STANDING OUT FROM THE IT CROWD
Cornerstone managing director Chris Petty on why Teesside brand names such Middlesbrough FC , TTE and the Butterwick Hospice put their trust in the Stocktonbased firm
Cornerstone is 10 years old this year . No prizes for guessing for anyone that knows us if you correctly predicted we ’ ll be having a party !
We ’ ve enjoyed a fantastic growth story over the past decade but that success has been built on solid foundations .
We ’ re often asked what makes us different and stand out from our competitors in terms of our bread and butter , award-winning IT support , so I ’ d like to cover the five main points .
1 . Service IT support is a service . To be number one IT firm you have to offer exceptional customer service . This is from the first telephone call right through the customer experience to any IT issues being rectified .
We ’ re confident we can ’ t be beaten on service . To put that to the test , just phone the Cornerstone office and listen to how your call is answered . Our staff are friendly , helpful and calming every time .
When people call us it ’ s normally because they have an IT issue and are understandably frustrated . We understand how important it is to let them know they are in safe hands and that their issue will be rectified as quickly as possible .
2 . Expertise The expertise of the Cornerstone team is vast . Networks now have multiple different hardware , software and connectivity options . For one engineer to be an expert in all of these areas is pretty much impossible .
That ’ s why we employ a number of engineers who specialise their expertise in different areas of a network .
For instance , we have a tech focus team who meet weekly to discuss new technology , updates and other issues . We also have go-to experts in fields such as
Microsoft , VMware , cyber security , remote management , Cloud and now Apple .
We ’ re incredibly proud to say that we ’ re the only company on Teesside to have fully accredited Apple engineers .
3 . Global Brands Partner At Cornerstone , we only work with the world ’ s leading brands including Microsoft , Apple , IBM , HP , Dell , Lenovo , Vmware , ESET and Cisco .
As partners with these global brands , we have direct access to support and product managers . As partners , we also have to keep up-to-date with changes , take training courses and pass exams to keep working with these leading brands .
This knowledge and expertise is passed through the support team to the end user – our customers .
4 . First Class Call Management System At first glance , how good our call management system is might not seem particularly important but a huge number of the calls we handle on a daily basis relate to ongoing issues .
We therefore log all calls from our customers , keeping detailed call notes on every case . This creates a history of the network and the issues that occur .
This information is key to our engineers when working on that network to be able to look back through the call history and understand the history of the issue .
5 . Account Management Cornerstone strongly believes in looking after our customers in everything we do .
We assign an account manager to all of our customers who is there for any issues , queries or advice they may need .
We believe this is a partnership and friendship that grows over time . We want to be more than just an ordinary supplier but someone our customers trust and value .
We also give the best advice going forward for installations , network future proofing , security , legislation and the latest tech .
Ultimately , Cornerstone ’ s core values are customer service and making sure our customers are happy .
It ’ s no coincidence that over the years we ’ ve won multiple awards for our customer service and our IT offerings . Each day we ’ re always looking at ways in which we can further improve our customer experience and make sure we never rest on our laurels .
So if you ’ re looking at your IT support ( or need help with connectivity , phones or photocopiers ) and come to the conclusion that you ’ re just not getting the love your business deserves , please do get in touch because we ’ d love to talk .
And we might even invite you to our birthday celebrations !