Success means constantly investing in technology

That’s the advice from Harrogate-based Managed Service Provider InTechnology and echoes Business Secretary Vince Cable’s belief that “high-tech industries are the future of the British economy” – a statement made last October as he announced the government’s £200m investment in a network of elite Technology and Innovation Centres.

InTechnology itself has consistently invested in technological innovation for over 25 years.

Bryn Sage, chief operating officer at InTechnology, believes it’s this consistency of investment in research and development that lies at the heart of the company’s continuing success. “You can’t create a great piece of technology and then sit back and expect your company to continue to grow on the back of one success,” says Mr Sage.

“The market, the economy and business needs change constantly and you have to make sure you’re driving the technology rollercoaster, not clinging on for dear life.”

Mr Sage urges companies not to respond to the tough economic climate by pulling down the shutters.

“Now, more than ever, companies need to be investing for the future, honing their practices, becoming more efficient and getting ready to benefit fully as markets pick up.

“At InTechnology we have a very straightforward approach to this – we collaborate with users to understand the issues, grasp the context and devise the most appropriate solution. Then we invest to make it happen.”

InTechnology itself has a long history of shrewd investment both in its own products and supporting environment and in joint ventures with other leading technology companies.

It has a £100m infrastructure and three years ago invested in a multi-million revamp of its Harrogate HQ data centre to provide leading edge data storage and managed voice & data services.

One of its services, Instant Communications, is the result of a joint venture in which InTechnology has invested more than £10m with Mobile Tornado over several years.

Using Push To Talk technology, Instant Communications effectively turns a mobile phone into a walkie-talkie at the press of a button. The service allows organisations to replace multiple devices with a single robust handset that is exclusive to InTechnology and its cost-effective one-to-one and one-to-many communication features offer a credible alternative to radios.

Mr Sage says: “We’ve seen newspaper reports of councils and police running up huge mobile phone bills – there have even been reports of police being told to text instead of calling! This technology removes the problem. We always knew it was a sound investment and continued to support its development when many other investors would have called it a day. And now we’re reaping the rewards.”

Last month, the company launched the result of another joint venture, Live-PA. This is the only truly integrated call recording solution for both Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2.