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 Award-winning Nottinghamshire IT firm celebrates 10th anniversary

Award-winning Nottinghamshire IT firm celebrates 10th anniversary

An award-winning IT solutions firm, which was established by two friends after spotting a gap in the market, is celebrating its tenth year in business.

Your IT Department has seen significant growth over the past decade, including an ever-expanding client base, increased staff numbers and three office moves.

It is a world away from the humble beginnings of the Nottinghamshire-based company, which was started by directors, Simon Cox and Lee Hewson.

“We both worked together at another IT company but we wanted to offer businesses a different experience”, said Simon of Hucknall. “Ten years ago, firms would generally only seek IT support if they had a problem so we decided that we should provide them with ongoing support by becoming an invested partner.”

On March 1st 2009, Your IT Department was born, with the pair initially working from the conservatory at Lee’s home. Lee, of Arnold, said:

“We wanted to keep costs down but it was far from ideal because it was filled with children’s toys. I think we lasted two weeks before moving to our first office in Mercury House, Basford, which was literally the cupboard under the stairs!”

The firm continued to grow and, after hiring Lee’s father Richard as Sales Manager, it secured an IT support contract with NBV Enterprise Solutions, which provides support to businesses across the East Midlands. The deal led to Your IT Department moving into NBV’s office in David Lane, Basford, in 2014, which is where it remained until 2017.

According to Lee, hiring his father proved to be a turning point for the business.

The 41-year-old said:

“It meant we moved from a technical focus to a sales focus, resulting in some big clients. My dad worked for us until he retired in 2016 – although people used to think that he owned the company when he went to sales events!”

Your IT Department now employs 12 people, services 120 clients and has a CV that includes winning the Small Business Award at the East Midlands Chamber Business Awards in 2015. It also ranked as the top small MSP in the East Midlands in the 2018 Channel Futures MSP 501 competition - the world’s largest independent assessment of businesses in the sector.

In 2017, it moved to its current Head Office in Farrington Way, Eastwood - which enables the company to offer its staff more than just a place of work. Simon (50) said:

“We like to offer a fun working environment. Our Employee of the Month gets a Friday off work, we have a ping-pong table in the office, we share achievements on social media and we take staff on outings to sporting events.”

Sport plays a big part in the firm’s ethos with its sponsorship of Hinkley Rugby Club, Leicestershire County Cricket Club and Derby County Ladies. And Simon and Lee, whose workforce is male-dominated, are hoping its involvement with Derby County Ladies will help to encourage more women to enter the IT sector and to work for them.

This aim is just one part of their plan for the future.

“We are hoping to reach £1 million turnover next year and we want to invest more in our support team,” said Simon. “But we are so proud of what we have achieved in the past ten years and we are hoping to continue that success over the next decade.”

For more information, visit www.you-itdepartment.co.uk.

 

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