JW Food Consultancy – IT Disaster

Ever heard the old wives tale of how a computer or laptop can die in a heartbeat? What about the myth that buying a PC for business from the same place you buy your TV from can lead to headaches and heartache?

Well, in August 2019 JW Food Consultancy suffered a catastrophic fault that put business continuity at tremendous risk.

It’s all a sales pitch.

You’re forgiven if you have ever uttered these words, or believed that there was truth in them. I’ve done it too, and I’ve learned my lessons in the past. August 2019 will be the month that JW Food Consultancy learned too.

During a routine update, using updates direct from the manufacturer, the main computer (a HP Laptop) suffered a catastrophic BIOS fault that turned the laptop into a £500 paperweight.

This was no cheap HP computer. This was a well-spec’d mid-range Laptop just 18 months old. All the latest updates applied from windows, used only for business and only for work. So following the HP Assistant to perform updates should be a breeze – but it wasn’t. After a few hours of updates, disaster struck and the laptop died after a failed BIOS update.

That Laptop’s blacklisted sir!

That’s essentially the response given when the laptop was taken back to the store it was bought from and taken to their well established national repair team. Turns out that, even though the supplier was the biggest electrical retailer in the UK, they had blacklisted this laptop as one they can’t repair – and aren’t allowed to attempt to repair.

“You can send it to HP and they may be able to do it, but they will wipe it and we don’t know the cost.”

This was not what our client needed to hear. Everything was on that laptop, and the backup was 3 months out of date. They have never suffered this before, their last laptop was still going after almost 8 years – why has this stopped?

Time for a change

Vivid Web Design UK assisted with the laptop, and we too couldn’t repair. But we understood how important the information on the laptop was and just how business critical 100% restoration was. Luckily our client had access to a friend who could copy the HDD on the weekend and provide us with a copy.

Our client asked us to source a replacement, but this time one designed for work. So we did.

• Dell Latitude 15in Laptop.
• Intel i5 8350-U Processor
• 8GB Ram
• 256GB SSD
• Windows 10 Professional
• 3-Year RTB Warranty

We spec’d the perfect laptop, with business class security and one of the biggest warranty’s in the market. This laptop is designed to last, and it will. Dell computers are renowned for lasting. They are more expensive than retail units, but they are built better and built to last. This is an investment, not a purchase.

Big savings

It’s not all doom and gloom. We have been able to source and supply the laptop for 23% less than the RRP, with an upgraded HDD and the improved warranty – the savings are more than 35%!

Businesses Continuity

This is the most vital part of the project. Not only have we supplied the laptop, we have also set it up. We have integrated the clients Office 365 Subscription (which we setup and provided previously) to integrate seamlessly into the laptop offering continuous backup and version history maintenance of all the business critical files.

Working offline is not a problem, and a connection to the internet ensures 100% backup at all times.

What’s even more impressive is the fact that the files can also be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world – securely.

We’ve even got the system setup to permit sharing, allowing JW Food Consultancy to expand the offerings as their staff base increases.

And with remote access support on the laptop, there is no need to worry about updates and we can perform routine updates remotely and safely. And our 3 year warranty ensures that the business is up and running, and staying that way.