Case Studies

Real results from businesses across Yorkshire

We Love This
IT Services IT Support Jul 10, 2024

We Love This

Challenge

Identifying the issuesWhen the team from PCM Systems was first called in by We Love This, the company had already identified some significant issues with their IT provision. Pre COVID, We Love This worked in their own offices with a dedicated server. Post COVID, the business had adopted a hybrid working solution using a shared workspace for part of the week, moving from their own server to SharePoint online.

Solution

Introducing relevant tech solutionsCatherine had worked with PCM Systems with a previous employer, and called in the team to discuss the way forward. Specific to We Love This was the need to be able to access archived jobs quickly and easily, without these taking up space on the SharePoint system. Alongside this, the company was looking to achieve improved housekeeping from an IT perspective, with optimum business continuity in place.

"PCM Systems have provided us with robust IT solutions to match our individual business requirements. This is a super-efficient, super-approachable team who immediately understood exactly what we needed and worked with us to put a system in place relevant to our business, with all the functionality and capacity to support our day-to-day business."

Catherine Symonds We Love This
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Interplay Theatre and LS12 Creative
IT Services IT Support Jul 10, 2024

Interplay Theatre and LS12 Creative

Challenge

A comprehensive tech upgradeWith the arrival of a new management team at Interplay, the directors recognised the need for a complete tech changeover. The existing systems meant that data and files were stored locally on individual and ageing iMacs, making it difficult to find and retrieve information when required.

Solution

Moving to the Cloud and Microsoft 365'The directors knew exactly what they wanted to achieve, and approached PCM Systems to see how practical the demands were and how quickly the new system could be implemented,' explained Sarah Jacques. 'The team at PCM looked at what we wanted and how it could be achieved, and put forward a comprehensive solution.'

"Working with PCM Systems to transform our IT provision has been both enjoyable and productive, and the end results have made our lives so much easier, as well as contributing significantly to important aspects like efficiency, professionalism and security. Moving forward, we're benefiting from ongoing IT support from PCM Systems, with their friendly and knowledgeable team always at the end of the phone when we have any questions."

Sarah Jacques Interplay National Sensory Theatre
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HTC Architects
IT Services VoIP Sep 15, 2022

HTC Architects

Challenge

PSTN to digital switchover by 2026During the course of an IT upgrade at HTC Architects, the PCM team discussed the benefits of VoIP, which uses digital technologies to deliver voice communications over Internet Protocol networks. Alongside the proposed changeover from the existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) to digital by 2026, which will mean all telephony will be managed this way, HTC recognised the potential benefits to their business in the wake of changed working practices emerging from the coronavirus pandemic.

Solution

Practical and flexibleVoIP has offered a number of tangible advantages for HTC Architects alongside improved levels of flexibility. VoIP is a lower cost alternative to traditional PSTN technology, making calls via an internet connection, which means the company no longer needs multiple individual telephone lines. Internet connectivity also means improved levels of audio clarity, together with advanced reliability and scalability for adding new users.

"PCM has provided our IT support for over a year. With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, our working practices were shifted to a home-based model and it became obvious that we needed to rethink our communications to match these changing requirements. PCM advised us on the potential for IP telephony and implemented our new system in December 2021. It was a smooth transition from PSTN to digital, and we are now reaping the benefits in terms of cost, flexibility and adaptability"

Jane Peace Practice Manager
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The Survey Association and The Survey School
IT Services IT Support Jun 30, 2022

The Survey Association and The Survey School

Challenge

Providing relevant and efficient IT supportPCM Systems was originally recommended by the former TSA Secretary General, who had dealings with the company before. Until that point, IT issues had been managed by the current Secretary General, Rachel Tyrell. At that time, TSA operations were disseminated around the country. IT was a fast-developing issue with the advent of faster internet access, and Rachel recognised the importance of partnering with the right organisation to provide professional support.

