Following our previous blog on Things to Consider When Moving to the Cloud, this post will look at a real-life example of what the journey to the cloud looks like from the perspective of one of our customers: McColm Civil & Structural Engineering.

Background

McColm are a leading Civil & Structural Engineering practice that specialises in delivering design-led consultancy, with a wide-ranging portfolio, covering anything from small domestic projects to multimillion pound developments. The business was founded in 2008 by Neil McColm, who was later joined by Richard McColm in 2013 to grow as a family business.

Neil & Richard boast impressive CVs as chartered engineers with a combined experience of over 35 years across most sectors of the industry. Both have also worked for themselves, and for larger organisations prior to launching McColm – giving the business a great base to build upon.

McColm currently has a workforce of 13 employees, made up of experienced engineers and technicians, along with graduate and student engineers, giving the business a nice blend of knowledge and experience from top to bottom.

The organisation prides itself on its reputation for service and reliability which has been established over many years of providing quality, client-focused and cost-effective solutions to their customers.

The Challenge

Like many owner-managed businesses, this combination of hard work and customer focus has seen the business grow steadily in recent years, even throughout the challenges presented by the Covid pandemic.

Between an increasing number of employees and various lockdowns, McColm found themselves having more people in more places than before, all of whom needed access to different resources whilst on the go.

It soon became clear that they had to make it easier for the team to access day-to-day tools and documents (email, files, reports etc.) whilst ensuring management could retain control, security, and visibility of customer information and projects.

Until now, IT had been managed in-house, but McColm knew that to continue to grow the business the way they envisioned; at some point they would have to upgrade their IT set-up. They also knew that this would need to be done at the right time and with the right provider, as an unsuccessful move where IT was concerned could severely hinder their ability to function.

Richard McColm explains:

“It was clear moving our IT to the cloud was the next step to progress the business, but where to start the process became tricky…until now it’s not something we’ve needed to know much about.

The key motivation for this change was to make things easier for our staff to do their job by giving them more accessibility and flexibility, but it was paramount that we did not disrupt the day-to-day operations of the business in the process.

This meant it was important for us to get the right IT provider to help us throughout the switch and really understand what we were looking to achieve with the move to the cloud”.

McColm contacted Innovec and after an initial discussion, it was clear that as an owner-managed business themselves, Innovec understood what McColm required and recommended a migration to Microsoft 365.

The Solution

Following discussions with McColm’s about their requirements, ambitions and timelines, the business opted to progress with Innovec’s recommendation of implementing Microsoft365 as a first step in moving the business to the cloud.

Having migrated over 100 local businesses to Microsoft 365, Innovec’s proven methodology meant that the directors could relax knowing that their current system would be backed-up and the new system would be entirely configured and accessible prior to go-live, ensuring no downtime, data loss, or inconvenience for the team.

McColm has continued to build from strength to strength following the implementation, with both directors stating that Microsoft 365 has improved their day-to-day operation, rather than hinder it as they had initially feared.

With the implementation of Microsoft 365, the business can now offer hybrid working to staff as they now have the flexibility they were initially looking for. This means no matter what is going on in the world, from the lockdown restrictions we’ve seen over the past few years to the great Scottish weather causing travel issues, the productivity of the business can remain the same, as everyone has access to crucial documents from anywhere, at any time.

Richard McColm continues:

“Since implementing Microsoft 365 it’s fair to say I have more time to spend elsewhere in the business, as I know my team are working away, no matter where they are. Unlike before they now always have access to the resources they need, regardless if they’re in the office or out visiting a client. This means the team can continue to meet the high standards we’ve set as a business and continue to push the boundaries of what we do.”

The implementation also gives an added layer of security to the business. With a central location for all McColm’s critical data, there is no need for staff to send things back and forth to one another, which in the past could have led to missed project information or data breaches.

Following such a successful implementation, McColm decided to retain Innovec’s services to assist them with Backups, Cyber Security and ongoing IT Support meaning they can focus solely on their business, knowing their IT is up to date and looked after by experts.

To discuss how Innovec can help your business move your IT forward with Microsoft 365, or any other service we provide such as Business Telecoms or IT Support give us a call on 01292 427 420 or click the link below to send an email directly to our expert team today.