Why the Guildhall Trust future-proofed its IT

The Customer: The Guildhall Trust runs and operates Portsmouth Guildhall. The Trust’s vision is to become one of the country’s leading cultural organisations, placing its communities at the centre of everything it does and inspiring, entertaining, and transforming lives.

As a registered charity, the Trust prides itself on its range of opportunities through its interactive ‘Get Involved’ programmes. These programmes host events the Trust produces and manages, including the successful Portsmouth Comic Con.

Portsmouth Guildhall has a 2500-standing Concert Hall, which hosts a world-class programme of music, comedy, dance, drama, and family shows and events and a new 170-seat Studio staging children’s theatre and workshops, contemporary dance, drama, comedy, and niche music.

The venue, a true multi-purpose space, is also one of the leading conference centres on the South Coast. It offers a unique selection of rooms for hire and is licensed for weddings.

In 2010, Portsmouth City Council created an ‘Independent Not-for-profit Distributing Organisation’ (NPDO) to take over the running of the Guildhall. Portsmouth Cultural Trust was formed and became a registered charity in 2013. Following an extensive consultation and rebranding, the Trust changed its name to The Guildhall Trust in 2019.

The Challenge: The Guildhall Trust is in the entertainment world, entirely dependent on technology and where technological expectations move quickly. With the Guildhall Trust’s vast entertainment services offering, the charity needed an IT service provider to keep up with its varied needs. Nick Coles, Head of Facilities and Event Director with the Guildhall Trust said: “On any given day, we could be getting ready for a big performance, offering training to young people or specialising in a visual arts display.”

The Portsmouth Guildhall is often the venue of choice for world-class acts, and ticket sales are fundamental to keeping the venue ticking over. Nick said: “So much of what we do hinges on our IT. Selling tickets is now all online; we must be able to communicate via email with people who are visiting our venue. They need reassurance that we have the right security and cyber protection attached.” From headline acts to large dance competitions, including thousands of school-aged children, the Trust must also be ahead of the game regarding GDPR and other data protection measures. The Trust also works with outside agencies and contractors, which often means remote working. Nick said, “We can have someone halfway up the country operating lights and sound remotely from a building in Sheffield when we are down on the South Coast. We must have 100% trust in our systems to do this.” The Trust’s most significant challenge came when it hosted an Astrophysics conference and needed to have a conference call with the International Space Station. Nick said: “When we say our Trust is shooting for the stars with what we can offer, we’re not joking.”

The Aura Solution: Straight away, Aura came in and did a complete audit; this entailed a strategic review of the Trust’s IT infrastructure, providing the Aura team with an in-depth knowledge of how the Trust uses and utilises its IT. Aura visited the Trust numerous times, taking the time to understand how the charity works and its business needs. Having this understanding meant Aura was well informed when it came to presenting the Trust with a variety of options to ensure what Aura was proposing was robust and offered innovative capabilities but that these options would also fully optimise the Guildhall Trust’s objectives and goals when it came to its business progression.

The Outcome: The Guildhall Trust has partnered with Aura for the last six years. Together, Aura and the Trust have reached the international space station and had a crisper connection than some conferencing connections within the same city. Aura has covered the Trust's needs, from ensuring limited downtime to keeping the Trust up to speed with the latest regarding GDPR.

Nick said: “We thought we had the latest GDPR, but it changes so quickly, Aura is always well ahead. They were able to upgrade our software swiftly and knew all about licensing. We also received training from Aura on this too.” More than this, for the Trust, there has been reliability and consistency regarding the team within Aura. Nick said: “I have been working with Dave May, our dedicated Aura lead engineer, since the beginning. He knows us as if he was working within an internal team. I know that when Dave suggests an upgrade or change, he’s coming with all the expertise around what will work well for us as a business.”

Visit Aura Technology for more information about how It can benefit your organisation, and let us help you start mapping out your future.