In February 2020, Lindentech was thrilled to secure a tender with a well-established holiday park business. This company manages an impressive array of holiday parks along the Western Australia coastline, employs approximately 300 individuals, and welcomes hundreds of thousands of guests each year.
The client needed assistance managing and optimising their services and facilities across multiple locations in WA, setting the stage for Lindentech to step in and address multiple concerns.
The Lindentech team faced significant operational challenges, including enhancing internet connectivity and updating the legacy IT infrastructure. The team also tackled security concerns (such as shared logins and the lack of system redundancy) and modernised the outdated IT systems that were causing visitor complaints.
Why Choose Lindentech?
With over 25 years of expertise in the IT field, Lindentech has become a trusted partner for businesses looking to conquer their IT challenges and unlock maximum value.
With Lindentech’s local expertise, comprehensive suite of services, and commitment to customer-centric solutions, the team is equipped to resolve immediate IT issues and align technology strategies with their clients’ business objectives.
That’s why Lindentech’s bid for the holiday park project made it to the final round of the tender, standing out against proposals from much larger firms.
“The engagement was good from the start in terms of their understanding of where we were coming from,” the holiday park’s technology manager said. “It felt like they were growing at a similar sort of stage in the journey as us, there was a bit of a hunger to get involved with us.”
Lindentech’s solid track record and previous successful partnership with an affiliate also gave the team a competitive advantage that impressed the client.
Lindentech’s Solutions for Remote IT Challenges During COVID-19
In April 2020, Lindentech initiated the project, but COVID-19 initially imposed travel restrictions and a myriad of challenges that truly tested the team’s resilience.
Working on the resort locations also presented its own unique set of challenges.
As Australia’s largest state, Western Australia spans one-third of the country’s total land area and is renowned for its severe weather conditions and extreme climate. This also contributed to the fragile internet service at each location.
To address these issues, Lindentech had to devise a robust yet cost-effective way to enhance internet service. They also needed to upgrade the ageing wireless infrastructure, which was struggling under incredibly harsh weather conditions.
Another crucial aspect was the lack of system redundancy. Without it, the client was at risk of hardware failures that could disrupt operations.
Since the resorts had been acquired one by one, there was a lack of uniformity in their systems—each one operated its own Office 365 tenant, adding to the complexity. Furthermore, Lindentech found that the company’s servers and Active Directory services were all running on-premise, which posed additional risks to server security and availability.
Much of the client’s setup needed rethinking to ensure smoother, more secure operations.
Navigating IT Hurdles: Inside Lindentech’s Strategic Solutions
When Lindentech’s engineers got started, their first step was to install a ConnectWise agent on every workstation. This tool helped them scan each computer for installed software, giving them a clear snapshot of what was running where. At the same time, they performed port scans on all the servers. This was crucial for identifying any potential security vulnerabilities or loopholes that needed addressing.
To better understand the network layout, the engineers used Auvik for network mapping. This allowed them to see exactly which devices were connected to the network, when they connected, and when any network issues popped up.
The wealth of data and metrics gathered during Lindentech’s audit paved the way for a robust plan to tackle each issue effectively and economically.
The tasks ahead were then prioritised based on their impact on the number of users and how critical these operations were to the business.
Eager to meet the client’s expectations, Lindentech deployed four dedicated service teams to manage essential tasks ranging from internet connectivity, Office 365 migration, wireless infrastructure discovery and redesign, and other necessary works.
Ensuring system redundancy was also top of the list for the Lindentech crew. The client’s setup lacked sufficient backup infrastructure, making it vulnerable to hardware malfunctions and cyberattacks. To combat this, the team introduced Veeam replication software to back up critical systems such as the client’s active directory, phone servers, domain controllers, and POS systems.
Faced with connectivity hurdles, the team initially relied on local backups and installed the Veeam software on the hypervisor (virtual machine monitor) itself until they could ensure secure connections.
Standardising internet connectivity across each location posed its own set of challenges. The team equipped most sites with a robust fibre connection while more remote parks were connected via StarLink.
