If you’re a frequent traveler on State Highway 1 through Tirau, you might know Lola & Co, a popular café that does great coffee. Lola & Co is part of Notting Hill, a thriving multi-faceted business in the town. They have six retail sites, employing 27 people across Tirau: furniture collections, interiors and homeware, fashion, linen, and an outlet store.

IT security is a front of mind concern for many small businesses, and Notting Hill is no different. In fact, its existing email systems were plagued with issues and had been hacked.

Notting Hill reached out to their local Spark Business Hub, who called in their Spark IT Partner, Millenium IT, to perform an IT health check. It was quickly discovered just what needed attention: their systems were outdated and confusing to operate. With a decade-old Windows 7 operating system across their network, they had vulnerabilities and reduced productivity.

The Millennium IT team performed a radical rebuild, with the Microsoft 365 suite becoming the background for a range of tools, all built in an updated Windows 10 environment.

It’s an end-to-end solution with a range of benefits for the Notting Hill team. Being a holistic Microsoft system, everything integrates seamlessly, and the rollout was superfast. Notting Hill’s existing database was easily transferred and now syncs perfectly with mobile phones, so working on the go is a piece of cake. Add to that the power of One Drive to access files and remote desktop access with Windows 10 Pro, and the team is WFH ready. The single licence system simplified everything into a cost-effective package.

Millenium IT also helped the team with little touches like ergonomics and dual screening to make work easier and more effective.

The platform does everything Notting Hill needs it to do, but a whole lot faster, increasing productivity. Adding new staff members is straightforward and can be done without calling any external IT support. But when they do need help, it’s a whole lot easier with a back end that allows faster diagnostics and trouble-shooting, should any problems arise.

It sounds like a big undertaking, but Marise at Notting Hill has nothing but praise for the professionalism and standard of work that Spark IT delivered. She has been overwhelmed with the simplicity of transitioning to the new setups, and now, with all their systems streamlined and optimized, Notting Hill can focus on running the business rather than troubleshooting IT issues.

See how Spark IT and Microsoft could help your business today. Contact your local Spark Business Hub to find out more.