technologyreseller.co.uk 21 year, and an additional layer of security over and above what would normally be provided as part of its operational support for IT infrastructures. This includes a partner-led SOC that is continually looking at an organisation’s vulnerabilities and proactively managing alerts and, for the first time, people focused 100% on security, rather than doing a bit of infrastructure, a bit of security and a bit of data management. Muscroft adds that hardware sales are still an area of great opportunity for WWCS. “People will always need laptops and tablets and mobiles and network infrastructures. We’re seeing that massively. If you look at our hardware and software growth over the last 12 months, the growth curves are almost vertical. Hardware adds to what we’re already doing on the services and security sides.” The strength of WWCS’s partnerships with Ingram Micro on the product distribution side and Kaseya on the security and IT management side are important enablers for Phase 3 of the company’s five-year plan – the setting up of a European office. Muscroft describes this as ‘critically important’ to the company’s strategic direction but concedes that it will have to wait until the company has established the Sheffield hub. “A European office is not something we’re going to be able to start within the next 12 months, but certainly within the next 18 to 24 months, I’d like to think it is something we could do,” he says. www.wwcs.co.uk from their MSP, and we can provide it. The challenge is bringing enough good people into the business and making sure we’ve got enough resource and capacity to support our growth. I want people that are ambitious and prepared to learn. I grew up with engineers back in the ‘90s who would build Exchange servers in their bedroom for fun. I want those sorts of people. We’re looking to provide a home for the most ambitious tech people who want to learn and want to grow and want to develop and build and deploy things.” He adds: “I could not be more excited about what we’re doing here. I’m not trying to stomp all over somebody else’s territory. I just want to make sure we’re providing the best service to our clients.” Good growth In the meantime, WWCS’s London operation is enjoying good growth due to continued demand for support contracts and help with security and AI. “Where we are having a lot of conversations, certainly from a data governance and security point of view, is talking people through how they can achieve Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001 whilst embracing AI technologies – being able to isolate data within corporate infrastructures without that data leakage, being able to utilise AI tools for efficiencies.” On the security side, where WWCS is heavily invested in Kaseya’s stack, Muscroft highlights new dedicated resources, launched at the end of last SYMCA, is very proactive, very businessfriendly, and we’re seeing massive amounts of inward investment. Sheffield’s going through a huge regeneration and for the first time in many years we’re seeing a collaborative approach to what’s being done in Sheffield. The Chambers of Commerce are working together with the council, with the leaders, with the mayors, with the digital investment. We have a digital corridor that’s been created for Sheffield and South Yorkshire – there’s a huge amount of investment going into Barnsley as well – so we could not be better positioned. “It’s a real hub of technological growth. We’ve got two huge universities, Sheffield Hallam and the University of Sheffield. We have the Advanced Manufacturing Park just down the road on the border between Sheffield and Rotherham, with some huge organisations there. We’ve got Rolls Royce. We’ve got some advanced nuclear partners. We’ve got McLaren. There are a lot of good things in and around Sheffield, but the region’s not been well backed by good tech teams, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to grow the biggest tech team in the region to support those clients – to support their growth alongside what will hopefully be successful growth for us.” Muscroft expects his main challenge to be recruiting the right skills at the right time to meet his plans for the Sheffield hub. “There is an abundance of organisations that want better support MSPs
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