Winery IT Support
Exodesk supports the technology connecting the vineyard, winery office and cellar door. We help plan site connectivity, manage business devices and access, and protect the systems and records your operation relies on.
We work alongside your wine software, plant and payment suppliers, with systems, sites, vintage support and responsibilities agreed before work starts.
Tell us about your site, your systems and what the last vintage showed up
What does winery IT support cover?
Winery IT support covers the agreed networks, connectivity, business devices, accounts, backup and supplier coordination that a vineyard, winery and cellar door depend on as one business.
A winery can run winemaking and vineyard records, an accounting system, cellar door sales and a wine club database, alongside plant controls that belong to their suppliers. Buildings sit at different distances apart, production areas are wet and cold, and vintage brings more people onto the same systems. We document what your site actually runs before agreeing the scope.
Exodesk has supported New Zealand businesses since 1989. Today, our Christchurch and Dunedin teams support businesses nationwide.
Support across the vineyard, winery and cellar door
The agreement lists the systems and buildings included, so staff know who to call and each supplier knows where its responsibilities start.
Networks and connectivity
Links between buildings, wireless coverage and internet failover, checked against the actual locations and applications that use them.
Devices and access
Business devices and individual accounts for permanent staff, seasonal workers and approved suppliers, with equipment suited to where it is used.
Backup and recovery
Protected copies of the agreed systems, restore tests and clear responsibility for what cloud application providers cover.
Cellar door and office IT
The networks, devices and connections behind cellar door sales and office systems, coordinated with software and payment providers.
Supplier coordination
Escalation contacts and agreed boundaries with wine software, plant and payment suppliers, so a fault that crosses systems has a coordinator.
Vintage planning
Changes scheduled around your production calendar, with the agreed setup tested before the busy period arrives.
Ongoing winery IT support sits within our managed IT services, with recovery delivered through Backup as a Service.
Clear responsibility for specialist systems
The winemaker and compliance lead determine the production and regulatory records the winery needs. We agree the infrastructure, access, integration and support work Exodesk handles, including escalation between suppliers.
Wine software providers support their application functions and product issues. Hosting, backup and recovery responsibilities are assigned to the providers named in the support agreement. Plant suppliers remain responsible for fermentation, refrigeration and safety controls; as part of winery IT support we agree network segments and remote access with them, not the controls themselves. Payment providers set terminal connectivity requirements and offline processing rules.
Prepare for your busiest period
Vintage puts more people and more work through the systems already on site. We help identify weak links, plan changes around your production calendar and test the agreed setup before the peak arrives.
Cellar door sales, exports and office work can have different busy periods, so change windows are agreed around your own harvest and trading calendar rather than a fixed set of months. Urgent security work during a busy period still gets a risk decision with your team, not an automatic deferral.
- Seasonal accounts. Vintage workers who need system access receive individual accounts with the permissions their role requires and a dated removal, with licensing confirmed before the first day
- Shared workstations. Individual application identities kept where the software supports them, so records show who entered what
- Load testing. Links and devices checked under realistic traffic before the season, rather than discovered during it
- Support arrangements. Vintage cover for winery IT support, after-hours escalation and response targets set out in your support agreement
Links between blocks and buildings
We survey the site before choosing a link. Terrain, radio path clearance, interference, mounting, power and the capacity needed all decide whether fibre, point-to-point wireless or cellular is the right answer for each building.
Clear visual line of sight alone does not establish a reliable wireless link, because the radio path needs clearance around it as well. Coverage needs change with telemetry, cameras, calls and the applications in use, so we design from those rather than a standard kit. Business internet options and failover are covered on business internet, and wireless coverage design on business WiFi.
A second internet plan can share power, a router, a tower or an upstream path with the first. As part of winery IT support, we test failover end to end, including name resolution, the applications staff use and cellar door payments.
One winery network means a managed design, not one unrestricted network. We separate guest wifi, office devices, payment equipment and production controls, with the access between them agreed and checked. See network security.
Hardware for wet and cold production areas
An ingress protection rating, written as IP followed by two digits, describes tested protection against dust and water. It is a starting point, not proof that a device suits a wash-down area.
We check the manufacturer’s limits for water pressure and temperature, cleaning chemicals, corrosion, condensation, ambient temperature and the connectors used in the installation. Network equipment in production areas goes into an enclosure specified for protection and heat management, because open vents can let water in and trapped heat can damage equipment.
Devices that do not suit their environment are reviewed and replaced under an agreed winery IT support plan, rather than replaced wholesale because of a label.
