Along with celebrating our milestone anniversary during the summer, there’s no doubt that 2019 has been one of the busiest years in Net Technical Solutions’ 20-year history. And with the year rapidly coming to an end, now feels like the perfect time for us to recap on all the changes that have happened over the last 12 months.
On the customer side, many of our clients have been updating their PC and server infrastructure ahead of Windows 7 and various other operating systems going end of life in January 2020. This has not only had an impact on every department within Net Tech, but also on all our customers, as diary space has been significantly impacted as a result. Thank you to everyone for being so patient, despite perhaps experiencing longer lead times than usual. It really is appreciated, and things should start to return to normal as we enter 2020.
We have also been delighted to take on a number of new clients spanning sectors such as education, medical research, local council, residential care and professional services to name but a few. Alongside our highly valued existing customers, this growing customer base means that we have had to take on additional staff throughout the year. In fact, with many of our employees being client facing, you may have even noticed a few changes yourselves, and so on the staffing front, here’s a look at who’s who in our expanding team.
Tier 1 Service Desk
The 1st Line Support team is led by Laura-Ann Grant who has been with Net Technical for 8 years and during 2019 we have welcomed Shane Doherty, Alex Walsh, Ish Choudhury and Jim Winstanley to the team. They sit alongside existing engineers, Charlie Botterill, Dean Thatcher, Joe Window, Jack Lacey, Joe Gamble and Haydan Davies, our site-based schools engineer.
Tier 2 Support Team
Our 2nd Line Support team is led by Simon Everard following his promotion to this position early in the year. Back in April, Andreas Jones made the switch from 1st to 2nd line, joining existing engineers Mike Murphy and Peter McWilliams, the latter of whom recently celebrated his 10th anniversary with the company. Completing this team we have Michelle Mudave who manages our busy workshop area.
Tier 3 Field Engineering Team
Out in the field, Senior Engineer Alan Jeffery and Network Engineer Elliott Lewis are both fast approaching 10 years with the business and this year they have been joined by Chris Paige, George Stanistreet and Alex Duplock.
Overall responsibility for the IT Service Desk sits with Service Delivery Manager Jo Dew and completing the Network Support team we have IT Security Manager Jamie Williams who has been with us since 2002. Our most senior technical heads are Gareth Phillips (Technical Manager) and Richard Brain (Technical Director) who have been in the business for an impressive 17 and 22 years respectively, Richard’s service including his time with Dunston IT with whom we merged in 2014.
Software Development
Our busy Software Development team have recently welcomed Will Hardie into the new position of Apprentice Developer, joining existing Developer Stephen Rutter, Project Manager Andrea McIver, and of course Senior Developer and Operations Manager William McSkimming, who heads up the team and has been with us since 2003.
Elsewhere in the business, there haven't been any new additions this year but here’s as a good reminder of who’s who:
Finance & HR
Head of Finance and HR team is Laura Porter who has also been with us for 17 years. Laura’s team consists of Finance Assistant Trude Dudley who has been with us since 2005, Office Administrator Lindsey Hines-Dedman and Talent Acquisition Executive Karin Mankour, who as you can imagine has had an incredibly busy year!
Sales & Marketing
Commercial Director Ben Stupples will shortly celebrate 15 years in the business and has overall responsibility for business development, marketing and account management. His team consists of Senior Account Manager Ian Jobber, Account Managers Penny Wilson, James Steer and Jonny Taunton, Client Services Executive Lauren Niblett and Marketing Executive Vikki Croxson. Former owner of Dunston IT, Malcolm Hearn, also continues to work for Net Technical on a consultancy basis.
Last but by no means least, Managing Director Alistair Mackenzie continues to steer the ship, as he has done for over 20 years, ably assisted by co-Director/Shareholders Ben and Richard and the senior management team.
So, with a healthy mix of old and new staff, and some in-between, our head office in Farnham, Surrey now contains a great team of employees, all dedicated to supporting our varied customer base. It has certainly been a busy year for us with recruitment and whilst we will continue to invest in our people, we also look forward to 2020 as we settle in new staff and customers.
To find out who's who and what we look like, click here and view our team.
