Proud Cabaret, the latest venture from husband and wife team Danielle and Alex Proud has signed a three-year deal to outsource all its IT infrastructure to London-based IT managed services provider Fifosys. The new venue, which has just opened on the corner of Mark Lane and Dunster Court in the City of London, has a restaurant with 120 covers and nightly shows from 9pm until 12pm, drawing audiences of more than 900 people a week for fine dining and entertainment as it showcases some fantastic talent on stage from Monday to Saturday.  

Already providing successful support and infrastructure management to Proud Camden, Fifosys were the obvious choice to produce seamless infrastructure integration with Proud’s newest investment. In preparation for Proud Cabaret’s launch, Fifosys installed a robust and secure IT infrastructure as well as CCTV, door entry and time attendance systems to help with the smooth running of the restaurant and club.

The CCTV system allows Proud Cabaret’s management to access cameras from remote locations, forming an integral element of the club’s security strategy, whilst the innovative time attendance system uses a fingerprint scanner to record when staff clock in and out of their shifts, providing real time data to the office network and streamlining management processes.

Alex Proud, Owner of Proud Cabaret comments, “We were originally recommended the services of Fifosys when we were looking to outsource our IT requirements at Proud Camden. Given the great job they’ve done there for the last year, it made sense to bring them over to Proud Cabaret in the City to do the same right from the word go.”

Proud continues, “For me, the best thing about the service we get is its efficiency. Time is money and downtime can be costly. With a service that means you are always operational, downtime is not a problem I envisage us running in to.”

In 1998, Proud launched the Proud Galleries group with the opening of Proud Central, and Proud Camden – bar, live music venue and photographic gallery – followed in 2001. Proud Galleries is now one of Europe’s most successful privately funded photographic institutions, with up to 10,000 customers visiting shows reflecting popular culture, encompassing rock and roll, fashion and sporting moments.  Proud Cabaret is modelled on a 1920s speakeasy and is an elegant new City destination which offers fine dining and entertainment in surroundings which exude the illicit glamour of a bygone era.

Mitesh Patel, Managing director of Fifosys comments, “Mid-market and SME businesses face a real challenge in managing their IT support requirements. For an organisation the size of Proud venues it is extremely difficult to justify a full-time IT department, particularly as they need support outside of normal office hours. Therefore, outsourcing the whole IT support function to a specialist organisation is not only a cost effective solution but also provides higher levels of service”.