SME: Simply Energy

“From the very beginning, Both Brains gave us 200% even when they were trying to deal with some situations that were out of their control.

“Even though they work remotely, they’ve embedded themselves so much in our business that I feel they’re team members. The experience has just been amazing”

Hema Pericherla – Chief Technology Officer

Task

In September 2020, Contact and Simply Energy joined forces to create New Zealand’s first, and only, dedicated energy solutions provider to the commercial and industrial sectors.

They knew they wanted to partner with a company that shared their vision and could help us move quickly to deliver solutions for their people and customers.

Their IT supplier also had to be a good cultural fit – proactive, agile, and quick to respond, with a get on and do it attitude.

Solution

Now supporting 77 staff at Simply, Both Brains is the ‘eyes and ears’ of everything IT after an exciting 18 months.

“We had a lot to tackle with the decommissioning and setting up of new systems,” says Jenni, “including migrating significant volumes of data, decommissioning servers, and moving our on-site workload to Azur.

“We set up new laptops for staff, built new firewalls and networking hardware for all sites, delivered a seamless G-Suite to Office 365 migration, and set up guest access to Teams for clients and vendors.

“We also set up a new company-wide phone system and PureCloud replacement, deployed Azure Virtual Desktops for Crystal Ball and BYOD and built a client portal that gives Simply’s staff a better overview of outstanding work and streamlines support for common requests.

Services

SME: Design Agency

“Both Brains have always provided the best IT solutions that have met, or exceeded, our expectations.”

Jon Dunn, Managing Director

Task

As a busy digital design studio, where deadlines are paramount, Spruik required an IT partner that was both responsive and reliable. From basic help desk support to a technology infrastructure roadmap, Both Brains has provided IT support to Spruik since 2013.

Solution

Both Brains manages all of Spruik’s IT infrastructure and in late 2019 carried out a complete technology audit and installation project brought about by their move to new premises. “This project was complex and was carried out with no loss of studio production time”, says Managing Director, Jon Dunn. “Both Brains have always provided great on-going value to our business as well as being a great company to deal with.”

Services

Distribution: VisitorPoint

“When Both Brains opted for the migration to Azure, we easily recognised that this is a good thing with multiple benefits for our company.”

Kelly Harland – Systems Manager

Task

Both Brains recently made the decision to shut down their data centre, move to Microsoft Azure and benefit from reduced cost and management overheads. In the process, the company has also brought its customers to Azure, including tourism marketing specialist VisitorPoint Limited.

Solution

In a migration VisitorPoint describes as ‘almost completely seamless’, both VisitorPoint and Both Brains now benefit from improved security, access to a far wider range of services and infinite scale from Microsoft’s proven Platform-as-a-Service offering. “From our perspective, we can increase and decrease our technology requirements as necessary. Maintenance can be done from anywhere. And as a growing company, having endless headroom without being bound by hardware is reassuring,” says VisitorPoint systems manager, Kelly Harland.

Services

Tourism: Glenorchy Air

“I’d definitely say any business owner should consider talking to Both Brains if they want their IT systems to run better. They have been a godsend for us and our business.”

James Stokes, Owner

Task

Queenstown tourism business Glenorchy Air is a family-owned and operated scenic flight company that’s been in business for 30 years. Rated the Number One tour and activity in Queenstown on Tripadvisor, the business was thriving until the pandemic hit and it scaled down extensively.

Owner James Stokes decided to use this downtime proactively – with support from Regional Business Partners Network funding – to completely remodel the backend of how they ran their business.

Solution

The Both Brains team migrated Glenorchy Air documents, communications and booking channels from multiple systems to the Microsoft 365 Suite as well as migrating Line of Business (LOB) applications to Azure. Glenorchy Air moved over to Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, additional licenses were added and Multifactor Authentication introduced. Staff training was an essential part of the process.

“The whole system was put into place very efficiently and training was simple but very effective,” says James. “We found Teams easy and intuitive to work with and changing to shared docs pretty straightforward.

“Productivity has increased because there’s no more timewasting on anything, and if we had to go into lockdown tomorrow everything would run seamlessly.”

