About Bugler Developments Limited
Bugler Developments is an award-winning property development business, building high-quality homes throughout London and the South East. Founded in 1982, Bugler are a family run business with high values underpinning their organisation throughout.
Challenges Bugler faced before working with Chalkline
The main priority outlined from the start was to allow Bugler to continue growing at a rapid pace, whilst improving their security, flexibility and management. There were several challenges to overcome initially, with users being spread across the country, but with the assistance of the onsite IT team at Bugler and the deployment of Chalkline’s services, this became a reality – on time & on budget.
Ken Frakes, Bugler’s Head of IT, Data & Imaging, said:
“Our external IT provider prior to moving to Chalkline had supported Bugler for roughly 10 years. During that time we had moved from internal servers to a Remote Desktop solution. Bugler were experiencing year on year growth and increased headcount – doubling in size and turnover between 2016 – 2022.
Our IT provider was relatively small and had not grown in size over their tenure, which proved to be a challenge for our support. Their recommended Remote Desktop solution was not built for growth and we quickly found it wasn’t fit for purpose.
We began our search for a new provider and following a thorough tender process we appointed Chalkline.”
The Solution
When we first started working with Bugler, we completed a thorough audit, outlining exactly what was in place, and where the potential issues were. We found several issues and bottlenecks which were not allowing for the best experience, and we put a plan in place to tackle those immediately. For example, their legacy Remote Desktop solution was replaced with Azure Virtual Desktop.
We then turned our attention to the other parts of their IT, from networking to security to licensing and to hardware. They underwent a full hardware refresh and several other projects to add resiliency and business continuity into the design.
Ken Frakes further commented:
“Chalkline helped to quickly transition our servers to a Cloud based platform that could support our workload and headcount and was as scalable as we needed.”
After the core services were implemented, we looked at their IT strategy and prioritised the development of a new CRM system, allowing Bugler’s Customer Care team to log & track defects, and provide reporting & wallboards to identify trends. This was built on HaloCRM, through our Halo partnership.
Below is a list of just some of the services we provide to Bugler:
- Microsoft Azure
- Chalkline Security Bundle
- Cyber Essentials & Cyber Essentials Plus
- Disaster Recovery solutions
- Microsoft Teams Telephony
- SharePoint Online
- IT Procurement & Asset Refresh
- Customer Care Ticketing System, Reporting & CRM Solution (HaloCRM)
Benefits Experienced Since Engaging with Chalkline
- Prompt enterprise grade support
- Regular service reviews, including security roadmaps and strategy meetings
- Always up to date security services
- Access to Chalkline’s experts for support and advice
- Strategic advice and guidance on internal business processes and solutions
- The ability to continue on the same growth trajectory
Ken added:
“Chalkline has a clear Managed Services Support process, providing very good internal education of Bugler’s infrastructure and needs to a responsive team that helps remedy any issues or provides strategic options on future requirements.
The Chalkline Account Management team also help with our hardware needs and are able to provide new kit quickly, keep inventory records and provide performance reports monthly on month. Proactively making us aware of areas we should address without sales pressure.
I would definitely recommend Chalkline to help with any IT Growth, Support and Digital transition. They quickly become an extended team that understands the business IT challenges and are able to recommend and implement future proof solutions.”
