AN IT services company is on track to reach its predicted £10m turnover by 2015 after enjoying year-on-year growth following its inception six years ago.
Gateshead-based Aspire Technology Solutions has seen turnover increase from £3.1m to £4.2m in the past 12 months with a longer term view of hitting £20m by 2019.
As well as significant financial growth, the six year old company has increased its workforce by over 50% in the last 12 months and expects to recruit a further five members of staff by the summer. The company’s director Nigel Begg said: “There hasn’t been a recession to hit the IT market which has certainly allowed us to grow our sales year on year.
“However, we’ve also made a niche for ourselves as a proactive, rather than a reactive company.
“We don’t just fix a company’s computer system when it breaks. We work with clients on their IT strategy and adapt it to their budget.
“Nine out of 10 times we can offer an IT solution, but if we can’t we’re honest with our clients and recommend them to somebody else.
“Our client retention rate is 98% and the ones we’ve lost have only left because they’ve ceased trading.
“We’ve grown our workforce from just two six years ago to 38 people, with six staff in our London satellite office.” This year will also see the construction of Aspire’s own purpose-built data centre facility which will cost the company in excess of £1m.
Working in partnership with Dixon Dawson Chartered Architects and Gateshead Borough Council, Aspire is planning to build a 3,500sq ft data centre facility located on the same site as its existing headquarters at Heworth Hall.
Construction is scheduled to take place in the spring.
Begg added: “Thanks to a combination of technical excellence and strong sales, we have successfully won some prestigious contracts in recent months which proves we are heading in the right direction and our data centre will be the next piece of the jigsaw.
“We are growing at a rapid rate but realise that we have to set ourselves apart from the competition by offering something different and having our own state-of-the-art data centre located on our doorstep will enable us to do that.
“We already have presence in a number of data centres across the UK, all of which we will retain moving forward. The new facility is not about replacing existing space; it’s about further expanding our business and meeting demand.”
Aspire has recently secured business with some of the region’s leading names including O’Briens Waste Management, Sunderland PCT, Durham County Council, Potts Print and Jan Forster Estates.
Six months ago it secured a contract with Sunderland Football Club to look after its phone and IT suite.
