CPiO Cloud was the next step for engineering firm, Tidyco.
The popularity of the cloud is continuing to grow and it’s no wonder; not only does it eliminate the headache and responsibility of managing your technical infrastructure, but it also rapidly decreases long term operational costs. A fully hosted managed service was the next step for family-run engineering firm, Tidyco. As one of CPiO’s longest standing customers, Tidyco invested in CPiO Cloud three years ago to run its existing Sage ERP software.
Based in the heart of Derbyshire, Tidyco manufacture and distribute hydraulic and pneumatic equipment to over 50 countries worldwide. With a focus on automotive, construction and rail industries, Tidyco is committed to providing quality, value for money products, through an ultimate online buying system. The company offers an end to end service to its customers with a great team of production workers and mobile engineers that have earned Tidyco a trusted reputation.
Long before seeking assistance from Sage support partner, CPiO, James Tidy, Managing Director at Tidyco was personally and solely responsible for the company’s technical infrastructure, housing multiple servers on site at Tidyco’s Derby offices. Even in his position as Managing Director, James was the first port of call when a server issue arose, an unwelcome distraction to daily management and strategy of the Tidyco business. James was essentially underpinning the entire IT infrastructure. ”I had this underlying responsibility that when the power went or an update was required, everyone turned to me for the answer. It was an increasingly stressful situation that was holding me back from running the business”, comments James.
In 2011, James turned to CPiO’s technical infrastructure team to gain further support and advice around the company’s on site infrastructure management, but in 2014 Tidyco decided to move its entire platform into the cloud. This decision was made on the basis that it would be more cost effective and relieve the day to day responsibility and worry. Where many CPiO cloud customers have moved into the cloud to improve data security, this was never a primary concern for Tidyco. The company realised that a continual investment in upgrading hardware would be costly. Therefore the decision was made that with a core hosted infrastructure, Tidyco would be able to gain the latest software updates, all with a lower capital investment and no on site server maintenance required.
After 15 years of providing and supporting the company with its Sage ERP software, Tidyco once again turned to CPiO which recommended a fully hosted offsite IT model.
Any initial concerns over business disruption whilst moving into the cloud were short lived; CPiO developed an 8 week project plan to build the cloud environment in tandem with the live system. Rigorous testing was done in the cloud to ensure that user experience was good before making the switch, which meant that Tidyco’s day to day operations were not affected. The final stage and ’go live’ was carried out over a weekend where all data was loaded into the cloud, ready for operation on Monday. ”CPiO worked hard to migrate our environment with the utmost consideration for our day to day operations. The whole project was quick, convenient and non-intrusive – exactly as the CPiO team had promised.”
In the first week following go-live, the CPiO team was onsite to assist and solve any problems. CPiO trained and guided Tidyco’s employees on the new procedures to access and use the cloud effectively. “We have a heavily bespoke Sage solution, so we expected to experience a few teething problems. These were effectively resolved by CPiO and it has been plain sailing ever since”.
The company has enjoyed all of the benefits of cloud without any surprise ad-hoc costs, just an easy to budget monthly fixed price. Tidyco is taking advantage of the reduction in responsibility, as well as additional office space and lower energy costs. James explains, “Now, when something goes wrong it’s not me that has to solve the problem and that alone is invaluable to our organisation. I can now focus more time developing other parts of the business and its strategy moving forward.” Increasingly, service levels in CPiO Cloud have improved, with users experiencing optimal uptime and mobile workers able to access the system easily.
With a 10% year on year growth plan, CPiO Cloud is increasingly important to Tidyco, not only to provide specialist support and problem resolution, but to consistently maintain a stable, solid environment to maximise uptime. Tidyco is confident that the team at CPiO can provide the best service via the latest technology. James declares, ‘’The CPiO Cloud support is top, the whole team is really helpful and responsive, helping me keep my business running smoothly. I cannot translate what the cloud gives our business in money terms, but it is crucial to Tidyco’s success”.
