Issue 12 2020

CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 12 2020 15 planning and agility ensures a successful customer experience in every project. The people behind KITS are therefore absolutely integral to the firm’s success. The team is led by CEO, Dr Grant Harris, a former technical architect who was highly regarded in his field for excellence in his specialisms such as very large IT infrastructure projects that were valued at more than £1 billion. He brought a great deal of experience and insight with him to the role of KITS CEO, including the value of becoming an integral member of any team, even in a transitory position. The road there may not have always been easy, but thanks to the team of expert consultants, engineers and professionals, KITS has doubled in size in the last twelve months alone, even despite the challenges posed by 2020 and the first two years of struggling to gain credibility in the public sector, an area well known for its hesitations concerning SME’s for critical programmes. As KITS is the culmination of likeminded tech consultants, who seek to deliver the best outcomes possible for their clients, the projects they have successfully embarked upon, such as reducing the overall running costs of a floundering government platform by 80% in only four years, have been plentiful. Recruitment is therefore immensely important to the success of KITS, and the organisation has been able to acquire some of the best and brightest talent from a broad spectrum of sources, including major IT consulting firms like IBM and Accenture, as well as large organisations across a variety of sectors, including BT, Barclays and the UK Government. Once successfully passing a rigorous recruitment process, learning and development never stops for any member of the team. KITS’s company culture is built on innovation, respect, honesty and integrity, in which every member of the company, whether they be permanent or an associate, is treated equally. Everyone boasts impressive technical skills, which they are always encouraged to build upon and expand through collaboration and research. Weekly team meetings are a vital element in this collaboration, and allow the brilliant minds that make up KITS to come together to find solutions and innovate, using the diverse perspectives and limitless ideas that are curated by the team to consider how they can best help their clients and society as a whole. The KITS approach has been different to its competitors from day one, and the benefits of the decisions made back in 2016 can be felt just as keenly now as they were then. For instance, the decision to move away from the traditional, office- based environment in favour of offering services directly to the clients onsite, which strengthened customer relations, or working remotely through use of social media tooling, private and public cloud applications and centralised security for all workers, proved to be an immensely valuable decision in early 2020. When the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted business for so many others, KITS was able to continue seamlessly, providing their services when they were most needed and as such growing by more than 25% in the public sector. Whilst many of their private clients are still using KITS’ services, there has been a downturn in the amount of new and planned work with these clients, as they struggle to manage their own internal political and financial challenges. Whilst KITS is not predicting many major changes to this over the next year or so, the team continues to be available whenever and however they are needed. As for KITS itself, the next twelve months will continue to be rather similar in their provision of excellent IT services to those organisations in need of high- quality IT services and support for the best price. They will also explore opportunities within the public sector, which the firm believes will prove mutually beneficial for both KITS and the taxpayer, particularly in the economically challenging times that lie ahead. With their excellent customer service and technically skilled IT support services, KITS will continue to be a valued partner to UK businesses seeking transformational IT support that performs at an exceptional standard, for an affordable price. Contact: Grant Harris Company: Keep IT Simple Limited Web Address: www.keepitsimple-uk.com Simple But Effective