The Managed IT  partner built for the Al era.

When an organisation outgrows its current IT infrastructure, they'll definitely feel pain one way or another. It's during these times when business leaders step up and need an IT partner who can deliver.

Makita New Zealand, based in Auckland, imports and distributes electric power tools. A subsidiary of Makita Corporation of Japan operating in New Zealand since 1961, Makita has established itself as a major player in the power tools market.

Growth comes with its own set of problems. Makita NZ manages a vast network of dealers covering the entire country. From a business standpoint, these dealers are Makita NZ’s customers. On any given day, these customers send in 500 or more orders via email. In addition, end users – people who buy from the dealers and use the tools –contact Makita with product inquiries as well as warranty Issues and claims. Some of these requests Makita can answer directly, but often they must be forwarded to the relevant dealer for processing.

Sam Rakei, Makita’s Regional Sales Manager, shares how his team now handles the hundreds of emails that come In daily and how they relied on Spark’s IT Partners network to switch platforms in Makita’s busiest month of the year without any negative effect on its operations.

Because cyber threats evolve at breakneck speed, it’s important to continually ensure that your cyber security measures are effective and up to date—because for most organisations, it’s only a matter of time before they encounter some form of cyber breach. A slow or inadequate response can hurt your company’s reputation, as well as the bottom line.

Farro is a boutique supermarket chain that started in 2006. Farro’s goal is to make your grocery shopping an experience, not a chore. They aim to provide their customers with a retail experience that ignites the senses. From a team of 10 and 1 store, they now have over 350 full-time staff in 6 different locations covering most of Auckland.

Pipeline and Civil is an Auckland-based, private-owned, employee-owned company specialising in building water and waste pipelines. And because the company is wholly owned by the senior management and supervisory staff, this translates into a boutique experience for their clients.

Far too often, businesses delay switching IT providers because of the switching costs. By the time something "big" comes up, it's too late. You could have prevented that from happening. And it doesn't have to be that way.

The company is growing about 50% year-on-year in the past few years. The main driver of this success is their superior client and stakeholder engagement, the retention of technically skilled staff and risk management processes.

Pipeline and Civil was originally working with a small IT provider for a number of years. But this IT provider wasn’t helping Andy and the team focus on its core business.

Andy said “we have quite a basic maintenance/arrangement with a small IT company but we were very much driving it…I was basically trying to manage day-to-day stuff: software issues, new software, my mouse isn’t working, that kind of stuff. “ And this is taking up too much time from Andy. Instead of finding new projects and other big picture strategies, Andy is stuck solving everyday technical issues.

As with most companies, everybody will try to carry along. That this is just part of running a business. Until something big happens…