“The goal was to ensure they had fully integrated and intuitive systems to manage their workload in preparation for business growth when the borders re-opened. Our advice centred around best practice for maximum productivity, including advice on available and applicable business tools.

“We decided to cut back on the number of applications they had in place and focus on maximising use of license inclusions. Microsoft 365 and Azure offer solutions for connectivity, collaboration, seamless day-to-day running of a business and easy scalability.

“Moving to the cloud resulted in easier collaboration for the Glenorchy Air team who are based in different locations at different points of the day, such as James, their pilots, the booking office and shuttle drivers.”

Services

NFP: Hockey NZ

“When we talked to Both Brains it became apparent that they had listened to us, picked up on even the smallest points made in passing, and understood how we operate and what our needs are.
That’s the gold, knowing it’s the extra things that count.”

Christina Tombs, Office Manager

Task

Hockey New Zealand (HNZ) is the National Sporting Organisation for hockey in New Zealand. They foster all levels of the sport, responsible for leading 32 Regional Hockey Associations that empower the 300 + clubs throughout the country. They are committed to growing, inspiring and enriching the Hockey whānau to encourage more kiwis to see, experience and love hockey at all levels - from children and beginners right through to our elite national sides, the Vantage Black Sticks Men and Women.

In 2021, HNZ went to market looking for an IT provider to support their aims to strengthen their business, help in delivering their strategic goals and ensure they are well positioned for future growth from grassroots level upwards.

Solution

As a people-centric support, Hockey NZ is thrilled to work with a partner that enhances the work they do to enable them to strengthen their strategy.

Both Brains provides full helpdesk support and managed services for Hockey employees and community managers throughout the country. While it is Auckland based, it needed reliable day-to-day national support to enable flexible working and create maximum productivity.

They also help HNZ with hosting the Black Sticks, HockeyNZ and Hockey Foundation websites, took them fully cloud-based with a suite of Microsoft 365/Azure products, set up and enforced multi-factor verification for all staff, set up conference rooms and supplied hardware.

“All of this helps us to support everything from school competitions around the country to national and international competitions,” says Christina.

Services

SME: Simply Energy

“From the very beginning, Both Brains gave us 200% even when they were trying to deal with some situations that were out of their control.

“Even though they work remotely, they’ve embedded themselves so much in our business that I feel they’re team members. The experience has just been amazing”

Hema Pericherla – Chief Technology Officer

Task

In September 2020, Contact and Simply Energy joined forces to create New Zealand’s first, and only, dedicated energy solutions provider to the commercial and industrial sectors.

They knew they wanted to partner with a company that shared their vision and could help us move quickly to deliver solutions for their people and customers.

Their IT supplier also had to be a good cultural fit – proactive, agile, and quick to respond, with a get on and do it attitude.

Solution

Now supporting 77 staff at Simply, Both Brains is the ‘eyes and ears’ of everything IT after an exciting 18 months.

“We had a lot to tackle with the decommissioning and setting up of new systems,” says Jenni, “including migrating significant volumes of data, decommissioning servers, and moving our on-site workload to Azur.

“We set up new laptops for staff, built new firewalls and networking hardware for all sites, delivered a seamless G-Suite to Office 365 migration, and set up guest access to Teams for clients and vendors.

“We also set up a new company-wide phone system and PureCloud replacement, deployed Azure Virtual Desktops for Crystal Ball and BYOD and built a client portal that gives Simply’s staff a better overview of outstanding work and streamlines support for common requests.

Services

SME: Design Agency

“Both Brains have always provided the best IT solutions that have met, or exceeded, our expectations.”

Jon Dunn, Managing Director

Task

As a busy digital design studio, where deadlines are paramount, Spruik required an IT partner that was both responsive and reliable. From basic help desk support to a technology infrastructure roadmap, Both Brains has provided IT support to Spruik since 2013.

Solution

Both Brains manages all of Spruik’s IT infrastructure and in late 2019 carried out a complete technology audit and installation project brought about by their move to new premises. “This project was complex and was carried out with no loss of studio production time”, says Managing Director, Jon Dunn. “Both Brains have always provided great on-going value to our business as well as being a great company to deal with.”

