Head in the cloud: the sapphire lining
Caroline Atkinson
Managing Director InCloud Solutions
The Business Magazine spoke with Caroline Atkinson, founding partner and managing director of the Reading- based enterprise software provider InCloud Solutions, about tech, business, and the many silver linings of running a cloud business.
InCloud Solutions are experts in ERP solutions and specifically SAP’s Business ByDesign, which it customises and implements for each of its clients, ambitious SMEs looking to grow. Co-founded in 2012 by partners Caroline Atkinson and Liz Matraves, InCloud Solutions is now a leading provider and knowledge base for Business ByDesign in the UK and was acquired this year by Sapphire Systems.
Caroline Atkinson’s journey to business by design
Atkinson has more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry: her professional journey started as a programmer at Siemens in the early 90s, continued at IBM and then at SAP, with a short stint at Oracle from where she found her way back to SAP and to enterprise resource planning, and then to InCloud Solutions in 2012.
Along the way, she became a tech enthusiast and enterprise planning expert, had four children and built a business from scratch.
“When I talk to customers about what I do, I always start with ‘What do you do?’. Only then I can explain how we can enable them to do that better, faster, more effectively: invoice quicker, make your products quicker, deliver your service more seamlessly. We’ve got manufacturing clients, professional services clients, media, financial services, pharmaceuticals and life sciences. The ERP software we deliver, Business ByDesign, enables companies that are poised to scale up to prepare and position themselves for growth, to grow very quickly.”
incloudsolutions.co.uk sapphiresystems.com
InCloud Solutions: Started in a recession, sold in a pandemic
Built on the entrepreneurial ambition the two founders started to harbour after the 2008 – 2009 recession, the business doubled every year since its inception. InCloud has over 55 Business ByDesign customers in the UK and Europe, with operations across the US, Australia, Africa, Japan and China – mostly small and medium-size enterprises.
In 2021, InCloud was purchased by tech group Sapphire Systems, a provider of digital operations platforms to over 1,000 mid-market and enterprise businesses worldwide. Headquartered in London, with offices located throughout the UK, USA, Latin America and Asia, Sapphire is a market-leading digital- operating technology partner.
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