Retail / Marine
Cloud Infrastructure & Microsoft 365
Case study | Inspiration Marine Group
Cloud-based Microsoft 365 set up for a new boat dealership
A rapid, secure Microsoft 365 set-up gave Inspiration Marine Group easier collaboration across four locations and much stronger protection against phishing and fraud.
Supporting a growing luxury boat dealership with secure, cloud-first IT
Inspiration Marine Group is one of the UK's largest new boat dealerships, representing luxury brands from some of the world's best boat builders. The business operates from several UK locations, with partners in Barcelona and Mallorca. Inspiration Marine prides itself on its wide-ranging client base and exclusively represents four luxury brands: Hanse Yachts, Dehler Yachts, Fjord Motor Boats and Privilege Catamarans. The boats range from 20ft to 70 plus feet and can cost over £3m. With an emphasis on customer service, the business is a multiple award winner, most recently winning the 'Dealer of the Year Overall' for Hanse Group for the 10th time.
The Challenge
As a customer-facing business in the luxury boat market, a rapid response to potential buyers and existing clients is always needed. Key to the business strategy is inspiring confidence and fostering a solid relationship with customers to ensure they feel supported throughout their years of ownership.
This requires a responsive and reliable IT set-up that minimises downtime, optimises efficiency, and allows easy collaboration between teams in four locations.
Inspiration Marine had switched from an old Citrix-based system no longer fit for purpose to a fully cloud-based Microsoft 365 set-up. However, all licenses were unused and there were significant amounts of shared resources.
However, the Inspiration Marine team noticed increased phishing attacks on their systems. Over time, staff were having to deal with ever smarter fraud attempts and spam emails.
To futureproof the business for further growth, the team at Inspiration Marine wanted to undertake a full review of their IT systems to ensure they were protected and secure.
The team also noticed issues around hardware not updating and suffering glitches in specific applications. This was becoming a drain on time and resources for team members.
The solution
Aura began with a strategic review to understand how Inspiration Marine Group worked, where the business was heading, and how its IT needed to support that growth. Working closely with the senior leadership team, Aura refined the existing Microsoft 365 environment, improved the user experience, and put a clear plan in place for a more secure, efficient way of working. The programme included:
Full strategic review of existing IT systems, followed by an onboarding project
A cloud-based billing system evaluated and implemented alongside a third-party provider
Migration completed over a single weekend to avoid business disruption
A new unified telephony system converging voice, video and data
A dedicated Virtual IT Director and Account Manager, with monthly reviews
Round-the-clock service desk and engineering support
Alongside the migration and system improvements, Aura introduced a stronger security suite to protect the network against ransomware, phishing, malware, and viruses. A proactive Virtual IT Director and dedicated account manager now help the business plan ahead, align technology decisions with commercial goals, and get the most from Microsoft 365. With round-the-clock engineering support available whenever it is needed, the team can stay focused on delivering exceptional customer service.
The Result
Aura’s strategic, proactive approach has helped to transform the IT set-up at Inspiration Marine, significantly reducing downtime and giving managers more time to focus on what they do best - growing the business.
Ultimately, IT is our daily tool - and Aura have delivered on every front. They have allowed us to focus much more on growing our business and have helped the team access the UK work more efficiently and securely. The planning meetings help us map out a plan for the future and have resulted in us planning a longer-term strategy for our IT and identifying how we can maximise the features of Microsoft 365. The ongoing support has been nothing short of excellent - friendly and approachable, but with a high level of technical knowledge. If any issues are encountered, Aura ensures that users return to work quickly. Over a year, this improves efficiency, productivity, and ultimately, less stress for all our employees. Aura's approach to IT is unique, and I highly recommend them to any business looking for a fresh and intelligent perspective to help them grow.
James Stone, Director, Inspiration Marine Group
Technology that lets you focus on growing the business
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