Client details:
Site: www.mrmulligan.com
Sector: Leisure
Turnover: Approx £20M Turnover
Users: Approx 200 users
Where: UK, Nationwide
The team at the entrust IT Group were so easy to deal with. They were clear in what they would be doing for each stage of our projects and managed the entire process to ensure that we hit our targets on-time and on budget.”
Bridget Jackson, Group IT Manager & Data Protection Officer
Eat Drink Golf
Mr Mulligans operates a network of exciting adventure golf venues that are fun for children and adults alike. Mr Mulligans is the ultimate mini-golf experience, offering challenging but fun mini-golf courses with food and drinks to offer an unparalleled experience for people of all ages.
From humble beginnings just a short time before the Covid pandemic, Mr Mulligans has seen an explosion of popularity, riding the wave of mini-golf venues across the country. The number of Mr Mulligans venues now stands at thirteen, with more being added every quarter. Because of this exponential growth, Mr Mulligans required a partner to help them with the technology demands that a fast-growing modern leisure business needs to be successful.
The challenge
Mr Mulligans has successfully launched in several major towns and cities across the country. However, following the conclusion of major Covid restrictions in 2021, the business began a period of enhanced expansion, growing their stock of sites by at least one per quarter. With such huge growth planned, and therefore a few logistical hurdles to overcome, they found that they were unable to overcome those hurdles fast enough to satisfy their lofty ambitions.
One of the major problems Mr Mulligans faced was that they did not have sufficient resource within their company, or their IT partner, to conduct in person site visits to their nationwide sites. This made implementing the technology required for each site very difficult. Each site was a fresh build, therefore requiring internet networking, wireless access, telephony, EPOS, CCTV, and wallboards/screens. This required pulling together multiple vendors. Without a good solution for this problem, sites were being delayed, adding to mounting costs.
Based on their extensive experience in the leisure industry, particularly with a number of top 100 golf clubs, the entrust IT Group reached out to Mr Mulligans with an offer to provide additional support to help meet their targets.
“Initially we were sceptical about bringing the entrust IT Group on board” says Bridget Jackson, Group IT Manager at Mr Mulligans. “We had a very tight relationship with our existing IT partner and as we were about to embark on an extensive period of expansion, we were anxious about getting another party involved. However, we did not have enough resources to make our plans a success, so we decided to run a trial period with the entrust IT Group and take stock of the results.”
The Solution
The entrust IT Group drew on their extensive experience within the leisure industry to formulate a plan for project managing each new site. The entrust team worked closely with the Mr Mulligans team to formulate an agreed site template that would be followed for each new site. Once that was agreed, a project plan was composed which outlined each stage in the project’s development, and how long those stages are expected to last, giving Mr Mulligans a close understanding of their timelines for each site.
The entrust IT Group team would then lean on their extensive supplier network to source all the hardware required for installation at each site. That includes computers, TV panels, cabling, wireless access points, CCTV cameras, and VoIP telephones. This task is done entirely independently of Mr Mulligans team, freeing up their time for other projects.
During the development of the site, entrust IT Group engineers co-ordinate with other suppliers to ensure that all aspects of the technology infrastructure are located within the allotted time frame. Throughout the process, the team at Mr Mulligans are regularly briefed on the progress of the site.
When opening day arrives, engineers from the entrust IT Group are present on site to smooth over any technical issues that arise and run through a handover procedure to the site managers. This ensures a smooth transition.
“Our concerns about a new partner were quickly eradicated” says Bridget Jackson “The team at the entrust IT Group were so easy to deal with. They were clear in what they would be doing for each stage of our project and managed the entire process to ensure that we hit our targets on-time and on budget.”
The coordination of entrust IT Group and third parties also meant that many different resources could be brought together in a simple manner, which was a problem Mr Mulligans had grappled with.
“Working with the entrust IT Group has been a breeze” comments Andy Scoley, Operations and Development Director at Mr Mulligans, “their team worked tirelessly to make opening our new sites as easy as possible. I Can’t praise them enough.”
Whilst the entrust IT Group heavily assists with setting up new sites, it is also critical to support infrastructure at the existing sites in parallel. Because of the growing network of entrust IT Group offices across the country, Mr Mulligans can be confident that they will never be too far away from a local office. Furthermore, Mr Mulligans benefits from ongoing telephone and email access to the entrust IT Group helpdesk during their typical office hours. The fast response times and binding SLAs mean that Mr Mulligans staff can quickly gain support if technical issues arise.
Looking forward, the entrust IT Group and Mr Mulligans have formulated a 5-year growth plan. With new sites being added almost every quarter, there is plenty of work to be done. Fortunately, they now have the support to make that a success.
