Wrightsons British Tags

Who are Wrightsons British Tags?

Established in 1947, Wrightsons British Tags developed the concept of branded designer clothing hangtags. It now offers a much expanded range of products, from branded hangtags and clothing labels to printed carrier bags, gift boxes and packaging, and promotional metal and embroidered badges, key rings and many more.

The company uses its expertise to offer clients design and manufacturing ideas and to keep up to date with the newest and most innovative concepts. Clients it has supplied include House of Fraser, JD Sports, Cath Kidston, Moss Bros, Hobbs, Animal, Ben Sherman, Harrods, C&A, Debenhams, Monsoon and Vivienne Westwood. With a heavy reliance on its IT systems, both at its Guildford headquarters and for its mobile sales team, and a 20% rise in sales during 2012, Wrightsons British Tags decided a refresh of their IT systems and support was needed, and chose to work with Surrey-based IT support expert ramsac.

With a global presence, Wrightsons British Tags helps clients maintain an excellent consistency of brand image, wherever products are made across the globe. It offers a free of charge creative design service followed by rapid sampling, allowing clients to see the finished product first. This speed and efficiency allows clients to make confident and fully informed decisions. The company has a mobile sales team that can visit clients to discuss any requirements, offering competitive prices and quick quotations. The company also strives to be more environmentally friendly, promoting recycled boards and new vegetable based inks, along with jute, cotton and ecological carrier bags. Also on offer are biodegradable plastic products, and paper/card based products using FSC certified papers from renewable sources.

Selecting a new IT provider

Wrightsons British Tags initially discussed the renewal of its complete core IT system with its previous IT support provider, as Miles Fairston, Managing Director of Wrightsons British Tags elaborated, “We were running an elderly IT system, some parts of which stretched back 10 years. Having endured a couple of days of service problems and some issues with access speed for our remote workers, we felt that a new system was needed to address these issues and offer us full peace of mind. We had a long and frank discussion with our previous IT support provider about the issues and drew up a potential wish list of what was required.”

Supporting remote offices

Like many businesses, Wrightsons British Tags relies heavily on its IT systems to run and control its core business activities. With sales taking place worldwide, and new offices recently opened in Hong Kong and China, remote access is a critical function of the business. Specific needs include extensive storage for large artwork and design files and the company found it required more flexibility in the way this was provided. Miles Fairston commented, “Our previous remote working facility was inflexible and outdated. If one of the team was remotely using their login for example, the corresponding physical computer in the office was unavailable for use. Needless to say this was a poor use of our IT resources and inconvenient for everyone.”

Strategic planning consultancy

Wrightsons British Tags initially came to us with an invitation to tender against the renewal of a complete IT system which their incumbent IT supplier had defined. We believed that the solution seemed illogical and overly expensive, but with minimal functionality, so discussed alternatives with the team. We agreed to undertake a needs analysis and to perform strategic planning consultancy to define a roadmap for the business moving forward. An ‘Invitation To Tender’ document was produced in order to select a new IT partner. We also responded to the new tender invitation and were delighted to be selected. We now have the pleasure of being fully integrated into the business as a strategic partner and outsourced IT department.

Robert May, Managing Director of ramsac

The project delivered by ramsac included new server hardware, a virtualisation project, backup, remote access, software asset management, archiving, email management and on-going managed services. ramsac’s latest input has been in helping to structure and deliver a business continuity plan for the business.

The benefits

The benefits have been obvious, as Miles Fairston continued, “Before we employed ramsac we spent too much of our own time dealing with our IT problems as best we could. Our previous support partner was based around 30 miles away so getting an engineer to our site could take longer than was acceptable. ramsac is far more local to us, offering quick and helpful hands-on assistance if it’s required. ramsac has also specified and installed an excellent IT platform in the form of new servers and software systems that meet our current and potential on-going needs. Remote access is now simple and reliable and we make the most of a combination of cloud and non-cloud based solutions that fit our needs perfectly.”

ramsac’s clear approach to IT has also impressed Wrightsons British Tags, as Miles Fairston elaborated, “As a company they are very commercially aware when it comes to providing IT support. ramsac explains IT in clear English, taking away the stress of dealing with our systems and needs. We actually think of the ramsac team as our IT department rather than as a supplier! We were also very impressed with its performance as a business its self. Having grown and moved to a new office, we feel that ramsac is a stable and reliable partner with which we can work and trust.”

There have been very tangible benefits as Miles Fairston concluded, “On a practical level, our connections speeds are much quicker (especially for remote working) and highly reliable – which gives us the peace of mind and confidence to get on with our core business activities. ramsac is very accessible, the team respond very quickly to any needs we have. We have a regular visit once a month and any potential issues or problems are discussed before they can be a factor to our business. Even the upgrade was seamless, the ramsac team took the time to plan it meticulously, keeping us informed throughout the process and ensuring that all the eventualities were planned for and appropriately mitigated. The proactive approach has impressed us and we feel we have true peace of mind that our IT systems will continue to serve us fully in the future.”