MhIST
NCS IT Continues to be a Trusted IT Provider for Mental Health Charity MhIST During Pandemic
Tag: Remote Working
Case Studies
The customer
Since 1992, MhIST (Mental Health Independent Support Team) has provided mental health support to communities throughout Bolton with counselling, mental health advocacy, dramatherapy and issue focussed self-help groups.
Their business needs
Like many other companies, when the pandemic hit the UK in March 2020, MhIST required a new IT system in order for its employees to be able to work from home. With only two ageing laptops, often only used for presentations, MhIST required a big rollout of hardware and a way for the charity’s employees to work from home, communicate and collaborate on the same system.
How we helped
NCS IT has been a trusted partner of MhIST for over 15 years, acting as a third-party IT team for the charity and providing: IT helpdesk support; kit supply; infrastructure and consultancy. The past year saw the NCS IT team support the charity in transitioning to working remotely for staff members. This involved the supply of new Hewlett Packard laptops, Phillips monitors with integral docking stations, Wi-Fi dongles for staff without broadband at home and a remote access system.
Technologies implemented
- Support
- Consultancy
- Kit supply – file servers, PCs, laptops
- Remote access
Testimonial
"The staff at NCS IT team are always happy to help and act quickly when we need something done - I'll often ring in the afternoon and it's sorted the same day or the day after. NCS IT has really done some amazing and ground-breaking work for us over the years."
Dr Melvin Bradley - CEO, MhIST
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Case Studies
M3 Project
NCS IT Supports Charity M3 Project with Move to Remote Working
The customer
Based in East Lancashire, M3 Project is a specialist charity that offers advice, support and accommodation to young people, aged 16-25, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Their business needs
As a people-based business with 8 employees, the charity has a fairly lean structure and therefore requires an external IT company to help them with all of their IT needs. Before the pandemic, the non-profit was office-based and therefore in March 2020, when the first lockdown happened, the charity needed to act quickly in order to continue supporting young people by supplying employees with remote working setups.
How we helped
Prior to the pandemic, NCS IT worked with the charity to move it to cloud-based reporting and accounting systems, with an office-focused IT system. As the charity’s employees made the move to working from home, the NCS IT team helped with the transition to a remote system in the Cloud which allowed staff members to share access to important documents and communications.
Technologies implemented
- Cloud Hosted Server
- Remote working setups
- Kit such as computers and laptops supplied
- Cloud file access via SharePoint and OneDrive as part of Microsoft 365
Testimonial
"We're a homeless charity and not experts in IT, so it's great to be working with an IT team that explains what we need and how everything works in an intelligible and jargon-free way. NCS IT are incredibly flexible and know how to interpret our non-techy requests."
Alan Dorrington - Charity Manager, M3 Project
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Case Studies
Flexipol Packaging
Flexipol Packaging Modernises IT Infrastructure with NCS to Support 24/7 Operation
The customer
Since 1994, Flexipol Packaging has specialised in the manufacture of packaging products for food, chemical and animal feed industries. Based in Haslingden, Lancashire the company employs over 100 staff in four separate buildings on a 40,000 sq ft site.
Their business needs
Prior to working with NCS, Flexipol Packaging had outgrown its IT infrastructure with its network cabling system not providing full coverage across its site – leaving some staff without access to important information. As a 24/7 manufacturer, Flexipol Packaging wanted to ensure their IT systems were always online and available.
How we helped
NCS was tasked with modernising Flexipol’s infrastructure which involved a review of company-wide hardware, a restructure of its fibre optic cabling to inter-connect the three buildings and an assessment of the company’s server infrastructure to improve an already-resilient system. An investment in new hardware meant the company’s core IT systems stayed online even if there was a failure or power outage – a must for Flexipol’s 24/7 service.
By working with NCS, Flexipol Packaging can rest easy when it comes to manufacturing downtime. The company has also seen a decrease in IT management time as when updates and patches are released, one server can be temporarily taken off the network and updated safely, knowing the other server is running the business as normal.
Technologies implemented
- A resilient network cable structure with HPE managed switches
- New fibre optic links
- StarWind all-flash Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI)
Testimonial
"We didn't approach any other companies to propose on the project as we were confident NCS would provide the perfect solution."
John Higson - Financial Accounts Manager, Flexipol Packaging
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