PC Support Group News 2008

The PC Support Group has announced that it has now opened its first office in Scotland. The new office, in Edinburgh, will provide the high quality computer support that has become synonymous with the company, to the whole city and surrounding areas including Queensferry, Dalkeith, Currie, Penicuik, Lasswade and Musselburgh.

Angus Kerr, the 43 year old IT professional joins The PC Support Group as the Regional Director of the Edinburgh office following a successful career with the banking group HBOS where he gained a huge amount of both technical and business experience which his customers will now benefit from.

On joining The PC Support Group Angus said, "I'm tremendously excited to be the first to bring this new style of IT support to Scotland. Just as in the rest of the UK, computer support companies here have a reputation for fairly poor service and I know that we will change that."

He added. "The PC Support Group's support technology and processes are second to none and small business and home users will be amazed at what we can do for them."

If you would like to contact the Edinburgh office for advice or support then please call us on 0845 2233116 or e-mail info@pcsupportgroup.com.

On the 29th October The PC Support Group celebrated its first year of nationwide expansion throughout the UK by holding a comedy evening. Over 100 people enjoyed the fun filled evening at the Blue Bar on Albert Dock in Liverpool.

The event was attended by existing customers plus a many other specially invited businesses who wanted to find out more about The PC Support Group in the relaxed informal atmosphere. Many of the guests commented on what a fantastic but unusual “corporate” event it was, particularly for an IT company. Simon Albert, Director and co-founder of The PC Support Group commented “We wanted to do something different to reflect the business’ personality. We’re not a traditional IT support company with humourless techies and we wanted this to come through”

During the event The PC Support Group’s customer’s achievements were also celebrated with a number of awards.

Code Image & Style Ltd, the Manchester based image consultants run by the North West’s own “Trinny & Susannah”, Kate Whittaker and Susanna Kelly won the award for ‘Most Improved IT Under 10 PCs’. Susanna commented “Working with The PC Support Group has certainly marked a significant turning point in my business. We can now use technology to best advantage in a marketplace that isn’t traditionally technically driven – and that, to be honest, has really given us the edge and helped drive us forward.”

Charlton Foxcroft, Mortgage Brokers from Liverpool won the award for ‘Most Improved IT Over 10 PCs’ for their proactive approach to IT enabling them to support their fast growth over the last couple of years.

The final category was ‘Most Innovative Use of IT' which was won by Document Direct for their work with distributed home workers. Their clever use of technology allows them to have typists any time, any place, anywhere who can listen to and convert their clients dictations, uploaded via the web, and converted to paper documents in no time. Jayne Smith, Head of Operations at Document Direct, said “Technology is the hub of our business; without it we would have no business, without the internet our business couldn’t exist. With the fantastic support and help of The PC Support Group we are expanding rapidly and look forward to continuing our close relationship”.

Phil Bird, co-founder and owner of The PC Support Group outlined the achievements of the business in the last year which included: opening up 7 offices around the UK; being named as one of the top 100 Managed Service Providers by independent American company, MSPMentor; being nominated for the prestigious Channel Network Awards for best SME IT Solution and reaching their 350th customer.

To see more pictures from the evening click here.

The PC Support Group has been recognised yet again as a provider of first class IT support for small businesses by being shortlisted in this years prestigious Channel Network Awards.

Now in their 7th year, The Channel Network Awards are regarded as the Oscars of the IT Industry. The Awards have developed an undisputed reputation which is why being nominated is a huge accolade in itself.

The PC Support Group is one of only four companies shortlisted in the hotly contested SME IT Solution category.

Phil Bird, co-founder and owner said "We are delighted that our new approach to providing advanced, proactive support to small businesses is seen as innovative and a real step forward in IT support services for this market."

The awards are judged on:

• Dedication to a customer
• Impact on customer's business
• Good business practices such as:
  • Clear communications
  • Understanding of customer issues
  • Good response to enquiries, questions and issues
  • Competitive client offerings
  • Successful configuration, installation and ongoing service

This month sees the launch of a new service from The PC Support Group - BusinessCARE Backup is the ultimate data backup solution for small businesses.

Did you know?