Solution

Introducing IT support for The Survey SchoolWhen TSA took over the running of The Survey School in 2014, this support stepped up to a different gear. "We needed a full overhaul of equipment and IT support, and students needed access to laptops capable of supporting often complex applications," explained Rachel. "PCM managed the entire project efficiently and with minimal disruption to ongoing operations."

"We have been working with PCM Systems since 2007, which in itself speaks volumes about the quality of the service we receive from the team. Their unfailingly friendly and approachable attitude takes the headache out of any IT challenges we face. From day to day support through to emergency assistance, hardware and software advice and acquisition and professional guidance on upgrades and bespoke developments, they ensure our bigger picture in terms of IT is well managed, up to date and performing efficiently"

Rachel Tyrrell FCInstCES, Secretary General The Survey Association
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3e Consulting Engineers Ltd
Software Design & Development Website Development Mar 07, 2022

3e Consulting Engineers Ltd

Challenge

A website to showcase 3e projectsPCM has worked with 3e Consulting Engineers for over 10 years, providing IT support including emails, servers, hardware and data backup, and was responsible for the design and build of 3e's original website some years ago. When the company was looking to upgrade the website to showcase their extensive portfolio of projects, they called in PCM to manage the design and build.

Solution

Matching the requirementsPCM began by presenting initial visual ideas for the site, developed to reflect the professional nature of the work carried out by 3e. Subject to some initial tweaks, the ideas were approved and the team began work on the site build.

"PCM are very good at what they do. We have worked together for many years and developed an excellent working relationship which supports our day to day IT activities. The most recent major project to develop a new website was smooth and intuitive. The PCM team listened to what we wanted and contributed their own ideas, helped by their knowledge of our business. We now have an up-to-date website built around the latest technology, incorporating all our historical project data, together with a CMS facility which enables us to input new projects quickly and efficiently"

Michele Barber 3e Consulting Engineers Ltd
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Ormandy Rycroft Group
Software Design & Development Website Development Sep 21, 2021

Ormandy Rycroft Group

Challenge

A new website for a Group rebrandOrmandy Rycroft has recently completed a project to update the Group's corporate image, involving a total redesign of marketing collateral including the website. With an existing design concept in place, Marketing Manager Angela Spurling was looking to partner with IT specialists capable of taking this design and building the website, to include a content management system enabling the marketing team to keep the content fresh and up to date.

Solution

Creating a flexible infrastructure and navigationAngela had already worked with PCM in previous marketing roles, and was confident the team would deliver a website capable of matching these practical requirements as well as reflecting the new look and feel of the Group. Important considerations included how to get the products across to the audience, as well as creating an infrastructure and user-friendly navigation capable of interlinking and crossing over between different products ranges and services to cover all angles.

"I have personally worked with PCM on a range of projects for over five years, and have found the team to be extremely approachable and professional. They listen and understand; nothing is ever too much trouble. The development process for this new website was straightforward and the transfer of information excellent, resulting in a clear and informative online resource meeting all our needs with a responsive content management system we can use in-house to keep everything fresh and updated."

Angela Spurling, Marketing Manager Ormandy Rycroft Group
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Northorpe Hall
Software Design & Development Website Development Aug 15, 2021

Northorpe Hall

Challenge

Creating a website as a vital information platformThe original Northorpe Hall website had been designed and built by PCM Systems just a couple of years before. It featured a CMS system with significant flexibility built in, but with no single individual responsible for updating and refreshing content, this had become disjointed and neglected. With different people entering data and moderating, navigation around the site had become complex and the website was not performing as it should.

Solution

Reconfiguring the CMS for flexibility and visual impactAt an initial meeting with PCM, Debbie explained exactly what the charity wanted from the website. Although the CMS was already comprehensive and easy to use, Debbie and her colleagues wanted it to work in different ways so they could best illustrate the services and facilities offered by Northorpe Hall. Different ways of laying out content were required to create visual impact, and to make it as user-friendly as possible, streamlining to meet changing needs.

