Heron IT turns 15!
Heron IT has just celebrated 15 years since it was formed! It has been quite the journey from Colin working in his home office to having ten employees and a 2-floor office. Here are the highlights so far:
Milestones:
- Company was formed in 2009 for support and consultancy
- First client July 2009
- First employee February 2011
- Started selling hardware May 2014
- More staff joined September 2015
- Moved into first office space May 2016
- Moved into current office July 2021
- Took on financial officer March 2023
- Took on marketing assistant September 2023
- Won Britain’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies Award December 2023
The main challenges
The first challenge Colin faced when he first formed the company was that he was unsure if the venture would be financially successful enough to survive. The other main challenge of setting up the business was that Colin did not know anything about actually running a business! Mixing his knowledge in IT and running a business is something Colin needed to learn, so he signed up for a local government course in Colchester to learn the fundamentals.
First client
Heron IT’s first client was a company called Sports Med East who were based in Ipswich. This contact was found through Colin’s previous work at Ipswich Town Football Club. Colin worked hard trying to gain clients, and through networking we gained our next clients. The first contract client Heron IT had was ASD Europe who designed and supplied sports clothing.
First employee
On the 6th February 2011, Heron IT hired their first employee. From a company point of view, it was a massive step because it suddenly there was a really big increase in expenses, whose pay had to take priority every month, even over Colin’s income for example.
Procurement department
The company would do their procurement through other businesses like Greengage, who Sarah worked for before joining Heron IT. However Greengage closed down, and Sarah joined Heron IT on 28 May 2014, and so the procurement department of Heron IT was born. This turned out to be a very positive development for the company and is now a big part of our revenue.
Moving into an office
In May 2016, Heron IT moved into their first office space on Ransomes Europark. Colin, Dan and Sarah decided that they needed a base where they could go and work together.
More Staff joining
Dan Larson joined in September 2015 and would later become Technical Director, Nick joined in April 2018 as an apprentice before moving into a full-time role, and Robi joined in May 2022.
COVID-19
Sales and the business in general grew during Covid. The company was growing reasonably well up until the coronavirus pandemic, with a focus on Microsoft 365 and the cloud about 18 months before it hit. This turned out the be a positive as Google workspace for example was not as flexible or secure as Microsoft’s system. With the sudden change of everyone needing to work from home, Heron IT was in an ideal position as they had already trained themselves in the 365 system and through referrals gained several new clients.
On the flip side, with working from home to avoid COVID and sometimes people catching it, the company initially found that hard, as well as having staff furloughed. But luckily the company weathered the storm and have managed to retain the clients we gained.
National Award
We won Britain’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies Award in December 2023. This underlined that Colin’s strategy of trying to build the business in a professional way had worked, as we ranked highly in many elements of the criteria across our business.
London office
Six months ago, Heron IT moved into a London address with the aim of increasing their presence in London. With a few clients there already, Colin thinks there is real potential there.
Here’s to the next 15 years!
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