LBP Bakeries

About LBP Bakeries

LBP Bakeries is a leading supplier of high-quality frozen bakery goods to the Foodservice and Retail industry across the UK. With customers ranging from high street convenience stores and independent delicatessens to Michelin star restaurants, five-star hotels and large groups, they supply a comprehensive range of authentic British and continental bakery goods.

Stephen Wright, Business Operations Manager at LBP Bakeries, shared his experience of switching hosted desktop provider, and his reasons behind making the move to Access Cloud Hosting.

“We originally spoke to Access about their Supply Chain software solution. We had different systems being used across the business, and bringing them together to give us a full picture involved lots of time importing and manipulating data. The Supply Chain software integrated all data across our operations and works perfectly for our business.

However, it soon became clear that having two service providers – one for LBP’s hosted desktop solution and another for the supply chain software – presented its own challenges.

“I spent a lot of time going back and forth between both providers to get issues and queries resolved, and it was becoming very time-consuming. So we made the business decision to bring everything under a single provider.”

Switching from their current IT service provider wasn’t an easy decision to make as LBP had a good, long-standing relationship with them. Stephen needed to be sure that would continue with Access Cloud Hosting.

“We needed a hosted desktop solution which would work for our supply chain software and our third-party applications, including MS 365. We were looking for a like for like solution, so when the switch was made our users wouldn’t see any difference.

“What was also key for me was support. We don’t have internal IT resources, and even though it falls on my shoulders to manage the relationships with our software and services providers, I’m not an IT expert so it was important to choose a partner that could provide us with the support we needed.

“With no previous IT background, the project management from our side was a big concern for me and did cause a few sleepless nights before the project started but these worries were unfounded.

“I told the Access Cloud Hosting team what I wanted – I don’t know the difference between an RDS, SQL or App server, but had confidence in what they were telling me was correct. They also looked at what our requirements would be in the longer term, and have created a solution that can scale as we grow.”

Access migrated LBP’s systems and data onto the new Access hosted desktop, and reviewed their MS 365 set up to ensure they had the correct licencing for their needs before moving their existing Office 365 tenancy over to Access.

“From the moment we signed the contract with the Access Cloud Hosting team, everything went smoothly. They dealt with our existing provider to facilitate the switch and delivered everything that was promised.

“LBP operates seven days a week, and the only opportunity to switch over was on a Sunday morning. When all our users came back in the office on the Monday morning, everything was there – their personal desktops were just as they left them on the Friday evening - all their own files, shared company files were where they expected them to be. Permissions were set up correctly, so everyone had the right access, and all their MS 365 accounts were migrated across seamlessly. I just had to tell them where to log in to the new system – the rest worked just as it did before.”

The benefits of a single provider

“Having one provider for our supply chain software and our hosted desktop has made a huge difference. If I have any problems or issues with either system, I know I can call my account manager at Access and it will get resolved much quicker. CHS is able to speak to the Supply Chain team in the background, and I no longer have to spend time going backwards and forwards to find out which provider I should be speaking to.”

“My main priority was getting a like-for-like system so it wouldn’t disrupt users or mean they needed additional training. While that might not have been the best solution it was the one I wanted. And if Access recommends a better way of doing things in the future, I know we’ve got a system than we can develop.

What would you say to someone considering Access as their cloud provider?

“The entire Access Cloud team were professional throughout and always on hand to answer any questions or last-minute changes that were required. Updates were frequent and the entire process from start to finish couldn’t have gone any smoother.

“The new hosted server works great for us and I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Tony and his team if you are looking to make the switch.”

Tony Woods, Access Cloud Hosting account manager, said about working with Stephen and LBP Bakeries:

“LBP Bakeries required a single sourced solution for their Access Supply Chain software, their business applications and infrastructure platform. This would enable their users to view the same desktops with a consistent approach with ease of use and to provide an excellent customer experience.

Stephen defined stability and performance together with high levels of support and management as key factors in their decision-making process. I’m pleased to say that through collaboration with LBP Bakeries we were able to deliver a managed VDI solution that ticked all their boxes short, medium and long term with contingency for growth.”

Find out more about Access Cloud Hosting services and solutions.