Grunberg & Co was created in 1990 and has grown rapidly to become an award-winning, established accountancy firm. This growth has been solely through recommendations and we are now one of the leading practices for owner managed businesses in North London.
Initial challenges
T-Tech and Grunberg & Co initially met to discuss practice automation and application integration, until it was discovered that they needed to backtrack and focus on their IT foundations before they started their automation journey.
Technology at the firm was relatively stable, but they were seeking a one-stop-shop IT provider. At the forefront of their requirements was to find a partner that understood their wide-ranging accountancy application suite, as well as the common Microsoft suite. They wanted a partner that would be able to provide the basic day-to-day support as well as the escalated, more complicated challenges.
Another requirement was finding a partner that could give them peace of mind, and manage the whole IT infrastructure, security, licenses, and asset warranties. They needed guidance for cloud solutions, and experience in getting into an agile way of working, that was different from the existing remote desktop dependent environment.
Part of Grunberg & Co’s challenge was finding a partner that understood their requirements and accountancy applications. They were aware of the solutions available to them but needed a partner that had the experience of the journey, and an understanding of how they could get the full potential out of these tools. They were ready to make an investment in technology as long as they could find a partner to manage costs, performance, and resilience, with minimal impact or downtime.
T-Tech met with the board to discuss their challenges. Grunberg & Co wanted to move to a proactive rather than reactive provider, where engineers had a good knowledge of the business and its many applications. They were looking for a team that understood the accountancy world as a whole, with calendar knowledge of crucial periods in the industry.
It was time for Grunberg & Co to get better support, to fulfil their requirements as a growing accountancy firm.
Solution
T-Tech's service take-on approach is a unique process designed to enable a seamless transition for accountancy firms, with minimal impact to the end users. Understanding the applications in use, how they are built and run, is already 90% of the challenge. Whilst the Service Desk handle day-to-day user tickets, the operations and platforms team analyse and build the technical strategy, to improve existing systems and plan the design of the firm’s infrastructure. Together with the Grunberg & Co IT Steering committee, T-Tech created the budgets and timelines for this journey.
The solution was to prioritise service and relationship, taking responsibility for resolving all IT issues. T-Tech offered a new service delivery model, supported by our responsive and knowledgeable team. We wanted to understand Grunberg & Co’s business strategy and objectives to ensure that technology would support it appropriately.
As a specialist accountancy practice, Grunberg & Co’s priority was to be able to focus on delivering a value-adding service to their clients, without having to worry about IT. T-Tech was there to alleviate their IT stresses and allow for business continuity.
The resolution plan was T-Tech’s support services and IT support organisation, followed by implementing other systems like Microsoft 365 and internet connections.
A big selling point for the partnership was that T-Tech already understood the language of third-party applications. Moving from different suppliers is always a challenge in IT. Accountancy applications have their own language – so having a provider that already speaks this language and has relationships with 3rd party vendors bridges the gap and makes the transition a lot smoother. When an end user calls up about CaseWare for example, or any accountancy application, T-Tech engineers understand what the application setup is, who the application impacts, and what the application delivers to the business; it is what we do.
T-Tech provided a budget and schedule to address their cost challenges, and to eliminate any surprises so that they knew what costs were coming and where. Alongside this, we set up a budget for hardware, and a warranty schedule in order that Grunberg & Co would always be in control of what was upcoming.
Outcome
Grunberg & Co were enthusiastic about challenging the status quo and engaging with T-Tech.
They took a smooth and low-risk transition to:
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Full T-Tech IT Support
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Microsoft 365
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Infrastructure and network
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Security Solutions
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Backup & Disaster Recovery
Service transition to T-Tech IT support was very smooth. Considering the service-take on process was during the early months of Covid-19, the transition was successful. We never had a conversation with them about not understanding their infrastructure.
There were minimal challenges with additional costs, as our costs incorporated software updates. Again, no surprises for the firm and it made the relationship easy and transparent from the start. With a process in place, software updates can be scheduled and carried out in a convenient time or out of hours.
Grunberg & Co are very happy with the IT support and service desk interactions they have today. They receive monthly onsite visits by a T-Tech engineer to assist with any daily issues.
There is an ongoing commitment by both sides to building a strong relationship.
Future
As it stands, T-Tech continues to have a thriving relationship with Grunberg & Co.
We conduct:
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Quarterly business reviews with their senior team,
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Have regular strategic meetings to make sure they are on track for future proof,
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Carry out a monthly service check-in with partners,
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As well as have casual check-ins on a weekly basis with partners and users.