Client Stories

Client Stories > Business & Professional Services > L W Cole

L W Cole have specialised in installing appliances for the UK housebuilding community for over twenty years. Since its inception in 1944, Birmingham-based L W Cole has been synonymous with service.

L W Cole provide appliance supply and installation facilities to all of the UK’s largest housebuilders. Working with housebuilders such as Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Bovis and Barratt, as well as manufacturers such as Electrolux, BSH, and Whirlpool, L W Cole’s priority has always been satisfying and pleasing the customer.

L W Cole contacted Freeman Clarke when they realised their current IT systems were not supporting their projected growth. As a result, David Beck from the Freeman Clarke West Midlands team was appointed to work with the management team at L W Cole.

David’s initial task was to conduct a review and to resolve challenges with the existing IT systems, which were poorly performing and impacting the business. The systems were aging, and it was clear the current suite of business applications could not deliver to the ambitions of the business.

David made immediate changes to improve how the business used its technology, appointing a new IT support partner, and quickly stabilizing the platform.

‘It is fair to say that at the time our IT was simply functioning rather than delivering value, and the IT partner was working on a purely reactive basis. With the immediate changes David implemented, we saw immediate benefits and had a helpful and proactive IT partner that could work with us.’
—Henry Shaw, Managing Director

David’s next step was to create an IT strategy for the business, which included moving multiple services to the cloud and establishing the requirements for a new ERP system. David oversaw the requirement and procurement process for the new business-wide ERP solution and helped the team manage the transition to a much more efficient and functional system, including the migration of current data, with no operational downtime during the changeover.

‘Throughout his time, David has shown consistently that he can handle any change or requirement we need; even our last-minute change to another accounting solution was managed and delivered with no drama whatsoever. I no longer concern myself with IT and can focus purely on the business knowing we have systems in place that can handle all of our growth plans.’
—Henry Shaw, Managing Director

With the new operational capacity delivered by new technology systems, and recognising their position in the market, the future business strategy is to offer a wider range of services to the industry.

L W Cole

Moved multiple services to cloud and established the requirements for a new ERP system, supported the transition to a more efficient and functional system including the migration of current data

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Freeman Clarke is the UK’s largest and most experienced team of part-time (we call it ‘fractional’) IT leaders. We work exclusively with ambitious organisations and we frequently help our clients use IT to beat their competition.