With a workforce that benefits from flexibility and mobility, SB Recruitmentt needed to find a small business IT support partner to help them reach for increasingly innovative business goals. Their existing server environment was sluggish and expensive. Managing Director Sarah Bolster could see that it was really slowing the team down and preventing the kind of growth the business was primed for.
“The cost was huge in our previous environment and the systems themselves were going backwards,” said Sarah Bolster, Managing Director SB Recruitment. “Also, being in the server environment meant we couldn’t innovate as easily with things like Skype for Business. This was crucial in order for my business to grow and scale.”
The right IT partner brings vision for innovation to life
With the business bursting with new potential, Sarah Bolster knew she needed an IT partner that would support her vision for innovation – in how the staff worked and, importantly, in how the company was able to better service its clients. She wanted to find a partner that could offer small business IT support.
“We met with a few different IT companies, but Steve Ranson from Nexio Group really understood what we were looking for and he was happy to explore things with us,” explained Sarah Bolster. “Steve was also down to earth and easy to deal with. He had masses of experience with SMEs like my business, so his knowledge of what state we were in – versus where we wanted to get to – didn’t seem to faze him at all.”
The company had staff members who needed to work from home for various reasons and Sarah wanted to be able to support this – including for herself. There was also an increasing need to be able to meet candidates via video rather than the time consuming and resource heavy process of meeting face to face. “The main thing we did after getting rid of the server and getting O365 was move our day to day files into the cloud,” said Sarah. “We had a few small teething issues but within a week everyone knew what they were doing. Being able to share files opened up a whole lot of flexibility with when and how we worked together.”
The business can scale up while overheads and costs scale down
SB Recruitment has been able to streamline its operational needs while providing greater flexibility to how both staff and clients engage with the company. Sarah’s desired outcomes have all been met including:
SIGNIFICANT COST REDUCTIONS:
The company has seen a 60% drop in monthly IT costs. “This is huge for us. Being able to drop our spend by that much has been a massive benefit for the company. We can allocate that money towards other key innovations to help us grow.”
A WORKFORCE THAT IS MORE MOBILE:
Staff are no longer tied to desk phones and having to be in the same office. This improves efficiency and also helps Sarah create the kind of supportive work culture that is important to her. “I have a staff member who isn’t able to commute to Sydney anymore due to health issues. She now has no problem getting on with her job. She can work easily from home, she just logs on and gets on with it.”
SPREADING WINGS TO NEW GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS:
Having a national reach will play a pivotal role in the kind of growth the company is striving for. “We are increasingly doing more work in Brisbane but we don’t actually have an office in Brisbane. We can have a national presence without having an office there, avoiding the expense this would bring.”
A MORE AGILE BUSINESS MODEL:
Sarah Bolster has already found she can scale down both the physical and time resources the company needs. She and her accountant can work remotely, both looking at the one document. “Being able to do video interviews means we can move to a smaller office. This means my lease costs will come down. Our business can be much more mobile. This is a great benefit to us and increases our competitive advantage.”
