Circle IT have come out on top as the fastest growing managed service provider in Wales. With a growth of 118.8% from 2005-2007 Circle IT were named as the 34^th fastest growing Welsh business in Wales.

Background

When their employer was downsizing, directors Roger Harry and Alun Emmanuel were offered the chance to take the existing IT operations as part of their own business. As a new start-up, the firm relied on selling a lot of hardware and software. In the first week of trading, the company received an order for £15,000 worth of hardware but suppliers would not give it credit lines. So this period was extremely challenging as the directors had to fund everything themselves.

Recruitment posed another challenge. After eight months Circle IT was invited to join forces with a telecoms company, as it potentially had a large base of customers who would require IT services and also offered to give the company financial backing, but after it became clear that the companies were operating in different environments, an MBO was undertaken and Circle IT was back in the Directors control. This allowed them the freedom to take the business in the direction they wanted.

Success factors

The directors have reinvested all profits and created the most robust internal systems for client service as well as achieving accreditations such as IIP. As a result most new business has come from existing client referrals and word of mouth recommendations and the company has extremely high client retention. Finally, all IT engineers need to be accredited and trained in the latest technological developments so the company spends £250,000 a year on external courses on top of internal training.

The Future?

The company now believes no competitor in Wales can match its offering but cannot rest on its laurels as the pace of change in the IT industry is very rapid and a lot of work and investment is required to keep up.

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