IT budgeting: Flexibility is key

We’ve all learned financial hits can come when least expected, so it’s important to keep a tight rein on the things you can control. We explain how Holker helps you manage your IT budget – with the option to scale services up or down, quickly, and easily.

Managing your own IT Budget

Holker as a company is founded on transparency. From consultation to application, we will be clear about what we propose and why it is the right solution for you. And we will not hide any costs. We will also help you build the businesses case for the projects we undertake.  We outline the costs from the beginning, and we will help you build the business case – we are happy to explain the ROI to any Finance Director.

Types of finance

If we agree a project, typically, we will predict a total cost, a timescale and put a project plan in place. We will never charge you more, even if the project has been more complex than expected and/or has taken longer than predicted.

Our transparency also extends to IT Support. We have a simple costing plan. This is usually based on a ‘per user/per month’ fee which provides all-encompassing support. Everyone in our clients’ companies can call our helpdesk, for help and advice on any IT matter. They will get fast, honest, friendly help straight away.

If your business is about to grow, as all our contracts are based on a per user/per month model, this simply scales up or down with your business. For example, with the recent pandemic, customers had fewer active workers, so we charged them less.

The fees are designed to grow and shrink with businesses as and when required, not just when the contract is due to be renewed.  We think this is the kind of flexibility that businesses deserve.

Looking after our clients – Our Approach

We look after our clients in a variety of ways. We pride ourselves on great customer service, with a support team that understands infrastructure and understands how to run a managed service. Holker’s helpdesk team have experience and expertise in most business environments. They work effectively with many applications and products.  We also have dedicated account managers who are there to work with clients to ensure contracts are running smoothly, efficiently and with the best value for money.

Continuous INTEL focused improvement is always at the core of our service, which ties into the ITIL Service Desk framework.

We carry out Contracts Reviews frequently. We constantly ask: are we providing the right service? Is our service still fit for purpose? Do we need to add any services?  If we’ve had particular high call rates about a recurring problem, is there a training issue? Whatever is identified to improve and better our service, we will deliver as part of our promise to our clients.

We share with all of our clients an SLA (service level agreement) which is reviewed as frequently as the client requires.

Our SLAs are bespoke, tailored to individual clients.

Sales Director, Julian Tunstall explains more:

The three things that we do differently, that set us apart from our competitors, are:

  1. Security First – as a support team and solution provider, everything we do is underpinned by security.
  2. A consolidated solutions set – we are not jacks of all trades, we specialise. And we only sell systems we are confident will work and that we can support properly.
  3. Client relations – an honest, relaxed working relationship at all levels is vital.

However, we believe that the single biggest difference between Holker and others is our people.

During the pandemic, while a lot of companies cut back, Holker moved forward hiring new people and acquiring a complimentary business. Demand has remained strong, our customer base has remained strong, and our renewals have continued. Fortunately, we have come out of the pandemic relatively unscathed.

There has been a real push to remote working and a real change in employers’ attitudes. Products like MS Teams have become more popular, almost the norm to most businesses.  Before the pandemic, many people found video conferences daunting – now they are a daily occurrence. To use video calling effectively, you need a specific solution in place, like MS Teams, good connectivity, and good support surrounding it. All this needs a company like Holker to manage it.

We see the market growing for Cloud services. We don’t regard IT in the ‘old school’ style of it being a ‘tool’ for your business. We see IT as an enabler, central to business. This mindset is in the hearts and minds of all our staff at Holker.

So how do we manage to deliver a good service? The answer is always through good people.

 

Our fees are designed  to grow and shrink with our client’s business, not just when the contract is due to be renewed.

We think this is the kind of flexibility that you deserve.