IT support for estate agents, Lancashire
IT Support for Estate Agents in Lancashire
For the Lancashire agency with branches a long drive apart, where whoever is best with computers has quietly become the IT department for all of them. That is what IT support for estate agents in Lancashire has to be built around. A person picks up when you ring, the email is protected, and the price is on the page: £55 a person a month.
IT support for estate and lettings agents from a Microsoft partner, independent. Reapit, Alto, Jupix, Dezrez and Street supported, with the Rightmove and Zoopla feeds. Twenty years securing systems in regulated sectors. Run to Cyber Essentials standards. Remote first, visits scheduled.
What makes IT support for a Lancashire estate agency different
Lancashire is a big county and agencies here are spread across it, which produces a specific problem: every branch ends up slightly different. One has a server, one does not. One keeps files on the network, one keeps them on a desktop. Each has its own printer arrangement and its own way of doing things, and the person holding it all together is a negotiator who happens to be good with computers and never asked for the job.
That divergence is expensive in a way that never appears on an invoice. Nothing can be fixed once; everything has to be fixed five times. Staff moving between branches lose a morning learning the local quirks. And when something breaks in the branch furthest from whoever knows, it stays broken.
So IT support for a Lancashire agency is mostly about making the branches the same. One Microsoft 365, one way in, one place the files live, one set of security settings applied everywhere. After that, distance stops mattering, because nearly everything is fixed from wherever the fixer happens to be sitting.
What IT support for estate agents covers
Across a county this size the first job is making the branches the same. After that, distance stops mattering. Sales, lettings, property management or all three.
Branches that work the same way
One Microsoft 365, one sign-in per person that works in any branch, files in one place and the same security settings applied centrally. After that a new branch is a day's work rather than a month's.
Records that come back
Applicant data, tenancy files, AML records and the mailboxes backed up daily and tested by restoring something. A dead PC in the branch is an afternoon, not lost due diligence.
Email that stops the deposit redirection
Filtering that catches emails impersonating your negotiators, the solicitor or the landlord, and sign-in security so a stolen password cannot send one. The single most valuable control an agency can buy.
Access that ends when negotiators move on
Agents change firms often. Access to the CRM, the inbox and the shared drive ends the same day they do, before the applicant list walks out with them.
Somebody who knows agency software
Reapit, Alto, Jupix, Dezrez, Street. When the CRM will not push to Rightmove or Zoopla, or the branch phone line drops, you ring and a person picks up. Most fixes happen on your screen in minutes, and if it is the vendor's problem we ring the vendor.
Evidence for the AML supervisor
A written record of the controls, run to Cyber Essentials standards, that answers HMRC's supervision visit and the insurer's questionnaire without a scramble.
The rules an agency is judged against
Estate and lettings agents are supervised for anti-money-laundering by HMRC, so client due diligence has to be kept and produced on request, and most of those records live in the CRM and the inbox. That makes the IT question and the compliance question the same question, with UK GDPR over the top of it.
It needs no compliance department: sign-in security on, backups tested, access that ends when people leave, and somebody able to write down what is in place when the supervisor asks. The longer version, including Propertymark and what insurers ask at renewal, is on the IT support for estate agents page.
Covering Lancashire
Preston and Fulwood, Blackburn and Darwen, Blackpool and the Fylde, Lancaster and Morecambe, Burnley, Chorley and the branches through the Ribble Valley.
Lancashire is the case where distance genuinely used to matter. A branch in Burnley waiting for somebody driving from Preston is half a day gone. Once sign-in, files and security are central, that journey stops being part of the fix for almost everything.
Nearly every fix is faster from a desk than from a van. When a job genuinely needs a person in the room, the visit is scheduled and it is in the quote. Estate agents, lettings agents and property managers, from a single branch to a dozen, and co-managed alongside your existing provider if you have one you want to keep.
What IT support for estate agents costs
No onboarding fee. No surprise on the invoice.
IT support for estate agents in Lancashire: the questions people ask first
Our branches all work differently. Is that fixable without stopping trading?
Yes, and it is done branch by branch rather than all at once. The order matters more than the speed: sign-in and email first because they are the risk, then files, then the local oddities. Nothing has to go dark for a day.
One of our negotiators does the IT. What happens to them?
They get their job back. In practice they usually stay as the person who tells us what is going on, because they know the business better than we will for the first few months, and that is worth keeping.
Our branches are an hour apart. Does that slow anything down?
Not for support, because nearly everything is fixed remotely and distance makes no difference to that. Where it bites is anything needing hands on a machine, which is why the aim is to leave as little of that in place as possible: cloud sign-in, files central, nothing critical sitting on one box in one town.
Every branch has its own printers and scanners. Does that matter?
Only in that it costs somebody time every week. Different kit in every branch means nothing can be fixed once, and staff moving between branches lose a morning. It is not urgent and it is not worth a replacement programme; it is worth standardising as things wear out.
One branch still has a server. Does it have to move?
Not necessarily. The question is what is on it. If it is file shares, they should retire into Microsoft 365 and the box goes. If it is an application that genuinely needs a server, it stays or moves to Azure depending on the date on the operating system. Windows Server 2016 stops getting security fixes on 12 January 2027, which is what usually forces the decision.
How much does IT support for an estate agency in Lancashire cost?
£55 a person a month, covering every machine that person uses. A branch of six is £330. A phone system or network kit is priced per box on top, only if it needs looking after, and you would know the whole number before agreeing to anything.
Do you ever come out to us?
Nearly everything is fixed remotely, usually the same day, because that is faster for you than waiting for a van. When a job genuinely needs somebody in the room, the visit is scheduled in advance and it is in the quote. There is no on-site response clock, and we would rather say so than sell you one we cannot keep.
Have a chat with Eric
Fifteen minutes with Eric. Bring the thing that annoyed you most this month.
That didn’t send. Ring 0151 452 3060 and you’ll get me directly, or email [email protected].
IT support for estate agents across the North West
This is the page for Lancashire. For the service in general, see IT support for estate agents. Or pick the area closest to you:
Liverpool Wirral Chester Cheshire Warrington Halton the North West
IT support for estate agents in Lancashire
Fixed price IT support for estate and lettings agents: a person who picks up, and the email controls that stop a deposit going to the wrong account. Ring and find out whether it is worth it; there is no obligation either way.