Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

As times have changed, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) have had to find new and innovative ways to bring their music to their audience. Croft worked with the RPO to adopt new technologies to allow the team to be more mobile.

Founded in 1947, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a thriving community of musicians whose mission is to bring the joy and thrill of orchestral music to the widest possible audience.

As times have changed, especially from the pandemic, the RPO had to find new innovative ways to bring their music to the people and adapt to modern technologies. They have found digital channels that work for live streaming and have an online audience of over 10 million people. They are also accessible on Spotify, where they have around 4 million listeners every month.

The Challenge

To support their digital efforts, the RPO made use of a local IT company to provide telephone, online and day-to-day maintenance but they felt that the relationship was not giving them any value. The company was a big firm, and every issue they reported had to be billed for separately, meaning that with their limited budget, they sometimes could not get the support that they needed. There was no personal relationship with anyone at the firm and getting support from anyone on the team was a mission.

The Solution

In 2019 the RPO reached out about acquiring IT support. Our team took the time to understand the needs and requirements of the RPO, to ensure that they were not sold anything they did not need. There was an ongoing conversation about change while the team wisely got to know the business and could systematically introduce the changes that were needed.

The Results

The RPO have now been working with us since 2018, and the team have implemented new servers and migrated to using laptops, making them more mobile. With laptops, they now have a centralised place of data and are not bogged down with the cumbersome activity of having to log into their old desktops. Even when they are on tour, they can stay on top of things, providing agility with their finances, productivity, and collaboration.

Because of the changes implemented by our specialists, the RPO was prepared for the pandemic. They were able to seamlessly adapt to hybrid working models, working from home or concert venues when need be, which they could not previously achieve.

Croft also provided broadband and phone system services to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been beneficial to their team in all regards.

Huw Davies from the RPO described our team as having a ‘calm and efficient approach to problem-solving’.

The team at Croft provided support that was seamless and straightforward, marrying two passions for a cost-effective and strategic IT relationship.