Best of 2018 at San-iT – A Retrospective
2018 has flown by faster than Concorde, and we have to ask, what’s changed?
Well, Brexit hasn’t stopped being an embarrassing mess. And we still despise the cold.
But in terms of business, we’ve seen some beautiful things happen at San-iT.
Here’s what 2018 meant to us and our customers. Spoiler alert: it was ‘awesome’.
We Became 10-Years-Old
It’s been a decade since Barry Lowe started San-iT, and we’ve met monumental milestones, particularly in the last year:
We’ve transitioned to the cloud and helped our clients do the same
Digital transformation has allowed us to take huge steps forward in all areas of the business from customer experiences to the products we offer.
- We’ve achieved Microsoft Silver Cloud Platform, Silver Cloud Productivity and Silver Application Development status. We then quickly moved up to the next level, Gold Application Development – Our first Gold Competency!
Learn exactly what working with a silver-certified Microsoft partner can do for your business here.
- We secured a loan to extend our offices
2019 equals larger offices, a bigger team, even better tech and more value for our customers.
- We put customer support at the core of our business
We strive to make our support services as extraordinary as our customers. Our support team work hard to meet quality-of-service KPIs to continually measure their performance and improve.
We’ve also welcomed some incredible new staff to the San-iT family …
The 2018 Dream Team
In May this year, we adopted the ELITE Team concept to take our culture and team unity to an all new high.
Our new apprentices, Joe, Terry and Tim, have been given the tools and coaching opportunities to flourish, boosting their future prospects within IT and strengthening their contribution to the team.
For the rest of the San-iT crew, the ELITE Team initiative has helped them grow in spectacular ways, from nurturing their leadership skills to successfully passing their Microsoft exams.
In terms of size, boy, have we grown! We are now 22-strong and still recruiting. Our customer support team has seen the biggest change, with Tim, Bri, Kev, Mat and Sam joining the ranks and fitting into the team flawlessly.
Our accounts team also expanded and we now have three brilliant minds (plus Emma!) overseeing San-iT finances.
The expansion of our team has benefited clients in numerous ways. Their feedback says it all, with 99.7% of customers happy with the services we delivered in 2018. Plus, 86.9% of our customers said the support they received was fantastic.
Sales and Marketing Levelled-Up
Over the past year, we have invested in sales and marketing to ensure we keep on growing and delivering stand-out value to our clients.
The team responsible for new business has expanded: Matt, Seb and Barry have been working hard throughout the year to help us secure fantastic new customers.
Thanks to their hard work and our collaborations with both our Marketing Consultant, Mike Pye + Co and Platform 81, at the end of last month, we saw a:
- 45% combined increase in social media followers
- 112% increase in website visits
- 99% increase in new website visitors
We call that a win!
Focused on Face-to-Face Engagement
Our line of work may have us behind computers but we are sociable folk!
By getting involved in events such as …
… we have not only bolstered brand awareness but made some fantastic new contacts.
Plus, we sponsored the renowned event, Platform ExO Leadership Conference in November (which you can read about here) and The City of Manchester Business Awards.
It’s also worth mentioning that we were nominated for Best IT Support Company at The City of Manchester Awards and The Talk of Manchester Awards (again!).
Owing to these events, our reputation has soared in and around Manchester. We can’t wait to get involved in even more local events next year to get our name out there further.
Raising Money and Awareness for Worthy Causes
We have taken our corporate social responsibility to the next level this year. For example, the money we raised for Platform ExO went to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity.
That’s not all. In November, our hairier team members ditched their beards in favour of some dashing moustaches to help raise funds for Movember, a men’s health charity. Learn more about the movement and our contribution in this blog.
We also donned our best Christmas jumpers in a money-raising festive day to support Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity.
Our other sponsorships and raffle contributions include charities from Suicide Prevention in Young People to The Christie, an NHS trust for cancer care and research.
Our involvement in charities over the last year is just the beginning. In 2019, we aim to continue our work in helping those desperately in need to improve lives throughout the UK. All our employees will be able to take a full day out to volunteer for a good cause, a simple way we can make a difference.
What’s in Store for 2019?
Exciting things, that’s what! Next year we plan to:
- Set up an innovation team to help us and our customers stay ahead of the curve
- Expand our cloud services to unlock even more advanced technical features and capabilities
- Invest in IoT (Internet of Things) technology and artificial intelligence to deliver game-changing consultancy
- Achieve further Microsoft Gold competencies
- Continue to embed ELITE Training Principles into our work
- Drive a culture built on employee health and wellbeing to create happier working environments
- Complete the extension!
- Continue to grow our customer base
- Continue to grow the team and create learning opportunities
As you can see, 2019 is going to be a busy year! 2018 was all about laying down the foundations for growth. Come January, we will take huge steps forward and continue to work on incredible things for our staff and customers.
None of this would have been possible without the support of our wonderful staff and YOU! We can hardly wait to get started on these new developments so we can continue to amaze you as much as you amaze us.
Follow us on Twitter or check out our blog for more updates as we enter 2019.
