new office launch
The co-founders of Simoda, have created a low-cost private cloud solution, set to take on the big three cloud providers who may just become the big four - in time, while planning to more than double in size over the next 12 months.
NB: Before we explore how Simoda is going toe to toe with cloud giants such as Google, Azure and Microsoft, what was the background to the pair of you starting Simoda in the first place.
Jason Garner: "I have been in the industry for 20 years working at both International and local resellers, as the industry is quite small mine and Dan's paths crossed over the years. We really came together early 2019 where we were both frustrated with the industry solutions for the business challenges we were hearing from our clients. We discovered the desired outcomes of our clients were Simpler (less complicated) services, newer more Modern ways to consume their services and to help them understand what the future holds to help Accelerate their business. Simoda (Simplify, Modernise and Accelerate) was born. My experience over the years has been in delivering technology solutions to Local Government, NHS and Corporate clients. That, coupled with Dan's vision of the 'perfect' reseller, as we called it. We are good, but definitely not perfect. We had a great complimentary working partnership (and still do) that created the foundations for the Simoda you see today. That filters into our culture as a business; we respect our team, we respect our customers and their businesses, and we respect the partners we work with."
Daniel Bumby: "I have been in the technology industry for well over 20 years, with at least 14 / 15 years in senior leadership positions. The driver for Simoda was to build a business which is focused on technology rather than profit for sales-people, the vision was to build something different to other, more traditional IT companies, with a clear focus on Simplifying, Modernising and Accelerating customer success, hence the name Si-mod-a. My background is in infrastructure and that is why we are seeing success in helping businesses with their infrastructure issues, challenges and objectives."
NB: Was it ever a "two man band" as you opened for business in 2019 or were you hiring quite quickly to deal with a successful launch
Jason: Our initial office address was similar to Harry Potter's cupboard-under-the-stairs, we locked ourselves away in Daniel's back Bedroom.
We owe a massive thank you to Tom Wolfenden who runs the Sheffield Technology Parks [1]. He gave us our first office with an initial rent-free period, which enabled us to gain kudos with legitimate business premises and to be recognised as a business. As we now had an office, we reached out to those who we had worked with successfully in the past. As you can imagine some were reluctant, as moving to a new business is a risk, and others relished the challenge to be part of something that felt right. We quickly outgrew this 10-man office and reluctantly left them for our new home in Kelham Island, the industrial yet newly developed and very popular area of Sheffield with quality bars, restaurants and entertainment all close by.
NB: From start up to where Simoda is now, with 30 plus staff on board in just 4 four years, with a pandemic survived is amazing. How did you manage it?
Jason: "The combination of a great visionary in Daniel and my practical and commercial capabilities, coupled with the relationships we built over the years was a winning combination. Our customers were also relatively unaffected by the pandemic and lockdown, so our business wasn't interrupted. If anything, our customers needed us more because of our services in remote working technologies such as Microsoft Office 365 with Teams and Cloud services, meaning that there was less reliance on businesses and their staff needing to be anywhere in person."
NB: It takes a bold company to take on the three Cloud providers mentioned above as a "market disruptor" How do you intend to do it?
Jason: Taking on the big 3 is a little tongue in cheek, basically we have an alternative solution which provides businesses with better control over spend and is a cheaper alternative to public cloud solutions. As we take a technology-first approach with our business, our main aim is to support the businesses that we work with - we don't just push the Simoda Cloud as the only cloud solution we provide, we offer solutions and services across public cloud (AWS, Azure and Google), hybrid cloud such as HPE Greenlake, and private cloud i.e. Simoda Cloud, whatever fits with our customers' needs.
NB: What are the benefits of the Simoda Cloud?
Lauren: There are multiple benefits.
To start with, we offer a free proof of concept ( POC). A great way to prove that Simoda Cloud offers true value and you can speak direct to our cloud experts to discuss your requirements.
With Simoda Cloud, you can:
1, Reduce your IT spend
By removing data management and transfer charges Simoda Cloud provides a cost effective alternative to the public cloud, we often see savings of up to 40% over the big 3.
2, Keep control, if you want to that is
Simoda Cloud is built to provide you with ultimate control of your own environment, however if you want to outsource the management of the cloud, we have full managed service capabilities available.
3, Achieve data compliance
We ensure your data and resources will reside in the UK. Simoda Cloud is available across 5 Tier 3 UK data centres making data compliance regulations a breeze to achieve.
4, Reduce your carbon footprint
Many businesses need to plan towards net zero and achieving IT sustainability, Simoda Cloud will help contribute to achieving net zero.
5, Remove management overhead
The UK is in the midst of a skills gap and recruiting staff with the right level of knowledge can be difficult, Simoda Cloud is built to be either managed or unmanaged meaning if you need to lean on Simoda for support or management we have resources available 24x7x365.
Jason: We are small part of a multi-billion-pound industry. We have just secured a new building with 3x the capacity of the old one and additional features like build / storage areas and an amazing space (games room) for staff to socialise, as a work life balance is important to us as business owners. Work / life balance for our staff is also why we chose Kelham Island, and not a cheap retail park space just off the motorway. We have our expansion plans, and we are also looking to replicate the kindness of Tom at the Sheffield Technology Park by allocating space in our new office to small businesses, including other technology businesses, who need a little support. We recently hit the news with our expansion plans, moving premises to a larger building and looking to provide 50 new jobs [2] in the next 12 months in our local area. Sustainable growth is hugely important to us and the need for our services and solutions is ever increasing. That's why we have brought in experts across Cyber Security, AI and Data Intelligence, IT Managed Services, Networking and Infrastructure. We want to make sure that we continue to meet the growing needs of the businesses we work with by offering a fuller IT and Technology stack that is cost-efficient and suits the business needs. Simoda Cloud is the latest solution roll-out and we already have customers who have migrated onto it.
For more information please visit Simoda Cloud [3]