Services

Distribution: VisitorPoint

“When Both Brains opted for the migration to Azure, we easily recognised that this is a good thing with multiple benefits for our company.”

Kelly Harland – Systems Manager

Task

Both Brains recently made the decision to shut down their data centre, move to Microsoft Azure and benefit from reduced cost and management overheads. In the process, the company has also brought its customers to Azure, including tourism marketing specialist VisitorPoint Limited.

Solution

In a migration VisitorPoint describes as ‘almost completely seamless’, both VisitorPoint and Both Brains now benefit from improved security, access to a far wider range of services and infinite scale from Microsoft’s proven Platform-as-a-Service offering. “From our perspective, we can increase and decrease our technology requirements as necessary. Maintenance can be done from anywhere. And as a growing company, having endless headroom without being bound by hardware is reassuring,” says VisitorPoint systems manager, Kelly Harland.

Services

Tourism: Glenorchy Air

“I’d definitely say any business owner should consider talking to Both Brains if they want their IT systems to run better. They have been a godsend for us and our business.”

James Stokes, Owner

Task

Queenstown tourism business Glenorchy Air is a family-owned and operated scenic flight company that’s been in business for 30 years. Rated the Number One tour and activity in Queenstown on Tripadvisor, the business was thriving until the pandemic hit and it scaled down extensively.

Owner James Stokes decided to use this downtime proactively – with support from Regional Business Partners Network funding – to completely remodel the backend of how they ran their business.

Solution

The Both Brains team migrated Glenorchy Air documents, communications and booking channels from multiple systems to the Microsoft 365 Suite as well as migrating Line of Business (LOB) applications to Azure. Glenorchy Air moved over to Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, additional licenses were added and Multifactor Authentication introduced. Staff training was an essential part of the process.

“The whole system was put into place very efficiently and training was simple but very effective,” says James. “We found Teams easy and intuitive to work with and changing to shared docs pretty straightforward.

“Productivity has increased because there’s no more timewasting on anything, and if we had to go into lockdown tomorrow everything would run seamlessly.”

“The goal was to ensure they had fully integrated and intuitive systems to manage their workload in preparation for business growth when the borders re-opened. Our advice centred around best practice for maximum productivity, including advice on available and applicable business tools.

“We decided to cut back on the number of applications they had in place and focus on maximising use of license inclusions. Microsoft 365 and Azure offer solutions for connectivity, collaboration, seamless day-to-day running of a business and easy scalability.

“Moving to the cloud resulted in easier collaboration for the Glenorchy Air team who are based in different locations at different points of the day, such as James, their pilots, the booking office and shuttle drivers.”

Services

NFP: Hockey NZ

“When we talked to Both Brains it became apparent that they had listened to us, picked up on even the smallest points made in passing, and understood how we operate and what our needs are.
That’s the gold, knowing it’s the extra things that count.”

Christina Tombs, Office Manager

Task

Hockey New Zealand (HNZ) is the National Sporting Organisation for hockey in New Zealand. They foster all levels of the sport, responsible for leading 32 Regional Hockey Associations that empower the 300 + clubs throughout the country. They are committed to growing, inspiring and enriching the Hockey whānau to encourage more kiwis to see, experience and love hockey at all levels - from children and beginners right through to our elite national sides, the Vantage Black Sticks Men and Women.

In 2021, HNZ went to market looking for an IT provider to support their aims to strengthen their business, help in delivering their strategic goals and ensure they are well positioned for future growth from grassroots level upwards.

Solution

As a people-centric support, Hockey NZ is thrilled to work with a partner that enhances the work they do to enable them to strengthen their strategy.

Both Brains provides full helpdesk support and managed services for Hockey employees and community managers throughout the country. While it is Auckland based, it needed reliable day-to-day national support to enable flexible working and create maximum productivity.

They also help HNZ with hosting the Black Sticks, HockeyNZ and Hockey Foundation websites, took them fully cloud-based with a suite of Microsoft 365/Azure products, set up and enforced multi-factor verification for all staff, set up conference rooms and supplied hardware.

“All of this helps us to support everything from school competitions around the country to national and international competitions,” says Christina.

Services