"The team at PCM were a joy to work with. They clearly understood our objectives and completed all the tasks on time and in full. They understood the technical requirements and recognised the importance of achieving a better user experience. The website needed to create the right perceptions and PCM supported our work to consult with users, volunteers and our young people, resulting in the best website and content to match our service users' needs. Importantly for us as a charity and very generously, they carried out all the refresh work free of charge to ensure we continued to get the best results from our website. This did not impact how they worked with us, we always felt we were as important as paying clients."

Debbie Kester, Digitial Communications Officer Northorpe Hall Child & Family Trust
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Gaunts Ltd
IT Services Microsoft Office 365 Jul 06, 2021

Gaunts Ltd

Solution

Migrating IT systems for flexibility and performanceThe team from PCM Systems has provided IT support for Gaunts for well over a decade, covering all aspects including servers, hardware, email platform, website and remote backup. With the in-house servers up for renewal upon reaching the end of their useful life, PCM systems undertook a project review to identify the requirements of the business, going forward.

"The changeover to Microsoft 365 created minimal fuss and was completed within half a day, with no operational issues. It has made the process of working from home a very painless thing to do, with easy and flexible access to all of our operating systems. We've saved money too by migrating to the cloud and eliminating the need to invest in new servers to support our processes"

Chris Pratt Managing Director
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PCM
IT Services Microsoft Office 365 Mar 26, 2021

PCM

Challenge

The BackgroundThe advent of the coronavirus pandemic and the sudden shift to home working has impacted on businesses and people across the UK. At PCM, we have ourselves experienced issues with communications and connectivity, which led us to look carefully at how we could best secure our business processes whilst keeping our people safe.

Solution

Easy collaboration with SharePointUla was originally using the remote access software to connect to her office PC from a laptop at home. However, this was far from an ideal solution. With documents and information not appearing at full size, she soon discovered that she was losing definition when increasing the size to make manipulating the information easier.

"Once we migrated to SharePoint, everything was much easier, It's a seamless experience with no waiting and no issues. It really is as though I'm in the office with access to everything at my fingertips. It saves time, can add an extra layer of security and is simplicity itself to use"

Ula Gebura-Watroba PCM Systems Ltd
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RemoteM
Software Design & Development Software Development Feb 26, 2021

RemoteM

Challenge

The background to the development of RemoteMFounded in 1988, PCM Systems has established a reputation for designing and implementing IT solutions for clients in a wide range of markets, serving customers in sectors as diverse as brewing, builders' merchants, architects and surveyors, finance and electrical systems.

Solution

Bringing the RemoteM product to marketThe PCM team first identified a gap in the market for a reliable temperature monitoring system capable of providing real time alerts in the event of equipment failure or human error. The company put resource into researching potential solutions, using the team's existing skills in areas including IT, administration and data backup.

"At PCM, we field a creative and innovative team focused on providing effective solutions to our clients across a broad range of commercial sectors. Designing new products and bringing them to market is an area we continue to develop, working with the comprehensive and broad-based capabilities of our team and their in-depth understanding of all aspects of the digital world to create solutions which are practical, effective and affordable."

Matt Feeny PCM
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Mone Bros DIY
Software Design & Development Ecommerce Website Development Feb 22, 2021

Mone Bros DIY

Challenge

Developing a website to enhance efficiency and open up new marketsIn 2019, Mone Bros made the decision to review their existing e-commerce provision, seeking to upgrade the capabilities of their online ordering and payment systems. In particular, the company wanted the ability to maintain and regularly update an extensive key product catalogue, as well as tailoring the software to enable more product-specific volume selection at point of sale.

Solution

Defining the requirementsAt PCM, the team has completed a number of projects for construction industry businesses, bringing to the table considerable experience and understanding of the requirements of the sector. They began with an extensive scoping exercise to recognise exactly who the customers were, highlighting that these were predominantly retail.

"We worked closely with the PCM team to create an e-commerce website designed to respond to the very specific needs of our market, to facilitate online product selection and to simplify and speed up the process of getting materials out to our customers. The end result is a website tailored to the individual requirements of our business, delivered at the start of the coronavirus pandemic which has enabled us to open up new markets and provide materials on a retail basis to customers across a wide geographical area."

