The Bradfords Group, which is made up of five operating companies – Bradfords Building Supplies, Snows Timber, Crendon Timber Engineering, Aspect Roofing, and YPS Plumbing & Heating Supplies – has 46 sites across the country.
Headquartered in Yeovil, Somerset, Bradfords employs more than 1,000 people and has an annual turnover in excess of £150 million.
swcomms was invited to tender for the project which included a requirement for a multi-site VoIP telephone system, a new wide area network and local area networks at every site, including Wi-Fi connectivity.
The project is in its implementation stage and is due to be fully rolled out later this year. swcomms will then support the entire solution on a managed service basis to enable Bradfords’ IT team to focus on deploying new solutions and services.
Sarah Flowers, swcomms sales director, said: “Bradfords was looking for a resilient hosted solution that would serve the voice needs of all their sites and their mobile members of staff. The sites needed to be linked via a wide area network, primed for voice and data use, while each site would benefit from new cabling and an upgraded local area network. The Group wanted the entire solution to be outsourced and managed for them leaving their IT team free to deal with more profitable tasks.
“We have extensive experience in providing such all-encompassing solutions for large businesses. We are excited at the prospect of deploying this multi-faceted project and beginning this journey with Bradfords.”
swcomms will install a ShoreTel UC solution to meet the voice requirement while services deployed from TalkTalk, Gamma and Cisco Meraki will link Bradfords’ sites and will improve their connectivity.
Nick Skelsey, IT director at The Bradfords Group, said: “Our selection phase set some high benchmarks for the solutions and services we’re looking for to give our business the assurance it needs, as well as room to grow. From the initial engagement, swcomms gave us confidence in their understanding of our requirements, underpinned by a strong technical solution set that also demonstrates flexibility and value for money.”