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inspirational leaders
The company tailoring IT systems for the smaller frame
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By Helen Compson
From the day he launched Intelligent Performance in 2004, Steve Thompson has been determined to provide SMEs with the type of service usually reserved for big companies.
At the time he was working for a large IT reseller, but he knew he could better serve clients of his own.
“I felt there was an awful lot of lip service paid to SMEs, but no one had a real proposition for them,” he said.
“While large enterprises were catered for, because they were spending enough money to make sure a manufacturer thought them worth investing in, your 20 to 30 employee businesses were being hung out to dry.
“They were being told ‘this PC or server would work’ and being asked to pay for systems designed for 200plus users.
“I thought there was a big opportunity there, due to the number of small to medium size enterprises across my home patch of South London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent, to ask them what they really wanted – and then provide it.”
Based in Crawley in the shadow of Gatwick Airport, Intelligent Performance took off from a serviced office on the nearby Manor Royal industrial park.
“I started off with a desk and one engineer on board,” he said. “There were around 40 other businesses in the building and before long, I was chief salesman, engineer and coffee maker every time someone had an IT issue.
“I ended up supporting 30 or so of the businesses and the building itself on behalf of the owners.”
Personable and approachable – he prides himself on speaking plain English rather than in zeros and ones – his own journey as an SME has given him the ability to understand and empathise with his peers.
It has also sharpened his focus in terms of the services needed.
“As Intelligent Performance grew, it became apparent people were contacting us if and
when their systems weren’t working – at the point of failure,” he said.
“But we need to be in earlier than that, to stop the system failing in the first place.”
By then, Steve had a new business partner in the shape of Nick Simmonds and together they changed Intelligent Performance into a more proactive enterprise driven by support contracts.
Now, an automated alert will let them know if a client’s system isn’t operating as it should and an engineer will be swiftly dispatched to nip the problem in the bud.
“There is no sales pressure from us, though,” he said. “People can buy their equipment from us, purchase a service contract or both.
“We aren’t tied to, say, just Microsoft either. We are a solutions provider and will work with whatever system a client might already have, be that Sage or anything else.
“If we need to bring in other people to meet the needs of a new customer, we will do that.”
Steve Thompson
Founder Intelligent Performance
When it came to actually installing a system from scratch for a client, it was an infallible truth that the more tailored it was, the better the fit.
Steve said: “There is an almost guilty assumption in IT that if you want to have an email system, it should be Microsoft 365 and if you want to have a server you should turn to the Cloud.
“Both are very viable solutions for perhaps 99% of companies, but the smaller one-man bands and SMEs are still not getting the right level of consultancy they need – they are having to fit in with how larger companies do business.
“They too need to outsource that element of their business, to get the bespoke system they need.”
The tailored-suit and, indeed, ready access to the tailor had become all the more prized during the pandemic.
Maintaining data security as staff moved out of the office and into their own homes had been crucial, and the source of many an urgent telephone call.
“We have invested heavily in Microsoft, to the point we can now build a ‘solution in a box’,” he said. “We can provide clients with, among other things, a voice-activated Microsoft telephone system an employee can use to work from home. No business can afford to be caught in breach of GDPR.”
