ANALYSIS
In the early 2000s, the Rockshop still had its flagship store in central Auckland, but also 11 others in other parts of the city and the country. Rockshop chief information officer Simon Manson says financials and customer management at that point was a piecemeal process using manual spreadsheets and faxes between stores and head office. The obvious solution was to centralise those processes and build a network between locations. After three years with an initial provider, Simon wasn’t thrilled with the service and went to the market to find a new one to improve performance and, importantly, make his job easier. BTG was one of several companies that pitched for the work.
However, Simon says the BTG team approached that first meeting with a different style than all the others. “They didn’t start with a presentation to tell us all about themselves,” Simon explains. “They asked us a lot of questions about our company and what we needed.”
“When the BTG team understood what we were looking for, they just said they could do it all for us, and that’s all I needed to know.”
DELIVERY
Initially BTG provided a solution in its datacentre by building, maintaining, and housing Rockshop’s servers, as well as offering the services the company needed to stay connected.
BTG also centralised all the Rockshop’s data and ensured its security.
“And they’re still providing the same service, but now it’s cloud-based,” Simon says.
Moving to BTG’s cloud solution was a no brainer, reducing the regular drain of replacing servers with new machines when they came out of warranty and smoothing costs out with monthly payments for all services.
Using a cloud-based solution also provides more flexibility enabling servers to be scaled up and down as required. Rockshop primarily uses applications from Microsoft 365 and MYOB Exo (as their business management and accounting solution) – all managed and delivered by BTG. Rockshop also use BTG’s cloud delivered and managed security camera service across all their branches.
Since the beginning of the relationship, Simon says BTG has always been a constant presence and is a vital partner for them. Any team member with an issue is empowered to contact BTG technicians directly through its helpdesk – an important tool for them as reliance on remote working increases.
It makes good business sense to look at all your partners on a regular basis. This has included BTG too. However, they continues to be the best fit for The Rockshop.
“Every three years we go back to the market to ensure we have the right provider for our needs. Every time we’ve created a new contract with BTG, they’ve always come out on top.”
The relationship between the two companies is built on trust and communication. Christchurch-based BTG senior key account manager Paul Dwight and other team members meet with Simon every two weeks to discuss performance, in-flight projects, future requirements, and solutions being delivered.
“BTG isn’t afraid to be unique. They’ll find a solution to any need we have even if it’s outside typical best practice, because they know our business and understand what will work best for us.”
