Case study: Exeter Chamber

A new board of directors had been appointed and a solution was needed to share information and collaborate on projects.

Back in June 2021, as the impact of COVID was still being felt on our working lives, Exeter Chamber found themselves (the board members of Exeter Chamber) needing a more effective and efficient way of accessing documents and communicating as a group – without having to schedule numerous video calls or creating large strings of emails.

The team from Exeter Chamber were searching for an IT partner who used leading technology and expertise to enable their vision and empower their users to work more collaboratively.

Exeter Chamber knew from the first session that we were right for them.

“You listened and understood our challenges and suggested solutions that fitted our needs,” said Clodagh Murphy.

In recent months the Exeter Chamber has appointed a new CEO, launched an exciting and interesting programme of events post-covid and continues to grow its membership across the region.

At IT Champion, we offer comprehensive managed IT support plans that include an open and transparent approach the Exeter Chamber was looking for in an IT partner.

Our technical skills and expertise help set new standards in moulding what defines a modern workplace for small to medium organisations. The Exeter Chamber saw these skills along without an in-house cyber security team as the reassurance they needed to know they were in capable hands.

After an initial conversation and proposal, Exeter Chamber chose IT Champion as the partner they needed to devise, create and deploy the solution they needed.

Exeter Chamber is the region’s leading independent business membership organisation, connecting businesses, building knowledge, and driving prosperity for Exeter and the surrounding area.

The project was planned by a senior IT Champion SharePoint Consultant.

A modern SharePoint hub became the solution – to allow members to work anytime, anywhere and from any device.

The Chamber’s work aims to connect with the business community in the city and wider region. The broad location of board members required a technology solution that was easy to use, had secure access and allowed the sharing of different documents and working files.

SharePoint was chosen as it is a highly configurable, secure, collaborative platform that natively integrates with Microsoft Office.

A collaborative workspace was created using our three-stage approach.

We started with a discovery and innovation session with key members of the Chamber.

The interactive demonstration led by our SharePoint expert showed how the Exeter Chamber could have a unified approach to sharing data and foster better collaboration. We built a modern SharePoint environment around the elements the Exeter Chamber had pinpointed as highly effective for their needs. Once approved, we took the whole Exter Chamber board through instructor-led training and migrated the final data before launch.

We provide effective and reliable ongoing support for Exeter Chamber users so they can easily continue to navigate their way around the SharePoint system.

The SharePoint hub brought tangible benefits and modern workplace successes to the work of Exeter Chamber.

SharePoint is a key component of the Microsoft Modern Workplace and its adoption can transform the way organisations access and share data, collaborate and with a little expertise, transform business processes.

The hub has been a huge enabler – the team now collaborate effectively, working on projects from various locations while acting and working as one cohesive team. Making the management and succession as a board much easier to manage.

Since the launch, fewer documents have been shared via email attachments, avoiding multiple versions of the same document being produced. Users are now able to collaborate on the same document, saving time.

The Exeter Chamber now works as one, engaging each other on projects and getting things done faster.

The challenges we addressed:

Create a robust, secure and unified data source.
Flexibility to instantly add and remove external users.
Adaptable access control for all users, to gain governance and oversight on active documents and chamber data.
An up-to-date feed for users to see upcoming events, news and announcements.
One platform that can be managed by key board members.