Conformedia provides Sukhothai with IT support so they can get on with producing fantastic THAI FOOD.
GROWING IT
If you’re looking for a taste of Thailand then rapidly growing restaurant chain Sukhothai provides just that; exceptional Thai dinning to suit every budget.
For authentic Thai street food with a Bangkok market feel then Zaap Thai serves up an Asian treat. If you prefer fine Thai dining, then award winning Sukhothai offers an imaginative and authentic Thai menu within elegant Asian themed surroundings.
Since 2002 the restaurant chain has grown rapidly, opening 7 restaurants across the north. It soon became clear that the business needed to review its outdated and inadequate IT infrastructure, both at their head office and throughout the restaurants.
Conformedia reviewed the business and implemented a business wide IT strategy. Scalability was key as the business intends to add more restaurants to the portfolio. In addition to supporting the office administration team it was important that every restaurant had appropriate support to ensure they could deliver the exceptional service they are known for.
The solution centred around providing standardised resources and integrating a mismatch of Apple and Windows workstations.
A new wired and wireless infrastructure was implemented, with a new Windows server provisioned at the Head Office. Office 365 followed, providing document collaboration, business class email and calendaring.
There was little Internet connectivity at the restaurants for administration or customer use. This was something that required urgent attention, as reliable internet is essential for the smooth running of any hospitality business as customers expect to access to WIFI within restaurants and the PDQ debit and credit card readers rely on good, stable internet connection.
Conformedia surveyed each of the restaurants and identified the most appropriate Internet service provision, balancing speed, availability and cost. Internet services ranging from fibre broadband, fixed line fibre and cable were then installed into each of the restaurants. Conformedia then liaised with the providers of the point of sale equipment, ensuring all the tills were able to network and provide reporting online and back to head office.
Following this, the next question was how to generate some return from a free service such as WIFI. It was decided that Conformedia would provide WIFI at each restaurant implementing captive portal technology, gently encouraging restaurant customers to generate traffic on the Zaap restaurant Facebook pages by check ins and likes, providing valuable marketing.
Daily support to all restaurants is provided on site, over the phone and remote access to the work stations. Greg Callaghan at Sukhothai explains, “The team in the Conformedia office are helpful and very knowledgeable. If we have any issues they jump onto our screens and immediately sort out any problems. They visit our branches, providing everything from site surveys to everyday helpdesk support. They’ve been particularly helpful in setting up our business internet which wasn’t as straightforward as we’d first assumed. We initially struggled, but the team came in and liaised with our internet provider, putting in a dedicated internet line and now everything is running fine.”
Sukhothai has a comprehensive, standardised and scalable IT programme with an IT helpdesk to support office and restaurant staff. The business can continue to grow, secure in the knowledge that it has robust IT in place to support its expansion plans.
The new domain means that all users can now logon securely and collaborate with others, regardless of the platform they are using. Office 365 subscriptions can be rapidly added by the Sukhothai admin team and workstations are now standardised, simplifying IT procurement and allowing them to concentrate on the expansion of their restaurants, whilst also providing members of staff with the necessary equipment and software to do their job.
Greg summarises, “Conformedia provides us with great IT support so we can get on with producing fantastic Thai food!”
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IT helpdesk
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Remote access, telephone and site support
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IT expertise and advise
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Business planning, hardware and software purchases
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Scalable IT assisting business expansion
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IT strategy, development and implementation
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