“I don’t have to worry about IT. If there’s an issue my guys know the number, they call it,
and it’s sorted out. It doesn’t come back to me. That allows me to carry on planning the
strategies and planning the growth of the business, which is what I want.”
Dennis Francis, Managing Director, Charterhouse Energy
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Ziptech manage the IT, Charterhouse manages the business.
Dennis Francis (Charterhouse)
My name is Dennis Francis, I’m the Managing Director at Charterhouse Energy. I’m working with approximately 55 engineers and we work in the energy sector. We offer a range of services to a large portfolio of clients, mainly property owners in the energy compliance field.
I think the thing to realise really with this business is that we’ve gone from being around about 12 people just over a year ago to being 55 strong today, so it’s been a huge expansion. Most businesses cope with that sort of expansion and the sort of things that normally fall over is the IT.
Ziptech put into place for us an IT structure that would see us through from there to now. My service has just linked all the offices so if you’re in Emsworth you operate almost exactly the same during this office. You communicate with the server and everything is done via fast connections.
We also have now a remote server which we host our workflow package on which again Ziptech manage on our behalf. The Ideal thing with Ziptech is that you got lots of different experts and expertise, is that they find all of that for us, and we’ve got more than one person that we can refer too. So we pick up the phone, we talk to anybody about an issue you might have with your system or something you want done on the system and that person generally always knows what to be configured and what to do to provide what is you’re after.
They understand business and they are taking the time to understand what we do and now I don’t have to worry about IT Services and I don’t have to think about it. If there is an issue, there is a number, they call the number and it’s sorted out. It doesn’t come back to me and it allows me to carry on planning the strategies and planning the course of the business, which is what I want.
Dealing with rapid growth
Over the past 12 months Charterhouse has experienced rapid expansion, growing from 12 employees to 55. As the company grew, its IT began letting it down, causing bottlenecks and frustration. Not only that, but with its IT network crucial to the support of its customers, the group didn’t want to risk impacting its ability to meet its clients’ needs – especially in such a competitive market. So, it brought in Ziptech to help bring its IT operations in line with its ever-expanding business.
Ziptech provided support for the server, optimized its network to enable smoother communications with remote offices. “Each office IT network is set up to work in the same way, and we have a very fast connection,” says Charterhouse Managing Director Dennis Frances. “The system set up for our expansion has been absolutely spot-on, the smooth running of our workflow system is critical”.
Better than internal IT support
Dennis adds that the depth and breadth of IT support that the company now enjoys with Ziptech has been a breath of fresh air. “In the past, we always managed our IT support internally,” he says, “but it didn’t really work out because there wasn’t the depth of experience and expertise required for the many aspects of our IT needs. By contrast, Ziptech has experience in lots of different areas of IT. From helping us to select hardware and software, to optimization of our networks, they are completely on top of their subject.”
Dennis highlights key factors Charterhouse benefit from:
- IT support being available at the end of a phone, with a dedicated and knowledgeable team of consultants.
- Having a single source of help, and not having to consult with various different experts
- Fast responses times, often receiving a solution within minutes
- No longer having to worry about IT
“Ziptech are an extension of our business”
What has particularly impressed Dennis about Ziptech is the fact that they operate almost as an extension of Charterhouse’s business. “When we get on the phone to Ziptech they understand what we need and just get on with it. They are always there to help us out, whatever the time of day – even though my contract doesn’t actually cover 24 hours per day. Their response times are fantastic. You simply cannot
get a better service.”
You can’t put a price on a close working relationship
“I completely trust what Ziptech say to me and never have to query their service,” adds Dennis. “We have reached that point in our business relationship. They basically act like our IT department, not just a supplier. You can’t put a price on that kind of working relationship.”
