ITPS 2000-2010 Anniversary
Celebrating 10 years in a highly competitive sector, Gateshead-based IT solutions specialist ITPS is now firmly established as a leading player in the region.
A steady annual growth has resulted in a turnover approaching £10m, and a national client list ranging from small businesses and corporate to public sector organisations. Managing director Garry Sheriff, one of the company’s founders, gives his views on how to build a successful, sustainable business. “Although the last decade has seen massive strides in technology development, our essential approach as a business has remained the same. It’s not about how smart the technology is, it’s about implementing solutions that enable businesses to derive real value from their investment in IT.
We strive to provide IT like a utility service. “One of the fundamental reasons for our success is an ability to listen, and then advise accordingly. We aim to understand the client’s business and create a solution that will support their goals, grow alongside them and provide best value for money. “Businesses depend on their people, and they in turn depend on the technology.
Trying to make processes fit around the IT will never work, and we are very honest about that. We fully understand that supporting the IT that enables users to do their job is a basic yet fundamental function that we are there to deliver. “The majority of decision makers are not techies.
They are not massively interested in how the technology itself actually works, they want to know how it can help them trim costs, and improve productivity and efficiency. And most of all, they want to know what the return on their investment will be. “Although we’re in a very competitive sector we’re very relaxed about not looking over our shoulder. Where we lead, our competitors tend to follow. For instance we have built up a respectable share of the markets for unified communications - which combines voice and data traffic - and server virtualisation, while many of our competitors are just starting to make inroads. “Leading the way is dependent on having the right people in place, which means creating a healthy environment where they feel appreciated and empowered.
If you haven’t got everyone buying into the same aims and genuinely pulling in the same direction, the business will never be truly successful. Some of our people have been with us since the start and grown their careers up to director level, giving them a real stake in the business. “We’re very proud of our staff and client retention rates of over 95%.
Our first 30 clients are still with us 10 years on - the 31st client was bought out, nothing we could do about that! It’s a good indicator of our ability to nurture partnerships.” One of ITPS\'s early clients is Dacre, Son and Hartley Ltd, Yorkshire’s leading independent estate agent and property expert, with 19 offices throughout Yorkshire and over 185 years’ experience.
Finance director John Skinner said: “As our chosen IT partner, ITPS has been an invaluable ally over the years. “Our industry has had a tough time recently, but our strong relationship with ITPS gives us confidence that we are getting maximum benefit from our investment. With their help we have strengthened our position in the market. “They have an exceptionally good technical team, who as well as dealing with day to day issues, continually review our IT infrastructure to make sure it is future proof. “We trust them to proactively handle our IT needs, so we can get on with running our business.
Effectively we treat IT like a utility just as ITPS advocated we could.” Garry added: “Ten years ago the IT buzzwords were the internet, e-business and IP networks, while today the hot topics are cloud computing, software as a service, and green IT and we are at the forefront of delivering these solutions. “We can’t predict where technology will be in 10 years’ time, but I know we will still be excited by the possibilities and innovations it opens up for our clients’ businesses. “And our continuing success will still be based on delivering business solutions and services, not just IT solutions.”