In 2001 northerncare was established as a provider of residential care homes for children. At this time our IT resources were stretched, unmanaged and unreliable. Not only was the unreliability a source of intense frustration – more importantly, it was hampering our business plans.
When Sapling Business Systems arrived on the scene in 2002 they took the time out to understand how our business worked – and then they set about implementing agreed and costed IT solutions which worked reliably and came in on budget.
A couple of years later, when we had first hand experience of the quality and reliability of the professional service provided by Sapling Business Systems, we decided to formally outsource all of our IT management and support to them - in the form of a contract underpinned by a clear and agreed Service Level Agreement. This included all of our administrative systems and all of the educational IT systems used in our classrooms. By doing this, we were able to guarantee the quality of ongoing IT support that we needed. This approach has worked well for us. It has left us to get on with what we excel at – providing first class residential care for children.
In December 2007 northerncare broke into the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 (one of Britain’s top 100 privately owned companies with the fastest growing turnover in the last three years).
Philip Holt (Chairman, northerncare)
www.northern-care.co.uk