“IT’s great when it works, and one huge headache when it doesn’t. I know very little about IT. It’s like a very big iceberg. I know the technology is there but have no desire to understand anything that doesn’t stick out above the water. What I want is a system that keeps me ahead of the game, helps keep my business in the premier division and never, ever, lets me down. What IT-Start is very clever at doing is understanding my business well enough for me to trust their advice implicitly. Leaving me to get on with it.”
Denise Mullen, MD, Stripe Communications
News
Article published in the MEN on 1/7/08Bucking the trend with IT
Mark Richardson
IN these challenging economic times few small firms are expanding, but IT-Start has managed to double in size in only its second year and the directors think that the company is well positioned for more growth as businesses streamline their IT operations.
IT-Start is based in the Salford Innovation Forum, an incubator for new businesses supported by the North West Development Agency with the aim of helping grow new business in Manchester.
Started two-years ago by directors Glen Ramsey and Lee Wrall in Lee's spare bedroom, IT-Start provides IT solutions to a range of companies in different industries across Greater Manchester.
Lee says: "We're growing to accommodate bigger and bigger companies. At the moment we are dealing with companies that have 50-60 machines, but now we have a staff of 10 people, we can become the IT department for companies with 100 to 200 people, with bigger outsourced IT challenges.".
Glen and Lee have backgrounds in IT management at large blue-chip firms, and their approach with their own business has been to try and get away from the typical attitude that IT providers engender.
"Faceless"
Lee, who lives in Irlam, explains: "We want to get away from that big faceless IT department attitude. Most people aren't interested in IT, they just want a system that works and support that's responsive and in tune with their business needs. We see service as our frontline product."
The ethos behind IT-Start is one that has customer service at its core and in practical terms it means going the extra mile for customers.
Co-founder Glen Ramsey from Middleton, explained: "We invest time in getting under the skin of customers' businesses and the systems they use, and quite simply make their working lives easier."
"The most important thing for us, is that we are not going to baffle you with science and technology.
"We are not going to make things over complicated. We are very service focused. Your technology needs to work, but also relationships are very important," Lee adds.
With many companies tightening their financial belts It-Start is keen to grab the opportunity, and is promoting its service as a means for companies to reduce their costs.
Lee says: "In the current economic circumstances the most important thing is that we are providing solutions that make companies more efficient. We can help companies save money by showing them how they can automate some of their systems."
All content © Copyright IT-Start 2008