"We are very grateful to have received support from Business Glasgow since 2015. We greatly appreciate the valuable expertise and guidance that they have given us. The team are great to work with and has played a key role in helping Cloud Cover IT grow as a business over the years. In particular, we must thank our dedicated support worker Irene Holding who has always gone above and beyond to help us."
Here we spoke with Cloud Cover IT, who are celebrating their 10th Birthday to learn more about their journey, and how Business Glasgow has helped.
We are delighted to be celebrating our 10th birthday this year as Cloud Cover IT was launched in 2012.
Our founder Lance Gauld was a sole trader IT support specialist with a 25-year track record and a loyal customer base. In 2012, he decided it was time to grow the business, so he created Cloud Cover IT.
Most organisations see the importance of technology for their future, but many don’t know how to navigate their digital journey. Our purpose is to empower organisations through innovations in technology that fuel collaboration and productivity.
We pride ourselves on being the best at the ‘human part’ of IT. We understand that using IT jargon can be intimidating, so we communicate with our clients in a way that is simple to understand and relatable for everyone. From our sales team to our helpdesk support, we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service. We are proud to be a Glasgow Living Wage employer which has helped us attract excellent employees.
Our Digital Transformation team also give us a competitive edge. Our team of developers are committed to creating innovative solutions to improve our client's business processes and solve challenges that they are facing.
We experienced our busiest period ever during the pandemic as organisations made the transition to home working.
In the first week of lockdown alone, our team helped set up remote working for almost 2000 people. 80 laptops were configured for home working, 4 remote desktop servers were installed, and over 200 support tickets were fulfilled each day.
Post-pandemic, interest in our Cloud-based services has increased, and we have created two new Microsoft teams apps (check.it and gauge.it) in response to remote working challenges.
Like many businesses, we have faced the challenge of effectively navigating a post-pandemic world, where hybrid working has remained the dominant working model.
As a business, we have, as a result, of both business needs and employee feedback, amended policies, procedures, and working practices to align with this changing landscape both internally and externally.
We also continue to face the challenge and opportunity of growth; as a service business, this has required additional continued recruitment and continuous evolution of our business operations. We have recently secured ISO 27001 accreditation (an International standard on how to manage information security), which was a proud achievement and a significant indication to existing and new customers of our maturity as a business.
We are celebrating our 10th Birthday throughout 2022, and we believe it is our willingness to adapt and drive to grow that has allowed us to reach this milestone. We are excited to continue evolving and to see where the company will be 10 years from now.
We began working with Business Glasgow in 2015 as part of their Glasgow Guarantee scheme. This was our first attempt at looking for assistance, and our goal was to find some talented young apprentices to join our team and help our company grow. We were hoping that Business Glasgow would be able to make the recruitment process easier and help us find the best candidates.
The Glasgow Guarantee scheme gave us access to a pool of talented candidates and helped with wage costs. With the help of Business Glasgow and Glasgow Guarantee, we successfully hired several employees.
Business Glasgow recently supported us with our application for the Regional Selective Assistance grant in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise. Our dedicated business advisor Irene helped with our financial readiness documentation and assisted us throughout the process.
They also provided essential support when we applied for ISO27001 certification by assisting us through the Business Glasgow, Glasgow Business Growth Programme. This was by providing a consultant to support us in ensuring that our information management system was fully compliant, which greatly assisted us in achieving our ISO27001 certification. This will help us grow our customer base and will allow us to work with larger organisations and procure as a main contractor as opposed to a sub-contractor.
We were also helped through the Supported Growth Fund to employ Junior Sharepoint Developers to move towards bringing further IIoT solutions into the business and to expand international business through SP Marketplace.
Business Glasgow and the Digital Boost Programme also supported us to educate the development team around user-centred design principles. This allowed the team to understand the context in which users interact with the product, including what issues or challenges they may have.
We have found working with Business Glasgow to be excellent and very helpful. They have worked with us in a way that suits us, rather than imposing rules and regulations, which has been brilliant for an up-and-coming business. We could not fault any of the services that they have provided.
"Cloud Cover IT Services Ltd., has grown its customer base, turnover and staffing year on year. The business is constantly evolving providing excellent solutions and customer service to its clients to assist in improving efficiency and productivity. Business Glasgow is pleased to provide the business with the support to allow it to meet its growth aspirations and to increase turnover and staff within the Glasgow business base. It has been a pleasure to work with the business."
Interested in how Business Glasgow can support your business? Get in touch today.
