Client Stories

Crown Golf is a golf club owner and operator with 23 golf venues. These range from pay-and-play courses to members’ clubs and a highly prestigious leisure resort, St. Mellion, that includes a Top 100 golf course.

Given the geographic dispersal of its operations and the increasing range of services expected by consumers, IT is vitally important to Crown Golf. By 2014, this growing complexity led the company to engage one of Freeman Clarke’s Pincipals as its IT Director.

Mark Williams, Crown Golf’s Finance Director said:

“Freeman Clarke’s involvement is invaluable, as I can benefit from the experience of an established, proven IT Director, but without incurring the full cost.”

He joined Crown Golf team at a critical moment, when it was necessary to relocate their head office at short notice. The Principal took control of this urgent project while also putting in place a clear IT strategy and roadmap to support the business strategy and improvement plan.

His remit has encompassed a huge range of issues, including migration of local servers to private clouds, website hosting, business continuity, cyber-security, data protection, and payment card handling.

The Principal has also overseen a number of projects that support the growth of the business, including a CRM upgrade, establishment of a central call center, Wide Area Network upgrades, and a server renewal program.

He has also supported the senior team at Crown Golf through budget restructuring and strategic refinancing exercises.

Mark Williams said:

“I now have someone within the senior team who can explain the complexities of our IT requirements and architecture in business terms and has provided clarity and direction to me and my technology team. Improvements and new initiatives are now clearly identified, prioritized, costed, explained and justified. Risks to our IT services and compliance requirements are brought to my attention and cost-effective recommendations to address them are identified and implemented. As a result, I have much greater confidence that our IT is secure, reliable and fit for purpose.”