Tripos re-emphasizes its roots
September 2007
By David Estcourt Hughes, Principal, Tripos IT

Tripos IT has looked at where it came from and likes what it sees

There has been a break in the production of our newsletter, prompted largely by a series of internal changes.
• David Greenhough has taken up a new challenge which required his departure from Tripos. This was a serious disappointment to the business as David’s steadying hand and commitment to client satisfaction has resulted in an extremely productive 11 years of operation.
• Doug Smith’s need to capitalise on the work he had already done on a number of programs over many years dictated his departure from the partnership. We miss Doug’s technical innovation and lateral thinking.
This has left David Estcourt Hughes, Linda Greenhough and Andrew Lehman, ably supported by Dean Jarman, Alison Campbell and Scott Ferris, to trim the ship and rework the schedules. David Estcourt Hughes’ role remains that of principal, sales and consulting, while Andrew Lehman’s role is that of technical manager. Dean Jarman maintains many of our networks and Scott Ferris looks after our Linux sites and Scalix e-mail servers. Alison Campbell is our Microsoft Office consultant. We hope this allows you to understand that Tripos IT still retains all the skills necessary to assist its clients with the full range of technological and process assistance.

Consulting

This facet of our business covers a multitude of areas, like network design, web presence, procedures, processes and innovation. We can assess where your business is at and find out from you where you would like it to be. We will then work with you to move your systems and processes in such manner as to get you to where you want to be. We pride ourselves on our ability to talk to you without jargon and to translate this dialogue to a format which enables the technologists to fully understand your requirements. The end result is a business evolving into what its owners want via a relatively painless path, on time and to budget.

Technical support

While much modern office equipment comes with a return to depot warranty, the repair time is not often a part of the commitment. This is where Andrew comes in. If a piece of equipment were to fail, either under warranty or out of warranty, Andrew will attend on site to determine the cause of the problem and plan a process to resolve the issue with the minimum disturbance to your operations. It may be that he can obtain a replacement for a faulty component from the supplier and have you working in a short time. It may be that he can configure your setup to work around an issue to minimise the inconvenience. Andrew also sets up and secures all computer workstations prior to delivery to your office, optimising performance and minimising the disruption which often attends a change of a well utilised item of equipment.

Networks

There are networks and networks. Andrew’s and Dean’s role s are to ensure that the network as it is finally installed provides you with a reliable, productive and secure environment with which to nurture your commercial investment. We will design, specify and implement the most appropriate components, be they Microsoft or Linux, HP or Epson, wired or wireless, with a view to providing potential for growth, security and stability into the future. Many of our networks consist of components from more than one supplier, because we have selected best of breed solutions for each principal task.

Linux and Scalix

Dean and Scott Ferris looks after our sites which are predominantly Linux in nature. He manages a number of clients as the site technician. He worked with Tripos to develop skills with Scalix e-mail server and Asterisk VoIP telephony, and as such is often allotted a role in sites where these technologies are implemented. Scott backs up Andrew as required.

MS Office development

Alison has worked in many of our client sites to develop applications, write programs or specify processes which are implemented using MS Office. MS Office is so all pervasive that it often makes sense to utilise it for data capture or presentation rather than developing these capabilities in some other, more proprietary idiom. This is Ali’s forte, and many of our clients have benefited from her input when simplifying work and making staff more productive is the name of the game.

Consider Tripos

Next time you find yourself wishing you had access to someone who can help you improve the way your business works, please give Tripos IT a thought. Everything we do will be based on your wishes, tempered by our experience in implementing solid process and exciting innovations.

Please be aware: just adding technology is not the way to go. You may add technology, but this should be done after you have made up your mind where you want to be, how you want to get there and when. Under these circumstances, you and Tripos will be an unbeatable team.