Marrying two passions for a cost-effective and strategic IT relationship
Services provided by Boldfield to Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Infrastructure
- Software
- Hardware
- Telecoms (broadband/telephones/phone system)
Founded in 1947, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a thriving community of musicians whose mission is to bring the joy and thrill of orchestral music to the widest possible audience.
As times have changed, especially during the pandemic, the RPO has had to find new innovative ways to bring their music to the people and adapt to modern technologies. They have found digital channels that work for live streaming and have an online audience of over 10 million people. They are also accessible on Spotify, where they have around 4 million listeners every month.
To support their digital efforts, the RPO made use of a local IT company to provide telephone, online and day-to-day maintenance but they felt that the relationship was not giving them any value. The company was a big firm, and every issue they reported had to be billed for separately, meaning that with their limited budget, they sometimes could not get the support that they needed. There was no personal relationship with anyone at the firm and getting support from anyone on the team was a mission.
In 2019, through a personal relationship with Andy Irvine, Boldfield’s Managing Director, the RPO reached out about acquiring IT support, and this is how the two passions came together. Andy loved orchestral music and often frequented the RPO concerts, so he was invested in making a real change for them.
Boldfield took the time to understand the needs and requirements of the RPO, to ensure that they were not sold anything they did not need. There was an ongoing conversation about change while the team wisely got to know the business and could systematically introduce the changes that were needed.
As a result of working with Boldfield since 2018, the RPO have implemented new servers and migrated to using laptops, making them more mobile. With laptops, they now have a centralised place of data and are not bogged down with the cumbersome activity of having to log into their old desktops. Even when they are on tour, they can stay on top of things, providing agility with their finances, productivity, and collaboration.
Because of the changes implemented by the specialists at Boldfield, the RPO were prepared for the pandemic. They were able to seamlessly adapt to hybrid working models, working from home or concert venues, when need be, which they could not previously achieve.
The partnership between Boldfield has been beneficial to the RPO in all regards. Huw describes the team as having a ‘calm and efficient approach to problem-solving. He has never felt that the issues he was experiencing were petty and not worth the time of the team, he always gets a quick response when issues arise.
Boldfield provided support that was seamless and straightforward, freeing up time and budget for the RPO to focus on things that they are most passionate about.