Investment – razorblue ’ s management approved a £ 600k-plus spend on its Catterick HQ .
Leadership – razorblue CEO Dan Kitchen ( centre ) with operations director David Raper ( left ) and commercial director Mark Wilkinson .
POWERING THROUGH COVID
Managed IT service provider razorblue
has seen 363 % growth over the last five years and shows no sign of slowing down .
Due to businesses increasing their investment in IT throughout the pandemic - paired with many companies being let down by other suppliers , demand for razorblue ’ s wide ranging portfolio of services remains high .
To meet growing demands , razorblue continues to expand their team on a nationwide scale .
The firm – which works with a growing number of clients on Aycliffe Business Park , including Stiller , Finley Structures and UTC South Durham – has continued to recruit throughout lockdown , adding new roles rather than replacing them .
The team headcount is now approaching the 100-mark , with 22 new starters since March and more vacancies in the pipeline .
“ New roles continue to be added across the business , from our service desk to senior management , marketing and new business team , account management and software developers ,” said CEO Dan Kitchen .
“ It ’ s fantastic that we are able to continue bringing people into the team through a difficult period , especially as a number of our new recruits were potentially facing redundancy .
“ We also continue to welcome new
20 % headcount growth since lockdown for razorblue
apprentices to the team .”
Believing that there is a huge pool of talent in the area , razorblue want to promote the North-East as a place for young people to pursue their careers .
Dan said : “ Technology is a fast-paced and exciting industry to be involved in . We think it is important to support young people in the early stages of their career and have several team members who have progressed to senior managerial roles with us since starting their apprenticeship .”
Earlier this year razorblue invested more than £ 600,000 in their new head office in Catterick .
“ Our new purpose-built headquarters give us twice as much space as we had before , allowing us to expand the team and host more customer events and demonstrations ,” says Dan .
They have also recently acquired a new office space in Edinburgh which has expanded reach into Scotland bringing the total offices to seven , including Wynyard , Newcastle , Manchester , Leeds and London .
The firm specialises in managed IT , security services , super-fast connectivity , cloud and hosting and business software solutions across a broad range of industries .
Due to the nature of the business , they experienced a peak in demand for support with home-working solutions .
Dan continued : “ We were already accustomed to very agile working practices - so we haven ’ t learned anything groundbreaking ; I think some of our clients have though !”
With uncertainties about the future economic climate , business owners are now focusing on survival through improving efficiencies .
“ The forced shift towards a more digital working environment has opened the eyes of many business owners who now acknowledge that through investing in IT services , productivity and profitability levels can be enhanced ,” added Dan .
“ Tech in general allows businesses to gain efficiencies over their competitors and grow their market share , which going to become ever more important in an economy that ’ s contracting , rather than growing .
“ We are working closely with our clients and doing everything in our power to help secure the future of their businesses and support them through this period .”
The future of razorblue certainly looks bright with plans to continue expanding their nationwide coverage and adding more products and services to their current offering .
This is a company that has come a long way since 17-year-old entrepreneur Dan left college to start the business .
Find out more at razorblue . com
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 27