Wilkinson Eyre

Designing the perfect solution

The customer

As one of the UK’s leading architectural practices, Wilkinson Eyre have twice won the UK’s most prestigious design award, the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling prize. Their work includes globally renowned projects such as Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, and closer to home, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

Wilkinson Eyre work from their office in central London on schemes worldwide, with current projects throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.

A flexible and scalable network is key. Syntura’s cost effective managed services have given us the competitive advantage that a business like ours needs.

Chris Poulton Associate at Wilkinson Eyre

The challenge

A series of large project wins led to a growth in staff numbers in London, forcing Wilkinson Eyre to relocate to more spacious offices. The move presented the perfect opportunity for the firm to make a number of long-desired changes. These included increasing their Internet connectivity, replacing their outdated phone system, and improving the resilience of their platform.
As a successful international professional services firm operating using a small internal IT department, a major concern was catering to business demands without over-stretching internal resource. Furthermore, a scalable network was crucial.
Chris Poulton, Associate at Wilkinson Eyre, comments: “Working in a project-based environment such as ours, it’s as important to have the flexibility to downsize at a moment’s notice, as it is to upgrade.”

Five key points were set out in the initial brief:

  • A working partnership with a supplier they could trust
  • A flexible network that could grow or contract with their business
  • Scalable bandwidth that could support a VoIP solution – A feature-rich IP PBX needing minimal maintenance by their own staff
  • High server availability, backed by 24/7 support, so staff in different time zones could access their files at any time (day or night)
  • A high quality solution that worked within their budget

Why Syntura?

Wilkinson Eyre asked a number of providers to tender bids for their communications upgrade project. Already impressed by Syntura’s high levels of customer service, they invited Syntura to submit a proposal too.

The architects made the decision to work with Syntura for a number of reasons:

  • Flexible service platform: the proposed solution allowed for quick upgrades and downsizing on tap
  • Customer service: Syntura were already providing a responsive and personal service
  • 24/7 support: a necessity for Wilkinson Eyre, operating offices in multiple time zones
  • Managed services: thereby reducing the load on in-house resource
  • Value for money: Syntura’s solution was competitively priced Wilkinson Eyre’s key requirement was a high level of Customer service.

They had been let down by their previous ISP, whose “horrendous service” and lack of responsiveness had caused problems in the past. Chris Poulton goes on to say: “Although Syntura came in with an attractive price, cost was by no means the deciding factor… we’d had our fingers burned before and this time we wanted a more personal service.”

A flexible and scalable network is key. Syntura’s cost effective managed services have given us the competitive advantage that a business like ours needs.

Chris Poulton Associate at Wilkinson Eyre

Benefits

Syntura’s solution has offered Wilkinson Eyre a multitude of benefits:

  • A flexible multi-service platform that allows new technologies to be added when needed
  • Scalable bandwidth providing additional capacity when needed
  • The features and functionality of an IP PBX
  • Exceptionally high levels of customer service – available 24/7
  • A resilient voice service with significant call savings

At Wilkinson Eyre we’ve a small IT team. Our partnership with Syntura allows us to focus on our own internal needs with complete peace of mind. As we grow and new technology comes online, we use Syntura’s expertise and advice. With work of this nature (projects regularly stopping and starting) a flexible and scalable network is key. Syntura’s cost effective managed services have given us the competitive advantage that a business like ours needs.

Chris Poulton

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