Cavern City Tours

Cavern City Tours is a renowned British company deeply rooted in the vibrant cultural landscape of Liverpool and has become synonymous with providing immersive experiences centred around the city's rich musical heritage, particularly the iconic phenomenon of The Beatles.

The instantly recognisable face of this diverse business is the legendary Cavern Club, the beating heart of Liverpool's music scene and a focal point of the company’s event and musical offerings; it is ranked as the ‘most popular music venue outside of London’ and is amongst the ‘top twenty landmarks in the UK.’ Specialising in Beatles and Liverpool-themed tours, Cavern City Tours offers enthusiasts a chance to explore the band and city’s history where it all began, including hosting International Beatle Week.

The company also offers a varied array of experiences beyond The Beatles; from a restaurant and pub to broader music tours showcasing Liverpool's vibrant music scene and organising cultural events throughout the year.

With a commitment to excellence and a passion for preserving and promoting Liverpool's musical heritage, Cavern City Tours continues to be a cornerstone of the city's tourism industry, attracting visitors from around the globe.

“If you switch to another IT company you hope for a quick and smooth transition, and we got that.  Going from recommendation to implementation was so quick and painless, it was almost like it didn't happen in fact!  In a nutshell, the things we wanted to stay the same, stayed the same, and the things we needed to change, did.

Now we're with The PC Support Group we can ring up and get a fix straight away, and we can be back to work, doing what we were doing within minutes.”

Daniel Guinness, Accounts Assistant, Cavern City Tours

Cavern City Tours encountered a multitude of IT challenges, stemming primarily from their existing provider's inadequate support, poor response times and the stability of their Sage finance software. These shortcomings resulted in frequent downtime, causing disruptions to operations and substantial losses in productivity, and a time-sapping blame-game culture. Most of the high volume of problems encountered centred around Sage’s sluggish performance via a VPN network. Regular Sage crashes compounded their woes, hindering critical tasks such as payroll processing and financial management, which affected every Sage user.

The company also grappled with the pervasive threat of phishing emails. Despite attempts to mitigate this risk with anti-phishing software, the software proved ineffective and cumbersome, and the implementation had to be abandoned, leaving the company vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. One particularly alarming incident occurred when the company unwittingly fell victim to a very plausible phishing scam, resulting in the erroneous payment of a fraudulent invoice and highlighting the urgent need for robust email security measures.

Despite the apprehensions most businesses feel about the transition process to another IT provider, the company recognized the imperative of finding an alternative partner who would safeguard their operations and ensure business continuity.

”The changes to our Sage infrastructure have had the biggest impact, both with the number of problems we get and the improvements to users' productivity because of the speed the software works at.  It's quicker to use, it has so many less problems than before - crashes and so on - and it's reliable and secure.”

Daniel Guinness, Accounts Assistant, Cavern City Tours

Cavern City Tours underwent a transformative IT journey with The PC Support Group, addressing a range of challenges that were impeding their operations.

Most pressing was the need to address the poor level of support and long response times they had experienced with their previous provider, which lead to prolonged downtime and ongoing issues. Cavern City Tours decided to transition to The PC Support Group, seeking a partner capable of delivering proactive solutions, responsive support, and a reduction in the number of problems:

They experienced a smooth and efficient transition from their previous IT provider to The PC Support Group, despite apprehensions. Having benefitted from The PC Support Group's proactive approach and meticulous planning, the changeover was painless and swift. The aspects that needed to change were efficiently addressed, while maintaining the elements that worked well.

The transition also marked a significant improvement in support quality and response times. With most issues resolved during the first phone call in under 10 minutes, or within a few hours at most, Cavern City Tours experienced a dramatic reduction in downtime and productivity losses. For example, critical issues with Sage that previously took days or even weeks to fix are now resolved promptly, allowing the company to maintain seamless operations and avoid costly delays.

The company benefited from cost savings of 25% on IT support expenses compared to their previous provider, and a reduction in problems of around 80%, demonstrating the tangible value of the partnership with The PC Support Group. This cost reduction, coupled with the enhanced support and proactive solutions provided by The PC Support Group, resulted in a significant return on investment for Cavern City Tours.

One of the primary infrastructure challenges Cavern City Tours faced was the sluggish performance and frequent crashes of their Sage software, which affected productivity, wasted time, and resulted in data losses. The PC Support Group recommended and swiftly implemented an alternative server-based solution that eliminated lag and instability. This transition not only resolved the immediate performance issues but also ensured that essential tasks, such as payroll processing, could be completed efficiently and without disruption.

Additionally, the implementation of effective anti-phishing software provided robust protection against cyber threats, enhancing the company's security stance, and safeguarding against fraudulent activities. Any suspicious emails are automatically quarantined so that users can safely review them autonomously and with confidence.

Through proactive account management and regular meetings, The PC Support Group delivered actionable recommendations tailored to Cavern City Tours' specific needs and challenges. For instance, recommendations to implement multi-factor authentication and upgrade outdated hardware improved efficiency and security across the company's IT infrastructure. With The PC Support Group's pre-emptive approach and responsive support, Cavern City Tours enjoys peace of mind, knowing that their IT needs are in capable hands and solutions are just a phone call away.

“Our Account Manager speaks to us regularly and comes in for meetings to make sure we're OK. We're well looked after and we are given good information which means we can make good decisions, like installing the new anti-phishing software.  It's so simple to use and I can honestly say we've not had to deal with a single phishing attempt since it went in two years ago.”

Daniel Guinness, Accounts Assistant, Cavern City Tours

The transformation at Cavern City Tours following their collaboration with The PC Support Group (PCSG) is marked by tangible benefits across various fronts.

The transition to PCSG’s support was seamless, with minimal disruption to operations. From recommendation to implementation, the process was swift and painless, ensuring continuity and efficiency throughout.

Cost savings abound, with Cavern City Tours saving a significant 25% on IT support costs and a reduction in logged support calls of 80% since partnering with The PC Support Group. When IT issues do occur, they are resolved promptly, often within minutes of initial contact rather than the days, weeks or even months experienced with their old provider. The days of extended downtime have become a thing of the past as have the resource-sapping amount of support calls being placed.

Changing the hosting and infrastructure for Sage has been critical to reducing problems and crashes, as well as and drastically improving performance. The reduced downtime and increased productivity for the finance team due underscores the positive impact of this transition to PCSG's services, introducing heightened levels of reliability and security and contributing to a sense of reassurance within the organisation.

Previously, phishing emails consumed time and resources, distracting from core tasks, and opening the company up to financial and reputational risk. Now, new, effective anti-phishing software automatically quarantines suspicious emails, including those targeting Apple Mac users. Zero phishing incidents or clicks on suspicious links demonstrate its effectiveness for Cavern City Tours' cybersecurity.

Regular account reviews highlighted the necessity to upgrade aging PCs, some over a decade old, and the need to implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Despite the substantial capital expenditure to upgrade, Cavern City Tours proceeded confidently; they feel that they get valuable information from The PC Support Group which in turn allows them to make good decisions. As a result, the upgraded hardware has enhanced speed, allowing users to open and run applications quickly and work more efficiently, boosting productivity and maintaining competitiveness.

The collaborative partnership between Cavern City Tours and The PC Support Group continues to drive success through timely information and strategic decision-making. With PCSG as their trusted partner, Cavern City Tours looks ahead to a future unburdened by inadequate support, and infrastructure and cybersecurity challenges, poised for sustained growth and continued innovation.