Berkshire IT maintenance expert looks to European push after management buyout and new marketing partner

IT maintenance expert Smart Capital Technology (SCT) has emerged from a management buyout with a new push to capture a larger slice of the European market and further its growth.

New CEO Andy Morgan, who led the buyout, has brought in digital marketing expert Milk & Tweed to revitalise its marketing both across the channel and in the UK.

“We have new investors and a really motivated management team which has a real appetite to grow the business,” he said. “We plan to do it by extending the services we offer and focusing on our journey into Europe and beyond with a bit more gusto.”

He joined the company, based in Twyford, near Reading, as finance director two years ago and was tasked with helping to help build a bigger market share. “I saw that there was an exciting opportunity with SCT so I put my case forward to become CEO and I’ve been in that transition period for the last 12 months,” he said.

The 20-year-old firm, which posted a turnover in excess of £10 million in the last financial year, can provide parts and engineers to replace and repair broken business-critical networks to IT suppliers who support an extensive range of organisations – from household brands to industrial businesses – who need connectivity to networks or servers.

Its 80 staff and over 25,000 parts stored at 40 locations across the UK, Europe and the US enables SCT to guarantee delivery of replacement parts in as little as two hours.

“Our customers are the companies that supply, install and maintain networking and server and storage to end users anywhere there is critical connectivity, and where, if their network infrastructure drops, they could stop generating income,” said Mr Morgan. “We are the suppliers’ parts and engineer service provider to their customer.

“We can send both the part and the engineer to their site within two or four hours or next business day, depending on the service they take. To do that we need ‘feet on the street’ – engineers in the right place –  so we have 40 in UK and Ireland and have access to more than 3,000 in Europe.”

SCT already has contracts to look after over 500,000 networking and server and storage devices, the vital pieces of kit that connect clients to the outside world, but Mr Morgan wants to increase that significantly. “We have just turned the dial to grow it this year,” he said.

“There is a multi-billion European market in the sectors we are looking at so if we can win a couple of per cent of that it would be significant.”

The company can look to an average 99 per cent service level agreement performance for its customers as evidence of its reliability. “We do a great job but we don’t tell enough people about it,” said Mr Morgan. “When customers work with us and they say we need these 10,000 devices supported, what we make sure is that we have the right parts in the right place, at the right time.”

Wiltshire creative agency Milk & Tweed is working on a digital PR strategy. Mr Morgan said: “What I see from Milk & Tweed is that they have suitable skills in digital marketing and we are looking forward to seeing how those skills, plus their creative marketing expertise, fits within our sales cycle.

“They have a broad skillset, plus they are experienced and creative so they will add some flair to our brand.”

Milk & Tweed creative director Jake Jeffries said winning the contract is proof of the agency’s increasing reputation. “We are all very excited to be working with a company like SCT. We feel that we are on the same page in lots of aspects within our businesses, not just with how ambitious we both are.

“We are all really eager to learn more about their business and help them achieve their targets. We are doing a lot of graphic design work, digital marketing and some work on the web site so it is the full Milk & Tweed package.

“It’s gratifying that Andy and his team recognise the work we’ve done and the results we’ve achieved for our clients. They are an international firm so not only is it great to see that our name and reputation is growing so rapidly, but working with fantastic businesses makes it a joy and a pleasure.”

Find out more about SCT at smartct.com and about Milk & Tweed at milkandtweed.com.