To ensure high availability, Lindentech configured a failover connection on every site. The team elevated this connection by integrating the guest portal into Cisco Meraki routers, allowing the resorts to have a uniform platform across all sites.
The engineers also unified the phone systems across all sites using Cisco Broadworks. “[The client] had a major problem with being overloaded by the number of calls,” the cyber operations manager at Lindentech, Iain Thomson, recalled. “Their old phone system only had a limited number of phone calls able to reach at any one point in time. So, if you weren’t caller one through to ten, the call would just drop.”
To solve this, Lindentech centralised all voice communications, routing calls for different services like support and sales to their respective queues. Even minute details, such as wait music, were standardised across all sites. Switching to Cisco enabled the client to handle an unlimited number of calls, markedly enhancing both service quality and customer satisfaction.
Security and system availability were also enhanced since each resort had previously operated on its own software and Microsoft tenancy.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Lindentech began transitioning servers and the Active Directory service to the Azure cloud, consolidating the Office 365 tenants into a single account. This move significantly boosted the client’s security, scalability, and data integrity.
The team also crafted a new standard operating environment for over 100 workstations used on-site, standardising them to at least Windows 10. To increase cybersecurity resilience, the team also installed Malwarebytes anti-virus software on each machine and disabled USB ports. All Microsoft Office products were removed from disk and made accessible online through Office 365.
As Lindentech’s partnership with the client resolved critical business issues, the engineers began addressing a broader spectrum of performance issues.
One innovative solution was the development of a cloud-native voucher tracking application built with Microsoft Power Apps and deployed in Azure. The client now efficiently manages the distribution of vouchers to guests via email and tracks essential details like remaining funds or the locations where the vouchers were redeemed, enhancing guest satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Lindentech’s Positive Impact on Holiday Park Operations
Lindentech’s ongoing partnership with the holiday park company has been a resounding success, significantly enhancing customer experiences. Since the collaboration began, customer satisfaction has soared, with the company’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) jumping an impressive 40%. Additionally, the number of customer support tickets has decreased by 90%, plummeting from over 100 to just 10 per week.
The team at Lindentech has also streamlined operations beautifully by managing communications with subcontractors and serving as the go-to point for all IT-related concerns.
“It’s been just a pleasure to work with them because it takes the pressure off me,” remarked the client’s technology manager. “Day-to-day, the operations are in good hands, and I can focus more on the strategic side of things and not get too involved with putting out fires.”
Furthermore, Lindentech has fortified the company’s defences, instituting robust security measures and best practices that have made the hospitality provider sturdier and more agile in the face of security threats.
“At any stage in the last three years, any challenge that I’ve put out to the guys, they’ve been able to meet,” the client shared, reflecting on their experience with Lindentech.
Lindentech’s Next Steps in IT Innovation
Over the past four years, Lindentech’s collaboration with the client has flourished, with the team continuing to roll out updates and improvements.
In the early days, the team met daily to stay on top of the enhancements, but now they’ve shifted to a more laid-back, weekly kanban-style catch-up. “We have a quarterly planning session where we’ll… generally spend half a day getting together and mapping out what the next three months look like,” the technology manager explained.
Currently, Lindentech is focused on keeping operations sharp and preparing for future updates.“We’re rolling through the sites as we notice things based on the lifecycle, just making sure that everything stays within the lifecycle that’s expected,” said Jason Strachan, Lindentech’s Service Desk Manager, who now oversees the project.
Looking ahead, the team is excited to bolster the client’s systems further, with plans to enhance observability and security through centralised logging and regular vulnerability checks.
These steps are all part of Lindentech’s commitment to staying ahead of the curve and safeguarding their client’s systems.
Ready to elevate your IT strategy with solutions that are as dynamic as your business? We are always passionate about supporting local WA businesses, so as a token of our appreciation, we would be delighted to gift you a bottle of wine from one of our partners at or after our meeting.
Contact Lindentech today to boost your IT strategy and claim your complimentary wine!
