Hobbycraft

Needing a new Dynamics NAV support Partner

Hobbycraft are the largest arts and crafts retailer in the UK, with over 100 stores.

Founded in 1995, by 2009 Hobbycraft had grown to 50+ stores and really needed a single end-to-end solution to enable a seamless flow of information. They implemented enterprise resource planning system, Dynamics NAV, and LS Retail's retail management system with another Microsoft Partner.

Matt Louth, Hobbycraft’s IT Director, says, “in early 2020, it was clear that our Partner was not meeting our expectations in terms of service quality, but changing Partners is never an easy decision to make or one that we would take lightly. We were working with them to try and resolve the issues and giving ourselves time to think about making a change”. Then their Partner went into Administration.

Matt reflects that it was only “a good two or three minutes” after he got the news that their Partner had gone into administration before he heard from TNP. Based on earlier discussions, he already knew they would be in safe hands, but the speed and ease of transition absolutely exceeded expectations.

Smooth transition

Jane Turnbull, Hobbycraft’s IT Service Delivery Manager, says, “from a support point of view, our priority was to maintain continuity of service. Our enterprise resource planning system is business critical. We needed to know that we could pick up the phone and get a response”. TNP were ready to make the change as stress-free as possible. Jane says, “TNP’s attitude, mindset and willingness to make it work were exceptional” and continue to remain at that high level.

The TNP guys were up for a challenge and had the right mindset – to pick up the reins and crack on with delivering great service

Concerns were raised about continuity of knowledge – Hobbycraft’s enterprise resource planning system has some very bespoke elements. However, TNP’s onboarding team dedicated hours to learning and knowledge transfer.

Better Service

Since making the move, Matt reports that TNP have worked through a range of long-standing support issues, all of which had been costing time and creating frustration within Hobbycraft.

Matt calls out the efforts of Hugo Resende, a NAV/BC Developer at TNP, in particular, “he’s made a huge difference and is a cut above what we were used to”.

Hugo says, “working with Hobbycraft is amazing – they know their stuff and trust us to do our jobs. We have confidence in each other.”.

Matt says, “open and effective communication has made, and will continue to make, our relationship with TNP. We’re looking forward to working with them in the future”. In 2022 that means opening at least five more stores and implementing a new ecommerce platform.

TNP will be here to help Hobbycraft deliver that and much more beyond.