Heritage Automotive.

Challenge

Heritage Automotive is one of the most successful and fastest growing motor groups in the UK. Specialising in new and used Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Peugeot passenger cars and commercial vehicles, the group has 12 franchises on six widely separated sites across Dorset, Bristol, Somerset and Wiltshire.

As the company expanded they wanted every site’s IT system to be fully connected to their main administration centre in Westbury, Wiltshire so it could be remotely managed and maintained by one technician. Heritage Automotive also wanted staff in their various showrooms and service centres to be able to access the system remotely on PCs and tablets – both on the road and in the showrooms – to improve efficiency and enhance customer care. Linking complex multi-site activities across a large area of southern England to a single central location was an IT challenge Novatech was happy to accept.

In addition, Volkswagen have specified that all visitors to their franchised showrooms must have guest access to the internet while on site, a courtesy that Heritage Automotive also wanted to extend to their customers, not only to enhance the showrooms, but also to improve its after-care service.

Solution

“Heritage Automotive had been purchasing components like the occasional PC or memory upgrade from us, for quite a while” said Novatech Account Manager Dan Sharpe. “But since taking over their account I developed a close relationship with their IT manager and we now supply their total IT infrastructure, from servers to PCs and peripherals to monitors. Speed and efficiency are very important to Heritage so we supplied PCs with SSDs to make sure their internal .NET applications and sales management systems worked effectively and quickly.”

As Heritage Automotive expanded they also wanted to establish wireless infrastructure and administrative connectivity between their six locations. Working closely with Heritage’s IT department and senior managers, Novatech developed a standalone IT backbone of servers, switches and cabling for each site, then linked them all into one high-speed broadband network, managed by the Westbury centre.

Result

Heritage’s IT Manager Jamie Spencer said, “Through Dan’s work over the years Novatech have become trusted ‘can-do’ partners who are always looking to make sure we can get the best out of our technology budget. Our PCs are custom-built to our own unique spec but Dan holds spares, ready built, in stock so we can get new or replacement units instantly. Novatech’s tech support and customer services are always uber flexible and eager to make sure any problems are sorted without fuss or worry. We love Novatech. And we love Dan. He’s gone much further for us than any other supplier and we now have a professional relationship that feels more like a friendship.”