From outdated hosted desktop
to a custom cloud ecosystem.
How WikiTech replaced a costly, underperforming IT setup, built a fully custom ERP platform that made the business at least 25% more productive, and cut costs by £1,500 every month.
The challenge
An IT setup designed around the provider's convenience, not the client's.
When UK Pool Store came to WikiTech, their IT had fallen behind. Their previous provider had them on a hosted desktop solution — a legacy terminal server setup used to deliver remote desktop access. On the surface it worked. In practice, it was expensive, slow, and held together with outdated licensing that didn't make use of the tools UK Pool Store were already paying for.
The platform was under-resourced. Staff dealt with sluggish performance every day. The licensing model favoured the MSP, not the business — there was no incentive for the provider to simplify or reduce costs, and no one was looking at the technology holistically. Subscriptions had accumulated over time with no review, and the broader technology stack had no strategic direction.
What UK Pool Store needed wasn't just a faster desktop. They needed an IT partner who would look at the whole picture, cut the waste, and build a technology foundation that could actually grow with the business.
Outdated hosted desktop
Legacy terminal server solution — slow, costly, and incompatible with modern Microsoft licensing.
Licensing waste
Paying for overlapping services while underusing Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences already in place.
No subscription oversight
Accumulated SaaS tools with no review — multiple software costs with duplicated functionality.
No strategic direction
IT was purely reactive. No roadmap, no technology planning, no thought given to how IT could drive the business forward.
The journey
Three years. Three phases of transformation.
WikiTech didn't just fix the immediate problems — they built a long-term technology roadmap and executed it in stages, each one improving on the last.
Azure Virtual Desktop & cost reduction
Year one — replacing the legacy setup and eliminating waste
WikiTech's first priority was getting UK Pool Store off the ageing terminal server and onto something modern. The replacement was Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) — Microsoft's cloud-native solution that delivers a full Windows 11 virtual PC experience, properly integrated with Microsoft 365.
Crucially, AVD made full use of the Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences UK Pool Store were already paying for, eliminating the separate hosted desktop licensing cost entirely. The performance difference was immediate — staff went from a sluggish remote desktop to a fast, responsive cloud environment.
Alongside the migration, WikiTech conducted a full audit of every subscription and software tool in use. Overlapping services were identified and consolidated, removing unnecessary spend and simplifying the stack.
Custom cloud ERP & business app
Year two — building the tools the business actually needed
As WikiTech developed a deep understanding of how UK Pool Store operated, it became clear that the business had outgrown off-the-shelf tools. Managing product listings, stock, sales leads, quotes, and supplier data across WooCommerce, WordPress, and multiple spreadsheets was slow and error-prone. WordPress and WooCommerce are excellent for running a shop — they're not built for operational management at scale.
WikiTech designed and built a fully custom cloud ERP application — a central platform that brought together every part of the business into one place. Mass product updates that previously took hours were reduced to minutes. Margin and profit checks that required jumping between systems were surfaced instantly. The application integrated directly with the shop websites, meaning changes flowed through automatically.
Glan estimates the business is at least 25% more productive as a result — driven by automation removing repetitive manual tasks, accurate real-time reporting replacing guesswork, and staff spending their time on work that actually moves the business forward.
Intune device management & AVD decommission
Year three — stronger security, lower costs, less infrastructure
As the custom ERP matured and staff increasingly worked through the cloud application, the need for Azure Virtual Desktop diminished. The infrastructure it had solved for — remote access to business tools — was now handled natively by the app itself. The migration from Sage 50 to Xero also played a part: Sage 50 is desktop software that had previously required the Azure server to run; moving to Xero's cloud-based platform removed that dependency entirely. With the ERP in the cloud and accounts in Xero, there was no longer any reason to maintain an Azure virtual desktop. WikiTech identified the opportunity to decommission AVD entirely, transitioning staff to local devices managed through Microsoft Intune.
Every device was enrolled into Intune and secured with Conditional Access policies. The configuration is strict: only company-registered, fully compliant devices are permitted to access business data. Personal devices, unknown machines, and anything that doesn't meet the compliance baseline are blocked outright — regardless of whether the credentials are correct.
This isn't just a cost reduction. It's a fundamentally more secure posture — and as the phishing story below shows, it has already proven its worth in a real attack scenario.
Real-world security
The day Conditional Access stopped a live attack.
Security policies are only proven when they're tested. This one was — and it worked exactly as designed.
Phishing email received
A staff member received a convincing phishing email and clicked a malicious link.
Credentials & MFA cookie taken
The attacker captured the user's login credentials and session MFA cookie — bypassing standard two-factor authentication.
Sign-in attempt blocked
The attacker attempted to sign in. Conditional Access checked the device — it wasn't company-registered. Access was denied instantly.
