National Timber Group

With 25 locations in Scotland and 22 in England, National Timber Group offers nationwide coverage, serving a broad customer base that includes joiners, housebuilders, contractors and major infrastructure projects. With extensive warehousing, processing and logistics capabilities, it delivers a comprehensive range of premium timber, panels, decorative surfaces and engineered wood products; backed by deep product knowledge and specialist support.

Business growth demands scalable software solutions:

Following a series of strategic acquisitions, National Timer Group faced a growing challenge: integrating multiple newly acquired business units, each operating with distinct on-premises infrastructure, into one scalable IT environment. These units needed to be unified under a centralised system that aligned with National Timer Group’s existing Azure and ERP solution, as well as their Office365 environment.

Key integration requirements included:

• Migrating on-premise systems into Microsoft Azure
• Consolidating user and business unit data into a single ERP
• Unifying communication and collaboration under Office365
• Ensuring performance consistency and scalability without disrupting business operations
  

Building together: Klipboard & National Timber Group’s ongoing partnership

In 2018, Klipboard Managed Services, formerly known as Excenta, was engaged by Rembrand Timber to migrate their IT infrastructure to Microsoft Azure, supporting approximately 120 users. The project marked the beginning of what would become a multi-year digital transformation journey.

Shortly after, Rembrand Timber was acquired by Cairngorm Capital, who recognised the strength of Klipboard’s solution and adopted it as the foundation for their growing timber group (having also recently acquired North Yorkshire Timber (NYT) and Thornbridge Sawmills) - later that year, National Timber Group was announced as the group name officially. The following year, NTG went on to acquire Arnold Laver, a major business with 600 users. Klipboard worked alongside their teams to migrate Arnold Laver into the Azure platform and standardise the use of their ERP solution.

Between 2020 – 2022, NTG expanded further, acquiring Hymor Timber, Norclad, SV Timber and Cotswold Manufacturing. Klipboard continued to work closely with the NTG IT team to onboard each new business into the Azure environment, acting as a unified extension of their internal IT function. The original cloud architecture, designed with scalability and security in mind, successfully grew to support 1,000+ users – up from just 120 in three years!

Alongside the Azure migration, the Klipboard team developed and executed a robust strategy with other key elements:

• Office365 integration: All users were onboarded into a centralised Office365 platform, standardising communication and collaboration tool across the organisation.
• Azure scaling: Klipboard provisioned additional Azure capacity precisely when needed, eliminating upfront capital costs while maintaining scalability.
• Minimal business disruption: A strong focus on maintaining the ERP performance ensured that existing users were unaffected by the integration of new business units.

Once Klipboard had completed the project requirements, National Timber Group had a unified IT infrastructure across all its business units; enabling better oversight, simplified IT management and a foundation for future growth. Learn more about National Timber Group’s acquisitions here.

National Timber Group has partnered with Klipboard (formerly Excenta) since 2018. 
Over the course of this collaboration, we have successfully delivered a wide range of 
strategic IT initiatives, including:

• Consolidation of nine businesses into two core entities
• Integration of disparate networks into a unified infrastructure
• Standardisation of communications across a single platform
• Consolidation and migration of multiple ERP systems
• Transition from on-premises infrastructure to Microsoft Azure
• Rapid branch expansion aligned with private equity growth objectives
• Development of bespoke solutions tailored to evolving business demands

Klipboard has played a pivotal role throughout this transformation, providing expert 
consultancy and support that has enabled us to build a robust, scalable IT platform 
capable of supporting continued growth and operational excellence.

While the journey has not been without its challenges, the strength of our relationship 
with Klipboard has been instrumental in overcoming obstacles. When faced with 
blockers, we’ve worked closely with Liam and the team to collaboratively identify and 
implement effective solutions.

This open, honest and solution-focused partnership has been key to our success. 
Throughout this period, we have continued to trade, scale, and thrive - whilst always 
focusing on our customers and the experience they receive.
Andy Calise, Group IT Manager @ National Timber Group

Liam Freeman, Klipboard’s Infrastructure Director, added: “What I’m most proud of is how we supported NTG through such a vast scale of change, from large, complex acquisitions with established IT teams to smaller businesses with outdated systems. Together we built a modern, secure Azure and Microsoft 365 environment, consolidated ERP and SQL, and enabled them to work safely with specialist partners on everything from delivery apps to eCommerce. That standardisation has strengthened security, unlocked collaboration across the group and is rooted in the trusted relationship we’ve built with NTG’s IT team and leadership through hard work and tangible results.”

Build your foundation for scalable & secure growth with Klipboard

Klipboard Managed Services has been introduced to Klipboard’s portfolio to transform complex post-acquisition landscapes into streamlined and scalable digital ecosystems. By having expertise in cloud infrastructure and ERP integration, Klipboard not only addressed immediate integration needs, but also positioned the National Timber Group for long-term operational agility. Are you looking to achieve the same goal? Get in touch today to discuss your business requirements. Book a demo.