The Devon & Plymouth Chamber is thrilled to announce that one of our most well-respected members and collaborators, ITEC, has stepped up to become a Patron.
For more than 30 years, ITEC has been driving thousands of organisations to success through powerful technology partnerships and strategies.
Last year, the firm joined the Xerox family after becoming a star performer in the UK Technology Managed Services, providing office technology, software, solutions and services.
Plymouth has been the heart of ITEC’s Managed IT and Telephony Service in the South West since 2017.
Originally trading as STEM Group, ITEC and STEM merged in 2017 to become one of the largest technology providers in the UK.
Today, ITEC Plymouth supports organisations throughout the city and South Devon with the Technology Managed Service and houses the flagship ITEC Data Centre.
Darren Roseveare is Account Director at ITEC in Plymouth, where high-profile clients include Plymouth Argyle Football Club, Burts Chips, Foot Anstey, the Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and Kawasaki.
That impressive list also includes the Devon & Plymouth Chamber, which over the years has formed a hugely effective partnership which has benefited countless members.
Darren says: “Our partnership with Xerox offers the best of both worlds because ITEC is very locally based, which is very important to our relationship with the Devon & Plymouth Chamber and its members.
“ITEC becoming part of the bigger Xerox family is that it is a similarly innovative organisation which has been specialising in workplace technology from the invention of the photocopier to ethernet, and they even developed the mouse.
“Xerox now has the PARC Centre and they are developing new technology all the time. So, there’s a lot of innovation and wider expertise that is available when needed.
“That means there’s extra firepower that sits behind a very local, approachable and responsive organisation.”
ITEC gives Chamber members the opportunity to connect their people, offices, devices and data and, through the ITEC Data Centres and Managed Cloud Service, you get a premium, customised experience delivered by local experts.
Based in Plymouth and London, ITEC’s Data Centres offer the highest rates of reliability as they don’t have to rely on any third parties. These Centres are operated by ITEC technical staff and are ISO27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certified.
Darren explains: “The Plymouth-based data centre is ITEC-owned and has world-class capabilities for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) here in the South West.
“There is also the fact that the help desk experts are on hand – not just at the end of the phone but also locally based in Plymouth – which offers that extra bit of reassurance.
“Perhaps more importantly, when help desk support is needed – whether it’s a photocopier, a telephony issue or an IT systems issue – if all else fails, a field engineer can be on site really quickly because they are locally based.”
The outsourcing capabilities of an expert organisation like ITEC can take the burden off the shoulders of a business. If you take away that burden, productivity and efficiency improves and your time is freed up for more value add activities.
There are a lot of ways that the ITEC team can support Chamber members to address some of their biggest challenges – not just in the short term but also in the long term.
Darren says: “Particularly with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, what a lot of people have found in recent times is how their technology is lacking – that it’s not fit for purpose to get through what we’ve had to go through, but also to come out the other side stronger and more agile.
“So, we can address business continuity issues, whatever form they come in, such as tackling vulnerabilities and risks. That includes things like security, which is an issue everyone needs to address at some level.
“There are a lot of IT services around penetration testing and world-class technology that works financially, providing excellent IT services and infrastructure which makes it much more accessible for SMBs without compromising on the expertise, quality and robustness.
“ITEC offers the ability to realise the potential of your business to work more flexibly, especially now we’re coming out of Covid.
“People have been able to release expensive real estate because they don’t need everybody in the office. They can have that hybrid working model or even a remote working model because it works best for them.
“There is a cost benefit to that and also a talent acquisition and talent retention benefit where, because you are operating more flexibly, people returning to a profession after maternity or paternity leave, for example, are embraced because they’ve got more remote, flexible working opportunities.
“There’s also a sustainability consideration, with businesses who are taking notice of the important messages coming out of COP26 in Glasgow and want to take steps to find more sustainable ways to work.
One of the great things about the partnership between ITEC and the Devon & Plymouth Chamber, and having much more face-to-face interaction, is that it is a form of consultancy.
Darren explains: “A member of the Chamber may ask us, ‘How do I become more sustainable?’, ‘How do I become more flexible?’, ‘How do I retain talent?’, ‘How do I ensure that I’m being compliant and not exposing my business to risk?’.
“That’s where the conversation starts; it doesn’t start with, ‘My telephony is 20 years old now and it’s starting to fall apart’, or, ‘I can’t do flexible working because I need this product’.
“Instead, we start with the challenge – perhaps even a challenge people didn’t realise they had or didn’t connect with technology.
“That is what is ideal with our Chamber relationship, that we can have conversations with members, find out how and what they’re doing, and how we can work together.
“The Xerox IT message is that we’ve got this massive toolkit offering power and choice. We’re not a single-solution operator that says, ‘In order to work more flexibly, you need this widget or that widget’. We’ve got lots of widgets and will work with you to find the one that best suits you.”
ITEC’s position as a Patron of the Devon & Plymouth Chamber reflects its status as a global and regional leader, and as a supporter of businesses in the South West and beyond.
Patrons of the Chamber are some of the best-known and respected names in the business community. They are woven into the Chamber’s extensive lobbying activities and become one of our region’s principal voices.
Chamber Chief Executive Stuart Elford said: “We could not be more thrilled that ITEC has decided to become a Patron of the Devon & Plymouth Chamber.
“Darren and his team have helped hundreds of organisations in Plymouth – including our members – modernise and create collaborative, streamlined work processes.
“They have unparalleled expertise when it comes to tech strategy – which is something we’ve experienced first-hand since calling on their services for the Chamber.
“The sheer breadth of the firm’s knowledge and their position as Patron underlines just what an asset they are and will continue to be to our members.
“Our Patrons play a unique role in developing the future of our region and the Chamber is far stronger with ITEC’s support and Patronage.”
Find out more about ITEC here.
