Small business IT setup

[craigjm]

I am a director of a car club with about 5000 members. Having just joined the board I see a very antiquated IT infrastructure which means we can’t even send an email to all of our members at the same time! The recent virus stuff has also got the board interested in the staff being able to work from home.

The current system is a total mess because a predecessor has tried to do it on the cheap and Set it up with as many cheap options / domestic based options etc that it just not fit for purpose. We need to be able to mailshot all members in one go and we need to be able to segment them on interest groups etc which is just a non starter with the current set up with max 50 people on each email etc

I need to put together a vision to sell to the rest that includes -

Our website hosting
Around 50 email addresses
Cloud storage that all can access about 1tb
VOIP or other phone solution that will ring multiple phones remote from the office from one central number
Membership database software (something like membermojo)
Marketing and commas software (something like mail chimp)
3 laptops with MS office and online meeting ability
Company funded broadband at 3-4 locations (guess this is best done through expenses)
Printer in each location.

Any suggestions on provider for hosting the website that can provide that number of email addresses, cloud storage and voip all in one package. I want to try and keep the number of providers minimal so if anything goes wrong they can’t blame each other.

Cheers

Edited by craigjm on Tuesday 10th March 11:47

Edited by craigjm on Tuesday 10th March 11:54

[BigTZ4M]

I've always found Clook decent for web hosting. https://www.clook.net/packages/shared-hosting/

£100 a year gets you enough storage space and unlimited email addresses and stuff like Wordpress for a website. It's POP/IMAP based so not as strong on shared calendering and productivity as O365 or Google. You can then use their control panel to install OwnCloud which will act as your shared storage like a dropbox equivalent.

Membership/email I'd look at Hubspot or Mailchimp. Takes care of all the GDPR concerns if used properly.

[HantsRat]

Some answers that may be of help..

Our website hosting
I can help with this as I own a web design & hosting business. I host a few sites for PH members.

Around 50 email addresses
I would look at Office 365 for proper email routing. Combining email on the web server with free email addresses can lead to your emails being marked as spam. Take a read at some of the pro's.. https://www.blinkweb.co.uk/should-you-move-your-bu...

Cloud storage that all can access about 1tb
Office 365 would allow 1TB one drive storage per user.

VOIP or other phone solution that will ring multiple phones remote from the office from one central number
I've used Avaya and Mitel. Both work well.

[Australiam]

HantsRat said:

Some answers that may be of help..

Our website hosting
I can help with this as I own a web design & hosting business. I host a few sites for PH members.

Around 50 email addresses
I would look at Office 365 for proper email routing. Combining email on the web server with free email addresses can lead to your emails being marked as spam. Take a read at some of the pro's.. https://www.blinkweb.co.uk/should-you-move-your-bu...

Cloud storage that all can access about 1tb
Office 365 would allow 1TB one drive storage per user.

VOIP or other phone solution that will ring multiple phones remote from the office from one central number
I've used Avaya and Mitel. Both work well.

Similar to this.

What you are looking for appears to

- o365 Subscription would give you - email, cloud storage, MS Office.
- Web hosting - I'd usually use a specialist, and try not to bundle it in to much else, as it then give you the flexibility for it to grow / change as you need it, while not being tied to the other services.
- VOIP - Many options - we are a Gamma partner, and they have a number of subscription packages that should be able to meet your needs, I am sure most others also offer similar.
- Membership / Marketing software - this is where you would need to do a little bit more due diligence. It is easy to suggest good software, but only you will be able to determine the fit, with what you are trying to achieve.
- Laptops / printers - easy, anyone can help
- Broadband - yes you could do it through expenses, but we have a number of customers where the line is provided by the company. It depends on where they are, and what you want them to have. Doing it through the company can mean you have a single supplier, and it keeps the finance side more standard.

I'll drop you a PM with a bit more info.

[StephenP]

You could consider hosting your website and club data on a platform that is designed for clubs, like Wild Apricot or Club Express. That will also handle bulk emailing members as well as much of the day to day admin the Club needs (renewals, shop, classifieds, survey, voting, etc)

As others have said, look at O365 for club emails. Possibly add to that Sharepoint for document storage and maybe Teams or Slack for interaction between directors, staff, etc. You can also use Teams for video conferencing although there are others out there too (Appear.In, Zoom, etc)

I don't seem to be able to PM you so drop me a PM as I've been in a similar position to you ...

Edited by StephenP on Wednesday 11th March 19:06

[craigjm]

Thanks everyone some good points to think about here

[romeodelta]

Zen Internet will be able to do most of this, except maybe the software bit.

[AJB88]

The laptop/cloud/office could all be covered under Chromebooks?

If really wanted to could subscribe to GSuite for Business?