Lancaster IT firm plugs into expansion strategy

Commercial IT services provider TPCS has streamlined processes and improved productivity after taking part in Boost Business Lancashire’s Growth Mentoring programme.

The Lancaster-based business has also reorganised the structure of its team, resulting in the recruitment of an IT specialist.

Founded in 1994 as a consultancy business, TPCS has developed its services to embrace a broad range of sectors and industries, whilst delivering IT solutions to every size of client from micro businesses to large corporates.

Although the company had a full order book and was ready for further growth, managing director Tim Pollard’s responsibilities had grown to such an extent that he felt he was not getting the best from his team or himself.

Tim approached Boost after finding out about the Growth Mentoring initiative from a Google search. After an initial consultation, he was matched with Louise McLaren, a mentor at Community & Business Partners (CBP), which delivers the programme.

Tim said: “The Growth Mentoring programme really has changed the way we operate. It has made a positive contribution to the way we organise our business processes and deal with the customer journey to ensure complete satisfaction. I have also improved the way I make decisions and everyone sees this. Louise has made such a difference to our business, one of our CRM procedures has been named ‘The Louise Conscience Tree’!”

Louise, a lean management specialist, commented: “TPCS is Tim’s first company and he needed guidance and support to make the necessary changes. TPCS has diverse activities and the mentoring has helped Tim to ‘stand outside’ and view the company as a whole, making decisions on its future direction.”

Tim continues to receive information from CBP about other support opportunities, including the Skills Assist interactive workshops.

Jane Houghton-Fenning, business development director at CBP, added: “The timing for Tim at TPCS couldn’t have been better and Louise was the ideal mentor to assist him. His plans for expansion needed to be built on effective and efficient processes and on making decisions that made good business sense.

“Tim had so many ideas and these needing reviewing. The principles of lean management enabled an evaluation of what was working well and where the gaps were. Tim embraced the support from Louise, adopted new ideas and now TPCS has excellent growth potential ahead of them.” Boost Business Lancashire is the £7.2m Lancashire Business Growth Hub, offering free and part-funded business support to ambitious and growing businesses. Delivered by Lancashire County Council and the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, and supported by £3.6m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), it aims to grow Lancashire’s economy by £20m and create at least 1,200 new jobs and safeguard 700 more by summer 2015.