When demand for its pioneering bioprocess containers exploded to meet the needs of global pharma companies developing lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, ALLpaQ relied on The PC Support Group’s comprehensive IT and telecoms support to help rapidly expand production capacity, and to equip the business to handle exponential growth.
The story of ALLpaQ is an inspiration to entrepreneurs the world over. Launched in 2009 in a bedroom in Grimsby, just 15 years later ALLpaQ PACKAGING GROUP is exporting its pioneering all-plastic bioprocess containers to pharmaceutical companies in twenty-six countries.
In 2023 its remarkable growth to an industry-leading position was rewarded with the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, in recognition of its role during COVID-19 as a key global supplier supporting customers in the production and distribution of vaccines, and in particular its work on Operation Warp Speed, the United States’ pandemic vaccine rollout programme.
Now operating from a manufacturing base on the River Mersey in Widnes near Liverpool, and with production facilities in Ireland and the US, ALLpaQ offers the world’s largest range of bioprocess containers for clean room environments, as well as associated laboratory products, accessories, and support services.
“The PC Support Group is absolutely brilliant, very responsive, and supportive. We’re very loyal to our suppliers who stay with us, share our values, and provide great, proactive service. The PC Support Group has completely earned our trust and confidence.”
Kirsten Goddard, Finance Director, ALLpaQ
ALLpaQ has grown rapidly in the highly regulated and quality driven pharmaceutical industry. To manage the challenges that come with rapid growth, it invests in its people to create a close family culture and actively encourages its workforce to introduce family members to join the business.
This philosophy extends to its supply chain too, with partners selected for their shared values, commitment to high quality service and a proactive, flexible approach. With production facilities in three countries and customers throughout the world, fully functioning, robust, and reliable IT is essential for ALLpaQ’s teams to manage projects effectively and provide the prompt and thorough service that has been the foundation of its success.
Its people need to work productively, securely and at speed at all times, with instant access to data and documents and to share those with colleagues and clients, at desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, in the office, on the production floor and on the move. With new product and business development opportunities constantly emerging, the company’s IT partner needs to help it flex with these demands, enabling new recruits to hit the ground running and ensuring that technology acts as an agile enabler, not a burden.
Crucially, with data protection now an essential prerequisite for all, ALLpaQ must have proven, best practice cybersecurity protocols in place, promoting secure business processes and safe day-to-day working, building trust and confidence amongst its business partners.
The PC Support Group has been providing comprehensive support to ALLpaQ for several years, starting when the company established its manufacturing base in Widnes. They offered invaluable advice and guidance on IT and telecoms requirements for the new factory, laying the foundation that has enabled ALLpaQ to navigate its impressive rise to prominence and global success.
At the heart of The PC Support Group’s provision for ALLpaQ is an award-winning managed IT support and maintenance programme, which employs a range of sophisticated management and monitoring tools to proactively prevent potential issues, ensuring smooth operations and minimising downtime.
By patching software and hardening each computer, security is enhanced and hacking opportunities reduced. To safeguard against harmful viruses, a web filtering system is in place, reducing the risk of staff accessing dangerous websites. An identity and access management system, enhances password control and security through multi-factor authentication, and single-sign-on technology. And a managed backup system ensures that even in a worse case scenario, data is kept safe and can be quickly recovered to maintain business continuity.
The PC Support Group's highly trained experts also provide in-person assistance, keeping ALLpaQ connected and productive whether in the office, working with customers, or on the go.
To further improve security and increase efficiency, PCSG also recommended and managed a move to the SharePoint Cloud file-sharing environment. This move allowed all customer-related and business management documents to be centralised, with established access rights enabling seamless collaboration.
Furthermore, The PC Support Group assisted ALLpaQ's in-house IT team in achieving Cyber Essentials certification, a Government programme promoting cybersecurity awareness and secure working practices.
Lastly, ongoing Client Success Reviews ensure that ALLpaQ remains ahead of the curve and maximizes the use of appropriate technology as it continues to grow.
“We took The PC Support Group’s advice to move onto SharePoint and they executed a highly successful transition, including helping us to establish appropriate access rights to files and folders. The project has improved our efficiency and collaboration plus it’s saved us a lot of money year on year by removing the cost of licences for our previous solution.”
Kirsten Goddard, Finance Director, ALLpaQ
ALLpaQ has been able to rapidly expand, including opening three more factories to cope with the global demand for its products generated by the COVID emergency, helped by The PC Support Group’s proactive advice and implementation of new IT and telecoms services.
This included establishing an onboarding process to remotely equip new starters with all their IT and telecom’s needs, as the business has grown from just three employees to more than fifty in just four years. ALLpaQ’s teams can focus all their energies on serving customers, maximising productivity, and capitalising on booming demand for their products and services, thanks to its long-standing partnership with The PC Support Group.
Commercially valuable company and client data and documents are automatically and securely backed-up off-site, ensuring business continuity and peace of mind. The PC Support Group’s team of expert engineers are on hand to resolve issues and provide advice and guidance.
By moving to SharePoint ALLpaQ’s teams can now seamlessly and easily collaborate with clients and partners. The implementation also provided an opportunity to reorganise ALLpaQ’s data into an improved structure and to apply a logical permission regime, improve version management, and enhance security through improved access control, including multi-factor authentication. And it has saved money too, as the company already owned SharePoint licences, and could cancel its licences for its previous solution.
Accreditation on the UK Government’s Cyber Essentials programme, recommended and implemented by The PC Support Group, is not just a demonstration of ALLpaQ’s commitment to security best practice, it has also helped its teams to adopt safe day-to-day working methods that promote trust and confidence amongst colleagues and business partners.
Cyber Essentials certification provides instant assurance for existing suppliers, clients, and new business prospects, that it has high quality cybersecurity systems and protocols in place, which are reviewed and reaccredited every 12 months. For its business development activities, this means that ALLpaQ automatically meets baseline security requirements, reducing the length of the procurement cycle by enabling discussion to focus on value and outcomes, rather than business processes.
According to UK Government research, Cyber Essentials certification improves protection against 98.5% of the most common cyberattacks. And by applying a password vault, ALLpaQ has added a simple to use but effective further layer of protection, helping to keep the business safe and secure, ready to meet its next set of challenges.
