When you consider moving offices there are so many potential headaches over what is a finely tuned balancing act. In many ways the human element is easy, however, when you look at the whole IT structure both online and in terms of physical technology, it really pays to have professional co-ordination. When you add in a whole extra level of compliance with a regulated business involved it’s incredibly important that the move happens with absolutely no unintentional exposure for confidential data and systems.
Mango Tech are an Altrincham-based specialist in all areas of IT support and infrastructure. The business was started by Greg Buchanan in 2012, after a career that spanned a previous life as a submariner, and also as a seasoned entrepreneur working in growing (and selling) much larger IT businesses. When launching Mango Tech almost 10 years ago, Greg made a conscious choice to keep the business local – servicing smaller companies, and also to specialise in regulated businesses, solicitors and accountants for example. We asked about the issues and intricacies of not simply adding to an existing IT infrastructure but moving a regulated business lock, stock and barrel!
Greg – can you share your experience of a recent move?
“We have enjoyed working recently with a local customer called Bright Partnership LLP who are chartered accountants and business advisers. They needed to move from their offices in Hale, Cheshire to Edward Court a few miles away in Altrincham. The move included transitioning them away from a traditional on-premises phone system to a voice over IP system, which included moving all their existing numbers seamlessly.
“We introduced them to soft phone technology and number diverts to make sure the business ran smoothly during the move, and their new offices were subject to a brand new ‘ground-up’ IT system from new data cables being installed, new laptops, desktop systems, phones, reliable and fast broadband – absolutely everything from an IT perspective. We also had to move quickly to minimise disruption, and the migration was completed in a single day. This wasn’t simply a move for the Bright Partnership, it was a chance to beef up their IT working practices, ensuring everyone enjoyed a much more current experience from a technology perspective, all of course protected by our safeguarding methods and following strict guidelines for a regulated business.”
Did all the new hardware come from yourselves?
“It did indeed. As well as ensuring everything is thoroughly tested beforehand, and the particular hardware used, whether it’s cabling, desktop systems, phones or secure wi-fi, is of sufficient quality to answer any compliance concerns over security, we can offer incredibly competitive pricing on everything. This is because we provide so much hardware on a regular basis to our customers that we enjoy incredible discounts from our suppliers. Discounts we pass on to our customers ensuring they use us again and again. The quality of what we provide is second to none, for example our cabling has a 25 year guarantee from the manufacturers on it.”
As well as providing new tech were you involved with the old hardware from the offices in Hale?
“We removed of all the old hardware from the previous site and prepared it for recycling, ensuring it was ROHS compliant (Restriction of Hazardous Substances). We also made sure all the hard drives were properly destroyed particularly as Bright Partnership are a regulated business and their data is of course confidential. For regulated firms the areas of compliance that are relevant follow GDPR and FCA guidelines. In the case of GDPR it is important that data on drives are disposed of in a specific manner – the drives must be shredded and full certification must be supplied by the business taking care of the shredding.”
Tell us more about the added requirements for regulated customers?
“Regulated businesses need a reliable safe pair of hands when looking at their IT compliance obligations with usually the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We specialise in all areas of secure installation and ongoing management of both hardware and software, paying particular care to safeguard all data and archives both in local systems and in the cloud. The ability to be mobile for most of our customers is also crucial, and it’s so important that security is paramount when on the move for them. We take care of all aspects of external work practices, from a hardware and software perspective, ensuring a seamless and safe integration with the IT infrastructure of the business as a whole.”
To find out more about Mango Tech, call us on 0333 358 2012
sales@mango-tech.co.uk
www.mango-tech.co.uk
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