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Ultima: Making technology an asset, not a problem
This year Ultima Business Solutions will have a turnover nearing £80 million. In 2011, turnover was approaching £60m. With 30% organic growth in two years, to say this Reading-based IT infrastructure and solutions specialist is successful is something of an understatement, writes John Burbedge
Ultima’s services director Dave Rogers sums up the company’s growth differently: “We have no plans to be the biggest, but we do want to be the best.”
It’s a viewpoint that is at the heart of Ultima’s corporate philosophy and customer-focused team culture: “We aim to create something that customers value and want. Then, having gained those customers, we aim to keep them happy,” says CEO Max McNeill, the entrepreneurial driving force who founded the company in 1990.
Plainly, Ultima (No 59 in our Thames Valley 250 listing of top private companies) achieves that aim. Many customers that were purchasing IT hardware and software in the 1990s now rely on Ultima for total 24/7 company IT support. Ultima’s customers today tend to be medium-size companies with 500-5,000 end-users of IT technology.
Max McNeill’s way of business is a key reason that Ultima came through the recession so well. He believes in listening to customer needs, and investing profits back into the company. A £750,000 investment expanding Ultima’s facilities and logistics capability is underway. Further investments include upgrading the company’s Innovation Suite, CRM system and key processes.
The biggest investment of all though is in new people, especially in sales and technical services, in order to service customers and drive Ultima growth.
With no debt, no shareholders to satisfy, and McNeill’s proud and astute ownership, the company has stability and Ultima employees have security. Such confidence is reflected in performance. “Last year was a record year for us, and this year is on target to be the same,” adds Rogers, highlighting construction, financial services and manufacturing as specific Ultima growth sectors.
“Our growth within our industry is not necessarily because there is more business out there, it is because we have a compelling proposition and are increasing market share.”
Ultima’s organic growth business model relies on its people knowing what they do well, and continued focus on service and quality.
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greater competition, but it has also brought ongoing transformational market change – “Such as virtualisation offering workspace and operational efficiencies, technology convergence, cloud-based ‘pay- as-you-use’ services, and the proliferation of devices now merging the consumer and IT business spaces,” explains Rogers. “Businesses are increasingly moving from CapEx to OpEx models, and looking to smart source technology services rather than do everything in-house.”
Such change provides Ultima with business opportunities, not least among companies that have under-invested in IT over the austere post-recessionary years.
Ultima acts as a trusted adviser to companies looking to tackle the challenge of change and maximise existing IT investments and leverage new, innovative technology for business benefit.
Ultima’s workforce of 285 now includes an efficient 185-strong in-house services team handling IT ‘kit’ product fulfillment, infrastructure solutions delivery, and support and managed services like cloud computing delivered from the company’s 24/7 technical support centre – overall a secure, available, scalable end-to-end service to customers.
The result is that along with better added- value IT solutions, and the ability to deal with larger and more complex projects, Ultima is now providing full systems integration of leading IT technologies – a true one-stop shop selling, designing, deploying and managing IT systems for customers.
Dave Rogers
Organic growth also avoids the risks of continuity breakdown and culture integration that can beset M&A activity. Ultima has low staff turnover and invests in people internally, whilst also increasing headcount.
The company has its own academy, taking on talented school leavers, inducting them to Ultima and the IT industry, while training them to gain industry-recognised qualifications.
“We also recruit well, and are fortunate to attract good people,” says Rogers. Professional services consultancy and salesforce teams have already grown by 20% this year.
Quality through training and development has become a key ongoing initiative for Rogers. “The IT solutions world is becoming more complex, with a lot of new technology coming to market from our strategic suppliers (such as Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, VMWare, Check Point, HP, etc). We are now more often operating at the leading edge and have needed to bring our teams up to speed quickly.”
Slow recovery from the economic recession may have led to business casualties, consolidation, squeezed margins and
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – DECEMBER13/JANUARY14
Improved vendor-accredited knowledge and skills, allied to flexibility and integration between services, has also proved hugely beneficial for Ultima, at a time when the IT industry faces longer sales cycles, reducing budgets, compliance and contractual concerns.
Not forgetting, of course, the challenge from Ultima’s market competitors.
“We rarely worry about what the competition are doing,” says Rogers. “We worry more about having the right customer focus, the right people, and doing things better in order to provide not only solutions that are fit for purpose, but also right for our customers.
“After all, we aim to make IT a business asset and enabler, not a problem.”
Details: Dave Rogers
Dave.rogers@
ultimabusiness.com 0118-9027500
www.ultimabusiness.com
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