Accommodating Solutions at Ribby Hall

Award-winning Ribby Hall Holiday Village offers the discerning holidaymaker a selection of luxury self-catering accommodation from one, two and three bedroomed stone-built cottages on the outskirts of the picturesque Lancashire village of Wrea Green, to a spacious thatched coach house sleeping up to 12 people.

Astute business development has enabled Ribby Hall to broaden its offering to include two modern, purpose-built conference centres with a range of facilities, ideal for conferences, seminars, training and interviews and complemented by Ribby Hall’s high standard accommodation and restaurants.

The opening of the Manor House luxury apartment-hotel highlighted the limitations of Ribby Hall’s existing IT systems. Director of finance John Atkinson explained: “Diversification over several areas, from both a business and geographical perspective, and our relatively rapid expansion, meant that our technological infrastructure was rather fragmented. We had bought in equipment at each stage of our development, leading to inconsistency of suppliers and software, and reliance on a very small network which was no longer adequate in supporting the management of business information and strategic planning.”

Ribby Hall turned to JMC for its recommendations, for a solution which would meet the company’s short and medium term objectives. JMC had advised Ribby Hall on its previous purchase of a Pegasus Opera accounting system, which had served its needs quite satisfactorily. However, the impressive performance of the new Pegasus Opera II software convinced Ribby Hall that this enhanced functionality was just what was needed to meet its new, more demanding requirements.

The enhanced 32-bit processing capability of Pegasus Opera II provides users with a more versatile solution that makes use of integrated and linked technologies, such as email, Internet and business reporting tools, to fully support information management requirements.

A key factor for Ribby Hall in deciding on Pegasus Opera II was the availability of the XRL module, which offers enhanced reporting tools. In addition to enabling better integration with Microsoft Products, the XRL provides Ribby Hall with much more sophisticated reporting capabilities, based on access to finer detail which is vital to the effective management of Ribby Hall’s complex business operations, involving over a dozen separate departments or cost centres.

Ribby Hall can also take advantage of Pegasus Instant Messenger (PIM) which enables it to select key business criteria that Pegasus Opera II then monitors, for example: exceeded credit limits or a regular task which needs to be completed on schedule. Ribby Hall staff can be alerted automatically by email, task instruction, fax or text message - keeping them informed even when they are away from the office.

To fully support the new software, JMC implemented a modern, stable network at the Wrea Green head office to help improve customer service and inter-office communication, and reduce administration and procurement costs. A fibre connection was established to the Manor House Hotel development and sports and leisure facility, further integrating these departments into the core network infrastructure.

John Atkinson added: “Installing Opera II and the new network has enabled us to make use of much more comprehensive management information, supporting our aim to improve communications throughout the group and thus enhancing productivity With the link to the Manor House, the system has provided us with the opportunity to be more pro-active in managing and marketing the new facility, as well as a suitable infrastructure for a new, state-of-the-art hotel and conference reservations system.

“The standardisation of both network and software applications has been extremely beneficial, as has its transfer to a single source of supply and ongoing support. We are delighted with the work of JMC’s consultants and engineers in recommending, developing and implementing a complete solution tailored to our needs, as well as providing training and ongoing network support through both SupportCare Response and SupportCare Active services".

The installation has proved so successful that Ribby Hall is already considering additional developments, including an upgrade to the email system to further enhance the benefits of Pegasus Opera II XRL reporting capabilities, and the inclusion of other group departments in the network to make the most of the greater efficiencies the business is already experiencing.