• Half of all companies that lose their data go out of business overnight (Source: Baroudi Bloor International - research firm)
• 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster (Source: National Archives & Records Administration
• 34% of companies fail to test their backups, and of those that do, 77% have found backup failures (Source: Home Office Computing Magazine)

We all know the information on our computer systems is important to our businesses, and in many cases vital. Despite this, the vast majority of small businesses do not have adequate backup and data recovery systems in place. Even when a solution is in place it is often fraught with problems; some of which are only discovered when it’s too late.

Backup solutions are notoriously difficult to run and manage reliably - no one wants to take day-to-day responsibility for them and all too often they are left failing for prolonged periods. On top of this, backups are rarely checked and little, if any, consideration is given to how the data will be recovered should a disaster occur.

BusinessCARE Backup is the perfect solution to address all these problems.

If you run or manage a small business and you believe that losing the information on your computers would cause problems then you need BusinessCARE Backup.

For more information see our BusinessCARE Backup page or simply contact us on 0845 2233116.

The PC Support Group's unique formula for delivering superb IT support appears to be irresistible, with its Regional Director's reporting incredibly positive feedback from existing and new customers alike.

Following its amazing success in Merseyside, The PC Support Group started expanding nationwide last year and has already made an impact around the country with offices in Warrington, Manchester and Cambridge in addition to its headquarters in Liverpool. 

Pam Case, one of their existing Regional Director's based in Cheshire said “To be honest, being a new business in the area I expected the build up to be fairly slow for the initial few months. As it is we’re incredibly busy. It is clear that the level of service and efficiency that The PC Support Group can offer customers is far in advance of what they have become used to in this market. The positive customer reaction has been overwhelming”.

Following this initial success the company has now opened a further regional office near Harrow, Middlesex.

Phil Bird, co-founder of The PC Support Group said "We are delighted to be adding more regional offices. Customers constantly feedback to us that they have never experienced computer support like it. Our use of cutting edge technology with local, friendly, expert delivery is a powerful combination and is unique in the UK."

Sundesh Hemraj has joined the group to operate the Harrow office and with his team will be supporting customers throughout North West London and Middlesex including areas as far out as Hillingdon, Uxbridge and Watford.

 Sundesh said "The PC Support Group clearly has a computer support offering that amazes customers and I'm looking forward to delivering that throughout Northwest London and Middlesex. The feedback from our first customers in the area has already been incredible."

You can contact Sundesh or any of the other local offices right now by calling us on 0845 2233116 or by simply completing a Service Request Form.

Obviously we love providing great computer support to our customers and we equally love growing our business to be the biggest and best in the UK. But we also try to give a bit back when we can.

This month saw one of The PC Support Group founders, Phil Bird, staggering (it was supposed to be running!) around the Cheshire countryside in the Wilmslow Half Marathon.

Sunday 30th March saw nearly 4000 people trying to complete the 13.1 mile race. Luckily the weathermen got it wrong again and it was a lovely day... except for the aching limbs!

Phil was pleased that he managed to raise £375 (many donations coming customers and partners of The PC Support Group - Thanks to them) for The Anthony Nolan Trust which provides lifesaving donors for patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. For more information see www.anthonynolan.org.uk.

Never wishing to miss an opportunity Phil insisted on promoting the business to every runner that passed him!

The PC Support Group has been named in the MSPmentor 100, a distinguished list of the world’s most progressive IT managed service providers.

"We are delighted to be recognised in this way.” Said Simon Albert, Director and co-founder of The PC Support Group. “What’s really exciting is that we are one of the first companies to be bringing this corporate quality support to small businesses and home users. We don’t see why they shouldn’t benefit from the same levels of service and technology as those enjoyed by many multi-national companies.”

“Qualifying for the MSPmentor 100 is an amazing accomplishment,” said Joe Panettieri, editorial director of MSPmentor, published by Nine Lives Media Inc. “We analyzed the business performance of more than 500 technology consulting firms and managed service providers worldwide. Only the ‘best-of-the-best’ landed on the MSPmentor 100.”

The MSPmentor 100 recognises IT managed service providers, integrators, consulting firms and VARs that leverage managed services to vastly improve customer service. Through managed services, solutions providers deliver proactive, 24x7 customer care to small, midsize and even large enterprises. The net result for customers is a dramatically improved IT infrastructure that speeds the flow of business.

The PC Support Group was one of only two companies in the UK to be recognised in the list.

The complete MSPmentor 100 report, along with comprehensive coverage of the managed services market, can be found on the MSPmentor web site (click on the logo).