Case Studies

When 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.

Catherine 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.

With 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.

'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.'

During 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.

VoIP 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 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.

When 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."

PCM 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.

PCM 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.

Ormandy 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.

Angela 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.

The 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.

At 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 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 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.

Ula 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.

Founded 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.

The 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.

In 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.

At 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.

Beam 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.

The 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.

Northern 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.

PCM 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 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.

Transfer 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 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.

The 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.

Direct 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.

PCM 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.

PCM 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.

PCM 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.

PCM 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.

PCM 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.

Developed 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.