Please note: This post was written by Highlander prior to their rebrand to FluidOne Business IT - Sheffield.
Even for those that are familiar with our business, there’s one team that often goes unnoticed. It’s probably not something you’re ever likely to see if you make a (socially distanced) visit to our offices, and you’re unlikely to hear their names as you talk with your Account Manager about your project. But rest assured, they are the unsung Highlander heroes behind a lot of what we do.
I’m talking about our busy workshop floor and the expert team who work there every day.
While they might not grab the limelight, I wanted to share some insight into the important part they play in supporting the services we offer and helping us deliver key projects. So I’m throwing open the workshop doors to explain a little more about what they do.
What is the workshop for?
The primary function of the workshop is to help us to deliver the all-important break-fix services that are central to our support contracts. The team is made up of permanent engineers Dylan and Lewis, and ably supported in the stockroom by Steve.
When hardware issues and technical challenges cannot be solved either remotely or by one of our on-site Field Engineers, the workshop team is on hand to receive faulty products that need deeper investigation and ultimately to be fixed. The workshop is kitted out with the latest tools and diagnostic equipment to enable this to occur quickly, so tech can return to operation in as short a time as possible.
Aside from break-fix, the workshop is also responsible for much of the hardware staging to support significant customer IT projects. Whether it’s the configuration and imaging of large numbers of client devices for a business-wide roll out, or building a host of new servers for a business-critical data centre, it’s the hard work that takes place within the workshop that allows us to meet the project deadlines we set, and achieve them with the minimum of fuss.
Away from customer-focused work, the workshop space also acts as safe learning environment for our wider team. Everyone from Field Engineers to Account Managers, not to mention the management team, can take the opportunity to break down the latest hardware and solutions to better understand exactly how they work, building the knowledge base needed to advise customer decisions and importantly speak from first-hand experience.
Why the workshop is so important?
As a business we take great pride in the people who make up our team, and the important knowledge, skills, and experience they offer.
Many of our customers choose to work with us, not just because of the services and solutions we provide, but the quality of the people who support them. Our customers know that they can engage any part of our business safe in the knowledge that this is being dealt with by a hard-working, honest and committed Highlander team member – and that includes the services provided by our workshop.
Other IT providers choose not to have a workshop, instead outsourcing this function to other parts of the supply chain. However, we’ve found having this resource within our own business enables us to offer a responsiveness and retain a level of know-how that is often the difference-maker for our customers when tight timescales are at play, or when mistakes during staging could literally make or break a project.
The value of the workshop has been evidenced numerous times during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, at the outset of the pandemic we were pleased to be able to support a Sheffield-based hospice by configuring and distributing a set of mobile devices for their teams out in the field at a short notice. Without this technology, their mobile staff simply wouldn’t have been able to deliver much-needed support for home-based patients. The hospice was incredibly grateful for the speed at which we met their request, and put simply, we were only able to achieve this because of the presence of our own workshop and the availability and dedication of the people who staff it.
Like any business, we’re always pleased to hear positive feedback, and we’re thankful to have received plenty of thanks from customers as we helped them tackle their COVID challenges, in no small part a product of the workshop team.
I hope that after reading this article, the next time we supply your business with new devices, or deliver an important project, you’ll spare a thought for the hard-working people at the heart of our business who made it happen.