Craig Morrell Mone Bros
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Beam Consulting Engineers
IT Services Microsoft Office 365 Jan 04, 2021

Beam Consulting Engineers

Challenge

Solutions to match business challengesBeam Consulting was looking to undertake a total review of the company's IT infrastructure, based around a number of important criteria. With support ended for Windows 7, the company planned significant investment in IT equipment across the organisation to match and exceed the requirements of software updates critical for the business. Beam Consulting approached PCM Systems to make recommendations for the necessary investment.

Solution

Flexible working and realistic timescalesThe team from PCM consulted with Beam to evaluate the current provisions, to identify areas for improvement and to establish the parameters for new systems capable of matching projected requirements into the future. A flexible timescale was set for the individual projects, with all work scheduled for completion at weekends to ensure minimal disruption to business processes.

"Changing working practices and necessary software upgrades required us to review our IT infrastructure and ensure we were working with the most robust platforms. PCM Systems made appropriate recommendations designed around our individual requirements, designing practical solutions and completing all necessary work within weekend windows to ensure the business could continue without interruptions"

Hannah Philip Beam Consulting Engineers
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Northern Monk Refectory
IT Services IT Consultancy Sep 21, 2020

Northern Monk Refectory

Challenge

Building a secure and robust WiFi service for business and guest useNorthern Monk's popular Refectory in Leeds has been in operation since 2017. Developing challenges for WiFi across the premises led the organisation to investigate the options for a more secure and robust solution, designed around the dual requirements of business and guest use.

Solution

Business class WiFi solutionsPCM proposed a solution including the installation of business class WiFi points on each floor of the Old Flax Store, capable of handling the projected volumes of traffic. The solution allowed for the creation of two completely separate WiFi networks, one for business use and one for guest use.

"PCM Systems stepped in to install a secure and reliable WiFi network at our Old Flax Store site in Leeds, completing the work in a very short time window to enable us to utilise digital systems when reopening the premises to the public safely and securely according to COVID-19 operational requirements."

Northern Monk Brewery
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PCM
IT Services IT Support Aug 29, 2020

PCM

Challenge

The BackgroundPCM Systems had been operating Sage Accounts and Sage Payroll systems in tandem for several years. When undertaking a review of office facilities in 2019, the decision was made to investigate the potential for alternative software capable of matching the changing requirements of the organisation in line with planned growth and development. Legacy systems meant that the company was running Sage Accounting and Sage Payroll separately; experience with migrating customers to options such as Xero highlighted the potential for increased operational flexibility, cost reductions and management benefits for PCM.

Solution

Migrating the dataTransfer of data from one accounting software system to another requires careful planning. PCM used MoveMyBooks, which proved very straightforward and time efficient, allowing fast and easy data conversion to Xero.

"The migration from Sage to Xero was managed seamlessly, using MoveMyBooks to ensure fast and efficient data transfer. The reports are flexible and easy to generate, we find invoicing quicker and easier and processing purchase invoices has also been simplified. In addition, preparing and sending quotations directly via Xero is a straightforward and professional process for our entire team"

Ula Gebura-Watroba PCM Systems Ltd
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Wetherby Town Council
IT Services Microsoft Office 365 Jul 27, 2020

Wetherby Town Council

Challenge

Creating a user friendly, cohesive shared file systemThe global pandemic and the emergence of COVID-19 has prompted many organisations to review their IT provision, in light of changing ways of working and the need to support remote access to central information.

Solution

Adopting a global platform for continuity and longevityThe project began as a data storage solution, but has extended significantly beyond the initial parameters. Working closely with Wetherby Town Council, PCM recommended staying with Microsoft; opting for the global platform reassured councillors that in the event of changing IT support providers in the future it would not be necessary to make any changes to the data storage solution.

