SOUTHERN TECH 100


TM number 18: European Electronique Moving with the times


Eynsham may be some way away from the M4 tech corridor but, as Matt Wright discovered when he sat down with Yolanta Gill, technology and innovation know no boundaries


European Electronique was set up by Mike Gill in the mid 1980s to offer printing solutions and maintenance services to commercial customers in the UK and across Europe.


Fast forward a little over 30 years and European Electronique is now an integrated IT and cloud computing company, focused predominantly on the UK public sector, specialising in education, and run by Yolanta Gill, Mike’s wife.


A brief recap of European Electronique’s history


“Growing a business is like raising a child – you encourage it to grow and develop, and hope that one day it will become your legacy” - Yolanta Gill, CEO.


European Electronique has certainly transformed over the years in order to stay ahead in a very competitive and fast-moving IT market. It now derives 90% of its business from the public sector, mainly within education, from primary and secondary schools to further and higher education, leading the market with the Freedom Cloud solution which currently hosts over 100 schools and 80,000 users.


As email took off in the 1990s, the company began adding different products to complement its traditional printing business, partnering with large software companies, selling hardware, and employing its own computer engineers.


The big change for European Electronique arrived in 1997 with the advent of a new Labour government and the subsequent influx of investment into education. Money was funneled into new academy schools and city technology colleges, with the company’s success in bidding for such projects heralding a period of rapid growth.


Successive government education policies have altered the commercial environment, with a recent shift in funding away from large capital projects in academy and BSF programmes back to local education authorities (LEAs), focusing on smaller free school projects.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – DECEMBER 16/JANUARY 17 businessmag.co.uk 17


As a result, European Electronique is once again moving with the times, focusing more on expanding its higher education and university sector business.


Increasing focus on the commercial sector


Looking forward, the company is also aiming to rebalance its portfolio, offering IT services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which currently account for around 10% of its portfolio.


European Electronique is well-placed to make this shift, being large enough to provide many of the services offered by large organisations, while still privately- owned, and hence agile enough to move quickly, unhindered by bureaucracy. For example, the company has the scale to provide its own cloud infrastructure, design and implement complex IT solutions, provide a range of support services including fully- outsourced managed services and undertake repairs under warranty for the major manufacturers.


Consequently, European Electronique plans to offer an all-inclusive price per user per month for IT services in the near future, which will be a unique feature for the SME market, combining scalability with predictability.


Small enough to be agile, large enough to have scale


“We assign dedicated account, engineering and support resourcing teams – this personal touch is rare in the IT industry; it’s what sets us apart”


This consultative approach sits at the heart of European Electronique’s offering, with customers receiving a customised service rather than an ‘out-of-box’ solution.


Yolanta Gill


The company spends a great deal of time understanding the needs of the customer in terms of what they need and what they are trying to achieve, then designs how the technology needs to work around this.


Leading by example


“Technology can make a difference by enabling people to realise their full potential”


For Gill, technology is an enabler rather than an answer in its own right. This also holds true for her style of leadership.


She sits out on the salesfloor rather than in her office, accessible to all. This need to inspire is something which runs through her raison d’être for the company, undertaking numerous charity and work experience programmes in order to ‘put something back’ into the community.


Education will always be something very close to Gill’s heart – she was originally a lawyer in Poland, before moving over to the UK and studying for an MBA. Likewise her husband, who stepped down from the company a few years ago, is now in the final year of an anthropology degree. Rather fitting really, how one Gill is busy studying the legacy of previous civilisations while the other Gill is in the process of creating one.


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