WikiTech alerted & account secured
Support was alerted, MFA was safely reset, and the password was changed. The account was secured with zero data accessed.
Zero data compromised. Attack fully mitigated.
Even with valid credentials and a stolen MFA session cookie, the attacker could not get in. The Conditional Access policy — requiring a company-registered, compliant device — acted as a final barrier that no amount of stolen credentials could bypass. This is exactly the kind of protection that WikiTech designs into every client environment as standard.
Custom development
One platform. Every part of the business.
The custom ERP application WikiTech built for UK Pool Store isn't a configured off-the-shelf product — it was designed entirely around how the business operates, built to do the specific things that matter to them.
Where WooCommerce and WordPress required slow, manual processes for bulk updates, the app handles them in seconds. Where staff previously needed to navigate multiple tools to check a product's margin or update stock across their websites, it's now a single action in one place.
The platform also integrates directly with Xero — UK Pool Store's cloud accounting package. When a quote is won and converted to a sale, the invoice is created in Xero automatically, with every line item carried across without anyone touching a keyboard. Previously, a member of staff had to manually re-enter all of that information into Sage 50 after every sale — a slow, error-prone process that added dead admin time to every transaction. Migrating from Sage 50 to Xero also had another benefit: Sage 50 is desktop software that required the Azure server to run, so removing it was one of the factors that made decommissioning AVD possible.
The application continues to evolve. WikiTech adds capability as the business grows, integrating new workflows as they emerge and refining existing ones based on how the team actually uses the system.
Integrated platform modules
Everything runs in one cloud application
Sales lead management
Track and manage inbound leads from first contact to closed sale.
Quoting tool
Build and send professional quotes with live margin calculations.
Stock control
Real-time stock visibility synced with the shop websites.
Product management
Mass update product listings across WooCommerce sites in seconds.
Margin & profit tools
Instant visibility of margin and profit without leaving the platform.
Website integration
Direct sync with shop websites — one update, everywhere.
Xero integration
Won quote → invoice created in Xero automatically. No re-keying, no admin, no errors.
Reporting & dashboards
Live business performance data — sales, margins, stock, and orders — always up to date, no manual compiling.
What's next
AI that actually knows the business.
WikiTech is currently integrating AI directly into UK Pool Store's platform — not as a bolt-on chatbot, but as a layer fully embedded in their data and technology stack.
The result is a system where Glan can ask plain-English questions about the business and get accurate, data-driven answers in seconds. Which products are underperforming? What's the margin trend this quarter? Which leads have gone quiet? Questions that previously required manual reporting can now be answered instantly.
This is the natural extension of the platform WikiTech has built over three years — a technology ecosystem that doesn't just run the business, but helps leadership make better decisions faster.
I'm absolutely blown away by what WikiTech have developed in such a short time. The platform has massively increased our productivity and profit. WikiTech just handle everything — I don't need to worry about IT at all.
The results
Three years of measurable improvement.
Every change WikiTech made was designed to improve quality, productivity, or cost — usually all three at once.
Cost savings
£1,500/month. In two stages.
WikiTech didn't just find savings at onboarding — they kept finding them as the technology evolved.
Phase 1 — Azure Virtual Desktop migration
The previous MSP was significantly overcharging. Moving to WikiTech, migrating to Azure Virtual Desktop, and consolidating overlapping subscriptions brought immediate, substantial savings from day one.
Phase 3 — AVD decommission & Intune migration
As the custom ERP application matured, Azure Virtual Desktop was no longer needed. Decommissioning AVD and transitioning to Intune-managed local devices reduced Azure infrastructure costs further — while actually improving security.
Total monthly saving vs. original setup
£18,000 per year. Every year. While the technology, security, and productivity have all continued to improve.
Ongoing partnership
Three years in. Still building.
UK Pool Store have been a WikiTech client since the very beginning. What started as a managed IT support engagement has grown into a full technology partnership — with WikiTech acting as an embedded part of the business rather than an external supplier.
The relationship continues to evolve. The ERP platform is actively developed, AI integration is underway, and WikiTech's engineers are involved in every technology decision UK Pool Store makes.
Managed IT support — unlimited remote support, senior engineers
Azure infrastructure management and optimisation
Intune device management and security policy enforcement
Custom ERP platform — ongoing development and new modules
AI integration — embedding data intelligence into the platform
Website support and WooCommerce management
A partnership built on trust
UK Pool Store were one of WikiTech's very first clients. That relationship has endured because WikiTech's goal has always been the same — to make IT better, cheaper, and more useful for the business. Not to protect their own position or complicate the technology stack.
Every saving found, every new capability built, every attack blocked — it all comes back to the same principle: technology should work for the business, not the other way around.
That's what a genuine IT partnership looks like.
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