running smoothly.
THE CHALLENGE
Cornwall Hotel Collection's Challenges
One word sums up the IT challenge to Cornwall Hotel Collection: fragmentation. Before Ian’s arrival, no group-wide IT manager existed to coordinate technological decisions. Each destination played by its own IT rules in terms of support standards, comms tools, phone systems, purchasing and vendor relationships, and cyber security.
Individually, there were also issues with network stability – including the dreaded downtime – and a lack of a centralized system, which led to inefficiencies in managing operations and admin.
For the Cornwall Hotel Collection to truly become a ‘collection’ from an IT perspective, it needed a strategic, holistic IT plan.
Ian sums up some of the logistical challenges. ‘The Penventon Park Hotel didn’t have a single IT point of contact apart from the general manager – and various providers handled different elements. Meanwhile, The Falmouth Hotel had to come in line with The Greenbank and The Alverton, which I had previously looked after. It was an interesting challenge.’
An interesting challenge, incidentally, handled primarily by one individual – Ian. It was time to call in some backup…
THE SOLUTION
Solution and Results
The Cornwall Hotel Collection asked Aztek to get involved because of our successful collaboration with The Penventon Park Hotel and our track record of working in hospitality.
For the following solutions, Ian was deeply involved throughout the process, defining requirements, expanding the scope of Aztek’s services across all hotels, and collaborating closely with our team to ensure the solutions met the needs of each site.
In a sentence, Azteks’ contribution has helped to standardise IT across the Cornwall Hotel Collection.
Our work has included improving communications via a centralised phone system – essential for internal comms and customer delivery – and enhancing network stability across the estate. We also helped to centralise the hotel’s financial platforms, migrating them to a single, secure private cloud hosted by Aztek.
- Estate-wide phone system boosted communication and service.
- Streamlined financial management via cloud-based platforms, improving access and reporting accuracy.
This allowed for more efficient management and access to financial data across the various hotels, improving the accuracy and timeliness of financial reporting.
Enhanced cyber security was also key. We augmented existing cyber security systems with the latest tools to repel emerging threats. Also, we trained staff in cyber security best practice; this included a campaign sending simulated spam emails.
- Protected guest and business data by meeting cyber security standards, ensuring compliance and threat defence.
Truly responsive support has been at the heart of Aztek’s involvement. Says Ian, ‘There’s a personal approach. They understand what we want to achieve and go over and above. I have dealt with super large MSPs who, when asked for a quote, take a week or two to get back and two to three weeks then to implement the job. In contrast, Aztek are very reactive and come on site when required.’
‘There have been situations where I have needed equipment and got it handed to me personally by the MD, Anthony. Meanwhile, during a cable fault issue wholly unconnected with Aztek’s delivery, Tim offered a trainee engineer, for free, to come out and troubleshoot. In addition to the obvious value, there’s a lot of goodwill.’
One of Aztek’s main functions – and a source of relief for Ian – is providing support when he is not available. ‘Being an IT manager for a 24/7 business, I need downtime and Aztek come in and help when needed. For instance, I have just been away for seven days, and we had two separate issues at The Greenbank. Aztek were able to send an engineer out and resolve it. They do a lot of the hands-on face-to-face support, versus the typical MSP approach of faceless, remote assistance.’
- Proactive support kept systems running smoothly.
That level of personal support extends to direct and regular consultancy with Liam Broad, Aztek’s Senior Technical Account Manager. Says Ian, ‘I get to chat directly to Liam and the senior technical team, via a highly responsive chat application. Whether it’s nine in the morning or nine at night, I can send a message, and they will respond. Having that listening ear to bounce ideas off is invaluable.’
Says Liam, ‘A co-managed IT support agreement is different for every client. In this instance, it’s a collaboration where Ian is at the helm and driving a lot of decisions and actions that need to take place over the estate, and we are that engine house behind it. It’s a very streamlined approach. Ian knows what he needs and how an external IT team functions and when he needs an answer, we can give that answer without watering it down. We find it a very positive and rewarding way of working together.’
Recently, The Cornwall Hotel Collection hosted a large event at The Falmouth Hotel. Says Ian, ‘We had 3000 people on site. We couldn’t afford – either financially or from a reputational point of view – to have internet or Wi-Fi drop out. 3000 people wanting beer and not being able to pay for it causes issues!’
The event was a roaring success and was a case study of what seamless systems look like across the estate.
- Modernised IT infrastructure to support current operations and future growth, ensuring consistent service.
More generally across the Cornwall Hotel Collection, the co-managed IT support contract is part of a backroom IT operation that makes wonderful experiences happen and keeps the positive reviews rolling in.
A last word on the successful IT relationship from Ian. ‘Aztek go the extra mile. Rather than just the bottom line, they see the wider environment and the bigger picture.’
GET IN TOUCH
Speak to an IT Specialist
Does Co-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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