ABP was established in 2016 and now one of the biggest gaming accessory brands in the UK and Australia.
Employing around 15 people from their Bolton office, they design and develop products in Bolton and the company is ranked second in the UK for their market share of video game headsets and charging products.
However, the pandemic made them realise that it’s their own internal IT platforms that needed addressing.
ABP first contacted Burnley-based Holker before the Covid-19 pandemic, when they enquired about upgrading their legacy system and migrating to the Microsoft 365 environment.
Paul Topping, Director of Finance at ABP, said: “When the pandemic hit and we moved to remote working, we often found the server down and staff struggling to log in.
“At peak times, when everyone was on the system, it was sluggish. It made working from home even more challenging. The people who used large excel files or lots of resource struggled to work efficiently when they were waiting for the system to load.”
When the team returned to the office, they knew that the time had come to bite the bullet and upgrade their IT and contacted Holker about their options.
Paul said: “Holker understood our business, and what we wanted to get out of it. We are a small business with other day-to-day jobs to do – but Holker scoped out the project and agreed timelines. They made it simple for us.
“Holker really helped us keep the process moving by driving the project forwards. They walked us through every step of the process – from the first stage of implementation to completion.
“Like most places, some people are more it literate and Holker’s engineers helped them all remotely and on site. We felt that other IT companies hadn’t given us as much resource or personal support.”
Agility and flexibility
The MS 365 environment allows the company to benefit from the centralised control and compliance of the Microsoft environment, as well as support from Holker and a more productive workforce through the use of SharePoint and Teams.
Paul added: “MS 365 is perfect for us. We are still learning how best to utilise the new system, but it has helped with collaboration and file sharing. It has made a big difference to the company.
“Usually, people only comment on IT when it goes wrong – but everyone has been complimentary about the new system. The changes have made it easier for the team to do their jobs.”
Paul said he would recommend Holker and is already looking at other upgrades they could potentially help with in the future.
“We have ongoing support of Holker and their engineers on hand if we need assistance or have an issue to escalate. We have the confidence that we’re in good hands.”