"Working with PCM has been an excellent experience. One of our key considerations was to make the transition as seamless as possible; at the time, lockdown had added significant stress to our staff's working lives without increasing the challenges further. PCM certainly achieved this, with no cap on the support they have provided, as well as developing strategies to provide us with services that we didn't even realise were possible!"

Iona Taylor Clerk for Wetherby Town Council
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Direct Marketing
Software Design & Development Software Development Jun 23, 2020

Direct Marketing

Challenge

Automating a critical business processDirect Marketing first called on PCM Systems to assess the potential for automating their business processes, where one of the biggest challenges lay in calculating shipping costs based on sizes of shipping boxes and quantities in each box.

Solution

Speeding up costings and quotationsPCM developed a bespoke software package bringing together customer, supplier and product information, based around a simple dashboard which enables the Direct Marketing team to add a product and specify additional details such as how many are contained in a box and the dimensions of the packed unit. The system then automatically generates costs based on any selected quantity break. It can upload and automatically watermark images, generate customer quotations and even produce shipping labels.

"The new Cloud-based software developed specifically for our business by PCM has revolutionised our systems, automating notoriously challenging areas like shipping costs and quantity break quotations to speed up responses for our customers and add to the professionalism and efficiencies of our processes."

Gail Glover Direct Marketing
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Woodlands Home and Garden Group
IT Services IT Support May 16, 2020

Woodlands Home and Garden Group

Challenge

Sudden server failurePCM Systems installed a server for Woodlands Home & Garden Group over five years ago, which served the full range of the organisation's diverse business base and was maintained in-house. When the server suffered sudden failure, the company called in PCM to try to restore the data and get their business critical systems up and running again. With no updateable information on stock levels, the event impacted across the entire business.

Solution

Overnight data recovery

"When a sudden server outage impacted across all our businesses, we turned to PCM Systems with an urgent request for hardware repair and data recovery. The team rose to the challenge, successfully restoring our data and getting our systems up and running again within a 24 hour window to minimise loss of business and enable us to pick up the reins again quickly and effectively."

Ross Moran Woodlands Home & Garden Group
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Northern Monk Brewery
IT Services VoIP Feb 03, 2020

Northern Monk Brewery

Challenge

Matching individual user requirementsPCM Systems has provided IT support for Northern Monk Brewery since 2016. This is a business which has grown quickly and organically, and its telephone system, which consisted of individual landlines with separate numbers for each site, had been outgrown by a strong and dynamic business seeking to portray a more professional image to its customers and suppliers.

Solution

Scoping the projectPCM Systems began by scoping the requirement to identify what Northern Monk Brewery wanted to achieve with the new system and to see where added value could be built in, based on the agreed parameters. The objective was to establish who needed an extension, defining the size of the network, and to provide best value for money solution at a low capital cost but with significant functionality and potential for expansion into the future.

"Communications are increasingly key to robust and efficient management. Our new Cloud-based phone system matches the dynamic approach adopted by our company across the board; it's flexible and practical with the ability to develop added levels of functionality, giving us a cost effective solution with the capability to expand alongside our business."

Sophie Lennon Northern Monk Brewery
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Untha Shredding Technology
IT Services IT Support Jan 05, 2020

Untha Shredding Technology

Challenge

High level security for mobile devicesPCM Systems has worked with the UK branch of Untha Shredding Technology for over a decade, providing IT support and system implementation services. With a clear vision of where he wanted to take the company in terms of driving forward efficiencies, Untha's UK Managing Director was seeking to introduce a system whereby engineers and sales teams on the road could access company data via mobile devices capable of mitigating the risks associated with open-ended access.

Solution

Flexible, capable and customisableDeveloped to safeguard data on company-owned mobile devices, Microsoft Intune provides granular control over data, ensuring only authorised individuals can access information and ensuring data remains protected at all times. Access is enforceable by parameters including user, device and geographical location.

"Working closely with PCM Systems, we have devised and implemented a smart and flexible solution providing our staff with remote and reliable access to our technology and vital data whilst ensuring we maintain the highest levels of security in line with our commitment to our customers."

Marcus Brew Untha Shredding Technology
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