Case Study: Reading Buses acquires Newbury and District

Trusted IT support from CIT helps Reading Buses improve efficiency and customer satisfaction

Introduction to Reading Buses

Reading Buses is a bus company that operates predominantly in the Reading area.

They are a private company, owned by the Borough Council in Reading and are proud to have been transporting customers in and around Reading for over 100 years. Reading Buses employs around 600 staff and are committed to providing quality bus services and have a strong focus on customer service and innovation.

We spoke to Mark Price, IT Manager at Reading Buses about his relationship with Complete I.T. (CIT) since partnering in 2010.

Partnering with CIT

Complete I.T. initially helped Reading Buses with a Datto disaster recovery and backup solutions project. Pleased with the outcome, Reading Buses decided to partner with CIT full-time so that they could benefit from Complete IT Support, which offers a helping hand to their in house IT Manager. Over the years, Reading Buses has expanded its services into further areas of the Thames Valley and with the support of Complete I.T., have upgraded their IT to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction.

“Overall, my experience with Complete I.T. is very positive, they are a really good company and I have great relationships with the team because of the personal touch CIT brings” said Mark.

CIT Support

Reading Buses acquisition of Newbury and District in 2018 meant that CIT needed to transition the new company into the existing Reading Buses infrastructure to ensure the companies were working together as one. This would in turn improve reliability, efficiency and security.

The project started off with an IT systems review of Newbury and District to assess the current setup, after which a project plan was then proposed and accepted.

The Newbury and District project involved migrating the team to a Microsoft 365 environment which was a “big step forward” said Mark, as historically “it was a struggle for staff to access emails on the move and working remotely was not possible.”

The updated firewall and VPN also meant that when the lockdowns were implemented, the team could work ‘business as usual’ at home and at other sites of the business, whilst still ensuring high levels of security.

Another key area of support for Reading Buses is CIT’s 24/7 helpdesk support. “Complete I.T.’s 24/7 support is a big tick for us” said Mark, “if the control room has a problem at 2am, CIT are always only a phone call away.”

Great benefits have also been seen when transitioning to cloud-based systems and connecting hosted applications, such as their ticketing system. Uploading data to the cloud instead of on premise makes it easier to keep data up to date and from a business continuity and disaster recovery point of view, easier to recover.

Additionally, they are able to analyse their teams driving performance from the cloud which allows them to understand and focus on one of their core objectives, the environment. Eco-friendly driving is rewarded and high fuel consumption will triggers warnings, which help Reading Buses make impactful changes.

CIT Team

Mark explains “our relationship with Complete I.T isn’t just about the technical expertise, it’s also the understanding of our business and our priorities. I really trust their advice and we work together to introduce changes that are appropriate and enhance the IT systems for my company.” He goes on to say “the team are friendly and helpful and I genuinely would recommend Complete I.T. to anyone.”

Clients are partnered with a small IT helpdesk team, so whenever Reading Buses call their IT helpdesk number, they are welcomed by people they know. “It’s good to speak to two, maybe three regular people on the helpdesk,” said Mark.

Another benefit Reading Buses values is being able to rely on a wealth of IT and technology expertise. If their dedicated Technical Consultant doesn’t know the answer straight away, he is able to rely on a team of technical experts for guidance, which is one of the core benefits of outsourcing your IT to a Managed IT Support Provider.

Future Proofing

Ensuring standardisation, reliability and connectivity is a key goal for Reading Buses. Similar to many businesses, if their core systems go down it can massively affect their company.

Reading Buses need to be able to rely on technology to work as they can be penalised heavily if they do not meet very high targets as they are legally obliged to run their registered bus services at all times, no matter if there is a shortage of drivers or broken-down buses.

Although the future is uncertain due to COVID-19, Reading Buses is determined to meet future challenges and continue to provide essential services for the people and businesses of Reading and the Thames Valley with the help of CIT.

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