What did the company you and Alistair created look like back in 2001?
Back in 2001, there were no smart phones and email was about as cutting edge as things got with cloud technology. Large amounts of revenue were made from Dial-up, with people using modems to collect email and surf the web for a small amount of time in a day, and all Amazon sold was books. Businesses however, just as now needed help navigating the new technology world and it was obvious that businesses needed an approachable company to help them navigate this new world.
Did you spot Cloud potential early and was it a difficult sell?
Cloud was always going to change the world, so we knew it was the right place for us. However, selling technology was really hard at the beginning, it still is to some extent! Many businesses gave little regard to security and had no idea if the products they were choosing were the right ones or not, so many businesses made mistakes in the early days. Luckily the hackers were less sophisticated back then, and state sponsored cyber-attacks were also infrequent, so many businesses got away with poor security. Those that made the right calls succeeded, those that didn't innovate with technology found themselves left at the wayside.
What were the major developments in technology and in your company in the first ten years?
In the first 10 years, hosting and email where key. Broadband connectivity came into life and as business became online 24/7, so did the change in their needs. Security had to be addressed and as the hackers got smarter, so did the protection.
As customers were establishing an "always on" presence online, they needed the services to become more reliant. It was therefore a huge relief for our business when virtualisation was invented, and we no longer needed people to physically go to the data centre to solve hardware issues. This innovation allowed the Cloud to be delivered, with more flexability and reliability, increasing trust in Cloud related technology.
As smart phones appeared, the whole industry changed again, with the constant demand for technology at our fingertips. Innovative websites were cutting edge, with businesses being transformed by investing in their online web solutions. Our experience over the years has helped many businesses become market leaders in their field.
And in the second 10?
In the second 10 years, people's use of the cloud has become ever more integrated into their lives. We took the leap 8 years ago with the creation of our brand www.telephonesystems.cloud [1], transforming businesses from traditional on-premises phone systems to cloud based ones. A business move for us that proved very successful as the pandemic hit. Before then, we were explaining to people why they might want the flexibility to work from anywhere, people thought we were crazy and it was a frivolous feature. Suddenly, overnight, we no longer had to explain the advantage of a flexible phone system and in the first week as we moved to home working ourselves, the rest of the world took the jump too. Well apart from those poor businesses who were stuck with terrible phone contracts.
How did the pandemic affect your business?
As well as the total transformation in our cloud phone business, we have found that many businesses are looking to move the majority of their systems to the cloud. Our software team (www.developsystems.cloud [2]) now build bespoke cloud databases with apps that allow businesses to take advantage of the latest technology plus the flexibility and cost saving that it can bring.
So here we are in 2022, the company's 21st birthday, what are your clients coming to you for now?
Everything cloud related! For many businesses, it's just become a mine-field, so they just call us up and we go through their needs and provide a full solution for their business, be it phones, security, software, servers or connectivity.
We are seeing many businesses stop using physical phones altogether, as they have become comfortable using headsets to chat in the pandemic and the younger generation will probably never want physical phones in the office, even if they want an office!
As Cloud experts, do you see the Cloud as fully developed or will the innovation continue over the next 5 years?
It's not stopping yet! Technology is going to keep innovating, it is what us humans are very good at. We are just at the start of the journey and we are going to become more reliant on technology, in business and in everyday life.
Businesses as always, need to keep their eye on the latest changes and ensure that they keep moving. They also need to ensure they get advice about security. It's still alarming how many businesses don't take the security and backup of their data seriously and simply deploy a cross fingers and hope policy. We see more and more businesses compromised by hackers making concerted efforts to infiltrate them, especially when they spot companies that are not very technologically advanced.