IT
We’re cornering
the market
They’re long-established as leading commercial IT specialists,
they launched a marketing arm shortly before lockdown and now
Cornerstone are focusing on IT within the education sector too.
It’s no wonder the Stockton firm
has made the decision to form an
overarching company, Cornerstone
Group.
Far from resting on its laurels,
Cornerstone used the lockdown to
cement and launch two additional arms
of the business – Cornerstone Marketing
Solutions and Cornerstone Education
Solutions.
Earlier this year the firm realised it had
been very successful at getting its own
name known and so decided to offer
marketing services as part of its portfolio.
Lockdown also gave Cornerstone time
to develop a business plan to launch an
education arm which will offer specialist IT
services to schools and colleges.
“We’ve done some research and we
think we can seriously raise the bar in
terms of the IT service being offered
to the local education sector,” says MD
Chris Petty, who believes Cornerstone
is the only company between York and
Newcastle to have an Apple-certified
engineer.
“We’re targeting the many local schools
because we feel the education sector has
become used to a service that’s outdated.
We’re able to offer a responsive service
that is there when schools need it.
“It’s something we’ve been looking at
for some time but lockdown gave us an
opportunity to put some plans in place and
we’re already on with recruitment.”
Coming off the back of an exciting
launching of Cornerstone Marketing
Solutions, Chris describes it as “arguably
the most exciting time for the business”.
“We’re really ambitious to keep growing
and offering the services Teesside needs,”
he said. “We’ve looked to expand into
other geographic areas but there are
so many opportunities here that we’re
focusing on our region.”
The IT support specialist recorded
its busiest ever period during lockdown
and says the unprecedented period will
undoubtedly change working practices in
the future.
At the start of lockdown, Cornerstone
Business Solutions was regularly taking
more than 100 calls a day from companies
and businesses who needed urgent help
setting up remote working practices so
staff could work from home.
Teesside business has adapted very well
to the challenges thrown up, says Chris,
but going forward the way we all work has
got to change massively.
“It went crazy, as you can imagine,” said
Chris. “Everybody was looking at how to
change their business, how to keep going,
how to get staff working from home.
“At our busiest we were getting more
than 100 calls a day. Every single call was
to get a user set up from home to be able
to email, use Teams or Zoom, to get basic
things set up.
“Our team was fantastic, we worked
all the hours that God gave us to get
everybody else to a state where they
could work.”
As a leading commercial IT company,
Cornerstone’s team was already geared
up to work remotely. Well versed in
preaching the need to have a crisis
recovery plan in place, they were able
to quickly and efficiently step up to help
others.
Crisis planning, says Chris, will be
something businesses will now consider
more. As will the cost savings of using
remote ways of working.
“This has shown people they should
have done a little bit more,” he said.
“We have never ever experienced
anything like this before. I think the whole
way we work now has got to change
massively.
“We have been pitching things like video
conferencing for years, it was something
you couldn’t sell back then.
“Now because of what’s happened,
people have been forced into using the
likes of Teams and Zoom and people
are saying, ‘It’s ok, it’s not as bad as I
thought.’”
Companies are also making savings
on expenses including travel and are
examining their whole structure as a result.
“We are all realising there are cost
savings to be had and it does work,” said
Chris.
A new website is being built to
showcase all services and the company
will cement itself under the Cornerstone
Group umbrella.
The voice of business in the Tees region | 59