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New future-proof IT infrastructure for
leisure trust
Operating your own IT infrastructure has significant business advantages. 1610 used to rely on shared IT services but outgrew them and turned to ROCC for a new solution. 1610 now has a scalable IT platform with minimal maintenance requirements which is ideal for future business development.
Formerly known as Somerset Leisure Ltd, 1610 is a non-profit making leisure trust operating 13 sports and leisure centres throughout Somerset. Employing 350 people (80 full-time equivalents), locations include Minehead, Taunton, Yeovil and Shepton Mallet.
Before becoming a leisure trust in 2009, the organisation was responsible for leisure services within the Local Authority. Software applications including a Gladstone leisure management system were hosted by the authority’s IT department. Several leisure centres used back-office IT systems supported by a shared services provider.
According to Head of Business Services Heather Lang, this fragmented infrastructure was beginning to become unreliable.
"We had to work in a different way as a leisure trust, this included investing in significant future IT developments," said Lang.
Single Solution
A business review confirmed that a new IT system was the best
way forward. 1610 also wanted to enhance customer services with
more on-line facilities. Other objectives included a new
accounting system, a staff intranet, better reliability and
reduced long term cost. Finding the right supplier with leisure
industry experience was essential.
"We wanted to work with a company who were the cutting edge of technology. We spoke to Gladstone and they recommended ROCC." As a result of this ROCC were invited to tender against other IT providers for the installation and management of a new ICT system.
ROCC has many leisure industry customers. 1610 then contacted another leisure trust also working in partnership with the Local Authority, for an opinion. They had been in a similar position to that of 1610 before ROCC provided a new IT infrastructure.
"ROCC had a good understanding of our business. We just liked what ROCC offered in terms of future-proofing and the platforms they could give us. ROCC was able to do so many things – it was very refreshing."
Centralised Processing
ROCC project managed, designed and implemented a new flexible IT
solution for centralised processing. Tailored for the
requirements, it included virtualised servers, a storage area
network, network switching, security and backup software.
Low-cost thin client terminals for the leisure centres provide
easy applications deployment.
An important job was to transfer all e-mails, documents and
spreadsheets from the leisure centres to 1610's Taunton HQ.
Heather Lang says this was a "huge amount of work" but was
completed successfully.
A fast fibre link was commissioned to the local exchange with virtual private network connections via ADSL to the remote sites. Gladstone installed its Plus 2 leisure management system while Sage accounting was implemented internally.
The old infrastructure was shut down before the new one went live in August 2010. Gladstone did some thorough data cleansing for a new database while staff went back to paper and pen for a few days.
All files and databases are now stored centrally with simple-to-use thin client terminals at remote sites. These offer a 'plug and play' solution without the need for maintaining PCs.
"We didn't have any major issues and there was no loss of data. The services and software that ROCC said would be up and running were all available. It was a smooth transition and worked well," said Heather Lang.
Greater Autonomy
Having a single IT infrastructure for 150 users is very
beneficial operationally. It not only provides greater autonomy
for the organisation but also offers improved response times.
Lang says “it's easy to look after too and means we have an
easily transferable system that can be deployed to other sites
as the business grows.”
"It's been a bit of a culture shock that there isn't that much maintenance apart from doing a daily backup tape. The system is very responsive and quick to make changes to meet the growing business needs."
ROCC's national support service spans the whole UK with remote access to customer systems. This allows 1610 to have a totally-owned and independent IT infrastructure backed by online support from ROCC's helpdesk. Regular phone calls, e-mails and meetings provide some friendly reassurance.
"It's peace of mind that you've got a company who are doing that remote monitoring but are also giving you a ring," said Heather Lang.
For example, ROCC gave advice about Microsoft SharePoint with a visit to North Country Leisure (another ROCC user) providing valuable encouragement to develop a staff intranet. The Gladstone leisure management system now offers electronic payments to complement greater use of online bookings.
ROCC is carefully monitoring system performance as the usage by staff and customers steadily increases. Fortunately, the infrastructure is designed for easy upgrades in response to new business opportunities such as expansion beyond the county boundaries.
"ROCC are very responsive to the needs of the business. They are very quick to pick up on where the business can be improved."
Future plans include new in-house human resources software, a payroll system and electronic recruitment. Self-service kiosks for automated entry and activity bookings are also under consideration. Thanks to ROCC's expert technical resources, 1610 looks increasingly fit for the future.
Learn More:
Visit the 1610 website
