Celebrating 20 Years of Lifeline IT

This year, Lifeline IT celebrated its 20th year in the business.

From a team of three to 30 staff across two offices, the company has gone from strength to strength over the past two decades.

To mark this landmark, founders Adam and Daniel look back at how they started and reflect on some of the highs (and lows) of the last 20 years.

In the beginning…

Adam: “Daniel and I had known each other through work connections before we started the business and he was in the IT sector before me. I’d always had a passion for technology and had wanted to get into the industry. I also wanted to start my own business but didn’t want to be a sole operator, so when Daniel and I got chatting it made complete sense to join forces and grow the business.”

Daniel: “It was the perfect solution as we came together to become Lifeline IT. Adam focused more on the hardware side and I was software and support. When we started we took someone on and over the years have added to the team. We now have about 30 people working at Lifeline IT – everyone from engineers and support staff to admin and accounting. We have around 90 clients ranging from SMEs through to substantial businesses with international reach. We opened our Stirling Way premises in Hertfordshire about 16 years ago and in 2021 we added our second site in Peterborough.”

The highs…

Daniel: “Definitely the team we’ve created. Our senior management team are made up of people who started with us as juniors. When people hit their 10, 15 or even 20 year anniversary, that’s a real high for us. Every time we get a new member of staff is another high, as it confirms that we’re growing and adding to our fantastic group of employees.”

Adam: “Getting a referral for a potential new client always still gives us a real buzz. All our clients come through recommendations, which is testament to the service we offer.”

And the lows…

Daniel: “Brexit has been the biggest challenge we’ve had to face as it’s meant we’ve not been able to access the diversity of talent. The pandemic was challenging from a logistical point of view, but we adapted very well and were quickly able to move our clients to remote working with minimum disruption.”

IT changes over the years…

Daniel: “Changes in technology over the past 20 years have been fascinating to witness. The birth of the Blackberry was very exciting as it was new and had never been done before. The arrival of the iPhone was also another landmark.

It’s been interesting how some tech has become obsolete since we first started the business, whilst other items have become essential. As part of our 20th anniversary we carried out research into this and the results were incredibly insightful – less than a quarter of people said they regularly used email in the 2000s, yet 96% now use it daily. And back in 2002, fax machines and dial-up modems were commonplace in offices, but they’re virtually non-existent existent now.”

And the future…

Adam: “Our business model for the future is just more of the same – being incredibly customer-focused and offering our clients an excellent face-to-face service.”

Daniel: “We’d also like to expand out geographical reach – the opening of our Peterborough office last year has been a success, so we’d like to offer the Lifeline IT product to companies in other areas.”

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