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Major tech investment brings world-class security to accountancy firm

P R E S S R E L E A S E

Ref: HWPR80 Date: 8th August 2019

Major tech investment brings world-class security to accountancy firm

A Midlands-based firm of accountants has invested over£60,000in upgrading its IT infrastructure to combat cyber threats and protect client data.

Howards Chartered Certified Accountants, which employs almost 40 staff at its office in Stafford, has installed a site-wide connected mobility solution with enterprise-class security.

Infinity IT Solutions carried out the installation, which was completed in stages, over four months. It includes an on-site private cloud solution with multi-factor authentication (MFA), layer 7 security firewall and industry-leading end point detection and response, all monitored by a 24/7 and 365 days a year off-site service centre.

Says Howards' managing director Matt Bailey: "The UK is now the most targeted nation for cyber-attacks and as a professional services firm handling payroll, pension and taxation and dealing with mergers and acquisitions as well as litigation matters, we hold a lot of sensitive data. We have always made client confidentiality our priority, but with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force in May last year, data privacy was taken to an entirely new level. We have embraced this change and are using it to fuel strategic advancement in our business."

The security-as-a-service solution has multi-layer protection and delivers an anti-ageing security platform for Howards that can defend against the most aggressive cyber threats.

Once the privacy and security installation was completed, the team could begin work on the unified communications and hyperconverged computing phase. This meant new hardware and new ways of working for the Howards team and its customers.

Simon McAlpine, sales and marketing director of Infinity IT solutions, comments: "We'd been working with Howards for around four years and had already installed network and server upgrades as well as bringing them to a fully outsourced IT service provision with 24/7 coverage and faster response times. Early this year, we completed the major upgrade to the private cloud solution. With ‘thin clients', instead of bulky desktops, softphones and devices such as the Surface Go, the team now have immediate and responsive access to their workspace from any device anywhere, with total security."

Matt Bailey adds. "All our staff now use the same technology with the latest updates on a system that is faster and smarter and accessible from anywhere. And, importantly, we can give clients the information they need quicker, and more accurately than ever before."

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Caption: Pictured are Infinity's operations director Lee Hayes (left) and Matt Bailey, managing director of Howards.

About Howards

Howards was founded in 2005 following the merger of Barrington's and Wood & Co, two well-established and successful Stafford firms of accountants. The combined experience and areas of individual expertise that the company now enjoys has been passed on to its clients, who all benefit from Howards' deeper knowledge base and wider range of professional services. The senior team comprises managing director Matt Bailey, director and commercial and taxation specialist Ryan Hudson, office manager and group company secretary Joanne Austin, senior manager Nick Archer, accounts manager Clive Boult, payroll manager Karen Evans and managers Rachael Wilson, Joe Dimambro and Chris Glue.

Howards' social media platforms

Follow Howards on Twitter - @Howards_CA