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James Barlow Road Maintenance Case Study | Apex Computing

Written by Chris Gorman | Oct 22, 2019 11:00:00 PM
Road Maintenance Services Ltd (RMS), based in High Legh, Lymm, is a well-established road and highway maintenance business, specialising in asphalt preservation, cauts, surface dressings and micro asphalt, as well as footways, decorative finishes and consultancy. Having developed solutions that create cost-effective asset management, reduce congestion and are environmentally-friendly, their clients continuously praise the work they do, in the time that they do it in. Widely-accredited and renowned within the industry, their accreditations include SMAS (Safety Management Advisory Services), HTMA (Highways Term Maintenance Association) and CHAS (The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme).

Having been with us for over 10 years, they picked Apex at a time when they were expanding quite rapidly, and were looking for a better IT infrastructure. Impressed by our service level and expertise, they’ve never looked back, becoming one of our most loyal customers.

We recently sat down with James Barlow, who works within the analysis and IT departments at RMS, to discuss their fantastic relationship with Apex Computing, and how this has helped their business to develop.

We first asked how they first heard about Apex, and what made them pick us…

‘’We’ve actually used Apex since before I joined the company. I’ve been with the company for 6 years, but Apex, we’ve been using them for a lot longer than that. If I remember correctly, RMS picked Apex because the company expanded significantly – maybe 15 years ago. I think we needed a better IT infrastructure and Apex were recommended and we used them.’’

…and what they have thought about our service level over the years….

‘’Apex are our IT administrators for almost all of our IT needs. So what that means for us is that we have IT equipment that we procure through Apex. We have visits from one of their employees every 2 weeks to do checks onsite and help with any issues that people may have, like problems with computers. We use them all the time for general issues with IT. If anybody has any problems, it usually comes through me and I’ll speak to someone at Apex and one of their engineers usually sorts the problem, which is always a great help. They give us advice on how to structure our IT, which certainly always improves things, so I’m always appreciative of their guidance.

Another way they help is that we have a server which they take offsite backups of and they maintain the server so that everything runs correctly for us. This is vitally important to our operations.

At the minute, we’ve also got a load of Windows 7 machines that need replacing and I’ve been in dialogue with Apex about the best way to go about replacing them. Regardless of what I need, they’re always there to help me out, and that’s the best thing about them, in my eyes.’’

…and what makes us stand out against our competitors…

‘’I think they’re extremely professional and they’re also very approachable. I can speak to Apex’s managing director and he’s very friendly, always has answers and is clearly very knowledgeable. All the staff that have ever come and worked for us are absolutely fantastic. They’re always very informed and are always really helpful. So, I think what sets them apart is that they’re very professional and very easy to talk to. If you’re not IT-minded, they’re very good at being able to help and address the issues that you might have and suggest the right thing to do.’’

…and how we’ve improved business practices within the company…

‘’Apex have certainly streamlined our business and made it more efficient. Just in general with our ability to modernise our company, they’re essential to it.’’

…and the benefits we provide their business with…

‘’All of our hardware and software works as well as possible. We don’t have a lot of downtime to do with any IT-related issues because Apex will resolve those issues very quickly. From an IT perspective, they make sure that everything is running properly and that we can operate, because everything that we do runs through IT software. We couldn’t be happier with all that they do for us. They’re a great IT Support partner, and I would, without hesitation, recommend them to other businesses.’’

If you’re a business in Lymm looking to change IT support suppliers, then please give us a call today on 0161 233 0099 to learn more about us, our variety of services and why we could be the best choice that your business ever makes.