TWO respected IT professionals have joined forces to provide businesses with a simplified approach to their technology needs that will, ultimately, enable customers to focus on core operations and benefit from increased revenue growth.
Founded by David McCready in 2019, managed IT solutions specialist io provides IT support, consultancy and strategy to small-and-medium-sized businesses in the north-east. After a successful first six months, the business has appointed Nick Pickering as a fellow director and moved into office space at Balmoral Hub, Wellington Circle.
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The newly-renovated premises creates a platform for future growth and will allow the business to build upon recent achievements. io expects to double the size of its team to four by the middle of this year through sustainable, organic growth.
Directors David and Nick worked together for a city-based IT services provider, since 2014, and both possess extensive experience in all aspects of technology. The duo has spent the past decade in management roles, most recently as technical business manager and service delivery manager respectively.
Prior to Mr Pickering joining the company in January, io had experienced a positive start to trading since its launch in July. It was established to meet the demand for reliable and professional technology solutions that simplify IT provision for end-users. The business has also invested in developing internal processes, infrastructure and back-end systems to ensure capacity for enterprise-grade customers.
This approach has paid dividends with the business having already secured several contracts in energy, creative industries and the public sector, among others. This includes the successful roll-out of a Microsoft Teams cloud voice solution to more than 100 staff across three different continents.
David McCready said: “I’m delighted to welcome Nick on-board and look forward to working together to capitalise on the opportunities present in the market today for a proactive IT partner. We have been extremely fortunate to have experienced fantastic organic growth since day one and I am excited to see what the future holds for io as we continue to grow and develop.
“While we are predominantly focused on the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire area, we are ambitious and anticipate growing our client base throughout the UK and internationally – with one of our clients, where we effectively act as IT manager, already operating globally.”
Nick Pickering added: “We’ve both worked with different managed service providers (MSPs) and, given our years of experience in the industry, David and I are well placed to pinpoint where demand in the marketplace is heading; we see that as being reliable, cost-effective solutions that are, above all else, focused on quality service and efficient systems.
“Where we differ in our approach is through our focus on the people using the technology and empowering them to increase their performance and productivity levels. We adopt a long-term view to each individual client’s requirements to ensure that the solutions we prescribe are fully scalable; not just taking a reactive approach to patching-up broken systems.”
Based in Aberdeen, io delivers traditional IT support management, strategy, project management and consultancy as well as website/application development and cybersecurity solutions to a customer base ranging from sole traders to international energy service companies employing over 1,000 people. The business has aligned itself to partnerships with Microsoft, Comodo, Cisco, Dell, VMware, Dell and Datto.
With a combined 40 years’ experience, the business is well-placed to manage companies’ entire IT infrastructure and can advise IT, managers, on complex challenges; courtesy of an extensive breadth of skills and experience, covering all aspects of IT services, built and developed through the strategic management of thousands of customer accounts.