Backup, recovery and record keeping
Backup frequency follows the data loss and recovery time each important system can tolerate, agreed with you, rather than one schedule for everything. A weekly backup can lose a week of sales or records.
We test restoring an application and its usable data, not only a single file. Backup access is protected, and a copy is kept separate from the systems it protects, in line with the National Cyber Security Centre guidance on testing backups. An export from cloud software is not automatically a complete, restorable backup, so we confirm coverage, history, attachments, retention and restoration with each provider.
Under regulation 40 of the Wine Regulations 2021, operator compliance records must be legible, accurate and kept for at least seven years from creation, and New Zealand grape wine must be traceable to its source vineyard. Your compliance lead confirms the actual record set and any longer retention; within winery IT support, we make sure those records stay readable and retrievable after software or supplier changes.
Cellar door sales and guest wifi
The cellar door runs as a retail operation on a working site, with its own network for sales devices and payment terminals and a guest network kept apart from both.
We confirm connectivity requirements with the terminal provider and can add a second connection for the counter. Eftpos NZ describes offline mode as an emergency continuation of processing with limits, not a backup connection, so the fallback is tested with the payment supplier rather than assumed.
Counter devices and retail networks are covered in more depth on retail IT support; restaurants and functions on hospitality IT support. The vineyard side shares much with other rural operations, covered by agriculture IT support, and broader production IT by manufacturing IT support.
How the work starts
We begin winery IT support with a walk through the buildings, connections, devices and important systems with your team.
Review the site
Record buildings, links, devices, accounts, data locations and supplier contacts, with any testing scheduled around the operation.
Agree priorities
Rank the weak links and risks with your team, such as failover, network separation, seasonal access and recovery copies.
Scope the changes and support
Set out one-off work, ongoing services, vintage cover and responsibilities, with costs separated.
Test before the peak
Carry out the agreed changes, test the required workflows and hand over documentation and escalation contacts.
What affects the cost?
A winery IT support quote depends on the buildings and links, the devices to support, the systems in use, the recovery requirements and the support hours agreed for vintage.
- Ongoing support. Users, devices, sites and the agreed support hours, including vintage cover
- Network and hardware. Links, enclosures and devices for production areas, quoted as one-off work
- Connectivity and software. Recurring internet, software and backup charges, identified with their suppliers
- Seasonal changes. Additional accounts, devices and licences during vintage
The proposal identifies supplier charges, seasonal changes and exclusions before work starts.
Winery IT support questions
What does winery IT support cover?
It covers the agreed site networks, connectivity, business devices, accounts, backup and supplier coordination across the vineyard, winery office and cellar door. The support agreement lists the systems and sites included and what stays with software, plant and payment suppliers.
Can you support our existing winery software?
We check the application, hosting and supplier arrangements first, then define which infrastructure and support tasks we take on. Product support and application changes stay with the software provider unless separately agreed.
Do you support fermentation or refrigeration controls?
No. Plant suppliers remain responsible for their controls and safety systems. We agree the network segment, remote access arrangements and change windows with them, so their equipment is reachable without being exposed to the rest of the site.
Will cellar door payments keep working if the internet fails?
That depends on the connectivity, terminal and payment provider. We can help design a second connection and test the agreed fallback with the payment supplier. Offline processing is an emergency facility with limits, not a backup connection.
How do you handle vintage staff?
Seasonal workers who need system access receive individual accounts with the permissions their role requires and a dated removal. Shared workstations keep individual application identities where the software supports it, and licensing is confirmed before vintage starts.
How long should a winery keep its records?
Operator compliance records under the Wine Regulations 2021 must be kept for at least seven years from creation. The plan, a market, a contract or product risk can require longer, so the compliance lead confirms the schedule. We check that records stay readable after software or supplier changes.
What does winery IT support cost?
Cost depends on the buildings and links, the devices supported, the systems in use, recovery requirements and the support hours agreed for vintage. One-off network and hardware work is quoted separately from recurring services, with supplier charges and exclusions identified first.
Discuss your winery IT
Tell us about your buildings, current suppliers, the systems you depend on and what the last vintage showed up. We will confirm what our winery IT support can cover and scope the next step. Please leave passwords out of the enquiry.
Talk to us about your winery
Tell us your winery, location, the sites involved and what is not working, and we will be in touch to arrange a time that suits.
Prefer to talk?
Christchurch
Level 1, 85 Riccarton Road
Christchurch 8011
03 343 3124
Dunedin
Level 3, Bartons Building
2 Stafford Street, Dunedin 9016
03 479 2941