East Midlands IT firm True MSP is celebrating the signing of its 100th client as it banks its most successful year ever.
True MSP has signed a deal to provide IT support services to Nottingham-based DSL, a family run firm that supplies branded products to supermarkets and convenience stores.
The contract with DSL coincides with an expectation-busting record turnover for the Castle Donington-based tech firm as annual sales since April 2022 have exceeded £1.5 million.
Co-founded by Tim Rookes and Neil Shaw as recently as 2017, True MSP provides business IT support services such as cyber security and hardware management to a wide range of clients from accountancy firms to construction companies.
The founders, who met while working for another managed service provider (MSP) in the IT sector, agreed at the outset that True MSP would always place customer service excellence ahead of sales and profit.
Their belief that success would follow if the team focused solely on doing its job well has proven correct.
Having amassed 40 clients by the time it was only a year old, True MSP has continued to grow by approximately 50 per cent year-on-year to a point where it has now clocked up its century of clients.
Tim said: “Signing our hundredth client was a huge milestone for us. It really is a dream come true.
“And to have smashed our turnover record yet again – reaching a level that is way ahead of anything we envisaged six years ago – means our focus on clients rather than money was definitely the right thing to do.”
True MSP is a great champion of apprenticeships, with seven of its 10 staff having been apprentices at some point. The firm also recruits new staff based on attitude rather than technical knowledge.
“I ask a few technical questions during an interview,” said Neil. “I simply look to hire people with a positive, go-getting attitude.
“Tech can be learned more easily than changing someone’s personality, and we’re always happy to teach good candidates the technical side of things ourselves.”
Neil explained that the firm was always intentionally over-staffed so that it had the capacity to grow without affecting existing client service.
Back in 2017, Neil and Tim even employed two additional staff members and moved into its huge premises in Castle Donington before they had signed a single client.
Neil recalled: “The phone didn’t ring for the first few days. We thought ‘what have we done?’ But by the end of the next year, we’d secured 40 clients.
“Our strategy is to always employ new staff before we actually need them. It keeps our clients and our staff happy. And looking after the team is imperative to success.”
The firm regularly organises staff meals and events, such as go-karting, and even has an arcade machine in the office.
A new kitchen is currently being installed in an effort to help staff through the cost-of-living crunch: The company will stock the kitchen with a weekly ‘shop’, meaning employees don’t even need to buy their own lunch.
True MSP gains 95 per cent of its new clients through direct referrals, and its rapid growth has shown no signs of slowing down.
Neil nevertheless said that the firm was half-way towards a growth final target that the founders did not intend to exceed.
“We need to ensure we retain our personal touch and carry on being a genuine extension to our clients’ businesses,” he said. “We never want to be a really huge MSP – our plan is to double in size to 200 clients so that we can maintain our agile businesses while still being approachable.”
Neil revealed that the firm’s reputation and success had attracted multiple buy-out offers over the past two years, all of which had been turned down.
Edward Chary, managing director of DSL Group, True MSP’s 100th client signing, said: “I have been really impressed with how quickly True MSP has picked up on what we require, tightened our processes, secured our systems and saved us a considerable amount of money. I would thoroughly recommend them – they are super responsive and helpful.”
To discover more, visit www.truemsp.co.uk.
