Black Barn Vineyards’ many offerings include: luxury accommodation; cellar door wine tasting and sales; a boutique venue for weddings, functions and retreats; and of course, their natural amphitheatre, which is world-famous in New Zealand for summer music concerts.
Devine Technology began working with Black Barn many years ago, providing a complete service for all their technology needs from system infrastructure through to the appropriate hardware and software to allow this prosperous operation to hum with year-round activity.
To develop a picture of just what the Devine-Black Barn relationship looks like, we sat down with Black Barn’s Manager of Cellar Door & Events, Francis de Jager.
Francis, where was Black Barn’s IT prior to engaging with Devine?
“Around 15 years ago we were with another local IT company. Our server was a black box in a storeroom running a pretty old Linux system. We were having various issues trying to have the network do what we needed it to and eventually it failed. Our IT provider at that time wasn’t able to resolve the situation so we approached Devine Technology. They presented an attractive proposal and the rest is history.”
What was it that Black Barn needed Devine to provide re: technology?
“We wanted a robust system to carry out a multitude of tasks. A system that was quick, reliable and if issues did arise, they’d be sorted out promptly. We needed it to undergo regular maintenance and we needed professional guidance when it came to upgrades and implementing new tech. Ultimately our team needed a technology infrastructure that did everything we needed it to do where everyone had connectivity at all times.”
So how did things pan out after engaging with Devine Technology?
“Within days of engaging with Devine our server was back up and running and we’ve had nothing but the best possible service ever since. The key turning point was going server-less, taking everything into the cloud so we could access the entire system anywhere, any time on any device. Software can be updated remotely at the server level, not individual computers / devices, and when it comes to hardware Devine have always been there to offer the latest technology solution. The other big change was switching from the old Linux framework to a Microsoft system, which was one of the best moves we’ve ever made.”
Can you provide a few examples of the solutions Devine has provided?
“Well, for all accounting tasks Devine has integrated Xero into our system, which works a treat. Resbook has also been implemented to handle all our accommodation and event bookings. And the pro version of Dropbox has become our internal repository to manage all our day-to-day files and other digital assets. These solutions (among many others) have been implemented seamlessly with very little, if any, disruption. And they work brilliantly.”
What else can you say about working with Devine?
It really is a breeze. As I’ve said for the most part our technology hums and there are very few issues. And when we do need the Devine techs to sort something out they’re only ever a phone-call away. We usually deal with Phil or Tyler and whatever we need is promptly dealt with, often within hours. Because they can access our entire system and individual users’ accounts, most issues can be resolved remotely, which is a huge benefit. Devine are also great at working with, not only the Black Barn team, but also with our website developers and our ISP. They all speak the same language!
Francis de Jager – Manager of Cellar Door & Events, Black Barn
Black Barn Vineyards Photography by Brian Culy.
Black Barn Vineyard online:
Website: www.blackbarn.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/blackbarn.vineyards
Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackbarnnz