Growing business seeks better connectivity
Universal Plumbing Supplies is a wholesale, family-owned business backed by more than 38 years of commercial and domestic plumbing experience. Since opening their first location in 2013, they have expanded to two trade stores in Seaford and Brooklyn and a head office site in Seaford.
This growth created exciting opportunities to serve more customers across the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. However, with the launch of their Brooklyn location in 2020, owner and founder Shannon Moore found that increased data volumes were putting a strain on his existing server-based internet connection.
Having received their ICT support for 10 years, Shannon was confident that TBTC Melbourne South could provide support to help nurture his business’ growth.
More data meant connectivity couldn’t keep up with operations
Today, a reliable internet connection essential. However, by the time Universal Plumbing Supplies reached out to TBTC Melbourne South, the massive increase in data was significantly impacting connection speed, causing regular network outages and delays. With everything from quoting and communicating, to pricing and stock orders relying on an internet connection, these outages essentially ground operations to a halt. Because all company sites were networked, these outages affected the entire operation.
Staff were forced to divert calls to a mobile phone with no call management capabilities. This created a backlog that would keep customers waiting long enough to grow frustrated and abandon their call. When they could get through, staff would have to record orders and enter them manually when the system was back online. This impacted productivity, profits and increased chances of human error within the team.
After two years, the issues became unmanageable. Shannon leveraged his relationship with TBTC Melbourne South for support.
Improving connectivity with fibre internet solution
Based on the scope of Universal Plumbing Supplies’ operational challenges, Business Technology Advisor Jason Kovacs determined that Telstra Internet Direct Adapt could help bolster data capacity and connectivity. To implement this solution, TBTC Melbourne South liaised with Telstra, Universal Plumbing Supplies and a third party responsible for their operating system to facilitate infrastructure upgrades to the copper lead-in at the Brooklyn site. Shannon was in constant communication with all the different teams and did not have to worry about impacts to his business.
“TBTC Melbourne South explained how the solution could help address our needs. It helped to illustrate the benefits of cost compared to loss of productivity and loss of potential customers.” – Shannon Moore, Business Owner, Universal Plumbing Supplies
With the business-grade fibre solution in place, Shannon and his team had access to speeds and capacities comparable to enterprise organisations. To optimise this connection, TBTC Melbourne South recommended further upgrades to their IT equipment, including the installation of a Cisco Meraki Router, and the creation of a VPN to offer a more secure connection.
Shannon also elected to invest in Network Device Management, allowing TBTC Melbourne South to help manage the connection remotely and provide proactive solutions in the event of potential future issues. This gave Universal Plumbing Supplies the reassurance that potential network issues could be handled on their behalf.
“By upgrading to enterprise ethernet, and building fibre to the premise, they received a symmetrical connection which gave them an internet less likely to cause the issues they were previously experiencing.” – Jason Kovacs, Business Technology Advisor, Telstra Business Technology Centre Melbourne South
Reliable internet helps open the door to new opportunities
With the new business fibre internet connection in place, Universal Plumbing Supplies are optimistic for a future of increased sales, greater staff productivity and fewer customer complaints.
“The results have been outstanding. Now that we have our internet sorted, the sky is the limit.” – Shannon Moore, Business Owner, Universal Plumbing Supplies.
All efforts were previously focused on coping and adapting to the outages. By taking the time to address the issue, Shannon and his staff can start to look at the bigger picture and head towards new growth opportunities.
“I absolutely see growth for more sites in the future because of this new productivity. By being able to run stable products through Telstra Internet Direct and the Meraki router, it’s much more scalable. They now have a platform that can help them to grow.” – Jason Kovacs, Business Technology Advisor, Telstra Business Technology Centre Melbourne South
What does the future hold?
Now that the business fibre connection is in place, Shannon has plans to move to a cloud-based system – something he couldn’t even consider before. He is already working with TBTC Melbourne South to help Universal Plumbing Supplies have the right requirements in place, and to set up fail safes. This will help give them the scalability they need to start thinking about opening more sites.
Words of advice
Shannon’s advice to businesses looking to upgrade their internet is to find the right tech partner and trust in their expertise. You might know what you want to final outcome to be, but it is their knowledge that will help get you there.
A stable internet connection is essential in today’s business landscape, so the investment you make today could come back tenfold tomorrow. Don’t underestimate what you need to do to get there.
“We know what we need for our business, but we don’t necessarily know how to make that happen. We are very lucky that we have a good relationship with the TBTC Melbourne South team and have for a long period of time. We trusted that they were going to help find the right solution for us. So, get yourself a good Telstra Business representative that’s out there batting for your business.” – Shannon Moore, Business Owner, Universal Plumbing Supplies
Help your business growth with Telstra Business Technology Centre Melbourne South
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