Pictured above: Gary Mullaney, Managing Director of Aquila Truck Centres

First Class Technologies is celebrating a 10 year working relationship with one of MAN UK's leading commercial vehicle repair centres, Aquila Truck Centres.

Aquila Truck Centres who have 6 depots across the Midlands including Tipton and Aldridge first appointed First Class Technologies to help support their growing IT requirements in 2000 and ten years later the relationship is stronger than ever.

First Class began supporting Aquila Truck Centres in the development and maintenance of their extended network. As the company has grown so too has the reliance on a strong IT infrastructure and reliable support. Today First Class Technologies provides Aquila Truck Centres with a full outsourced IT function across all five sites incorporating around 100 workstations. A key part of the service provided by First Class Technologies is the support contract. First Class are able to guarantee one of their engineers will be on site within 4 hours of an issue being reported. In many cases problems are resolved almost immediately by remote access but when this isn't sufficient the team are on site within the same day - a service that many larger suppliers cannot commit to providing.

In addition to infrastructure and systems management which includes maintenance of all of Aquila Truck Centres servers, network and cabling, First Class Technologies has also provided Aquila Truck Centres with a state-of-the-art business entertainment solution within its key boardroom facilities. The solution includes the latest projectors and a sound system with concealed wiring and is widely used for key business presentations. The new facility has been with met with a very positive response, in particular from MAN UK, surpassing their exacting standards and resulting in them now using it regularly themselves.

Mak Khan, IT and Facilities Manager at Aquila Truck Centres comments: "I have worked directly with Richard and the First Class team for 10 years now. What continually impresses me is their proactive, accommodating approach. On many occasions engineers have been known to remain on site until the early hours in order to resolve an issue. The general ethos of the entire First Class team is responsive, co-ordinated and professional.  

I am frequently contacted by other IT suppliers but won't contemplate moving away from First Class because I trust them implicitly and have complete confidence in the service that they provide for Aquila. In fact I consider First Class Technologies as my in-house IT Department because the relationship is effectively seamless.

Gary Mullaney, Managing Director of Aquila Truck Centres: "We are a 24 hour operation and everyday several gigabytes of data are exchanged between our sites, therefore, the interconnecivity between each site is critical. Our business relies on a stable IT infrastructure with maximum uptime. In the 10 years of working with First Class Technologies they have been able to ensure an average uptime of our system of 99%. This is testament to their efficient handling of any issues that arise."

Richard Hinton, Managing Director of First Class Technologies comments: "Aquila Truck Centres are a great example of how a two way relationship between a supplier and customer provides significant benefits for both parties but in particular the customer. We have built a very strong customer relationship with Mak and his team over the past 10 years. The result is an open, honest, trusting mentality that enables us to work closely at all times. This generates a healthy flow of communication and a genuine understanding of Aquila Truck Centres business needs.

Furthermore, Mak has introduced a very well co-ordinated reporting line internally whereby any problem is initially reported to him. This helps both parties to prioritise issues and reduce unnecessary support calls, which is of mutual benefit."

As Aquila Truck Centres begins the new decade, the company is looking forward to continued steady growth and has already identified a possible new facility. Aquila Truck Centres will be utilising the services of First Class Technologies to help develop the new site and continue to rely on them to provide a first class IT service across the existing business.