We shine our spotlight on Tim Potts, Smart Computers’ Founder and Sales Director. He shares with us his journey over the past 25 years.
‘The business started out as solely IT rentals which became very successful; doubling in size every year for three years. When Will Rendell joined in 1998, we branched out into Sales, Service and Support. We needed to focus on Internet based solutions and the more complex technical aspects of IT.
As we continued to grow, we branched out geographically and found ourselves working across more sectors, enhancing and developing our skills. In 2004, with the introduction of Dean Newman, we also added training to our remit. Dean also works on the Support Desk, doing what he does best, helping our customers day in, day out.
We have always employed like-minded, friendly people who would choose to do computing as a hobby, or an interest, as well as a career. This energy rubs off on our customers and enables us to give great, jargon free customer service, whilst still being approachable. This is really important to us.
25 years ago outside of London, it was quite unique in the South West with what we provided – computer rentals. I remember the first big cheque we received; we photocopied it and put it on the wall. A year’s contract for all the Computer equipment for a large Industrial firm in Birmingham, plus 3 staff on site.
We predicted 5 years ago on our 20th anniversary that rental business would make a comeback, and how we’ve been proved right especially over the last 12 months. With more and more business having to switch almost overnight to a working from home model, many weren’t equipped for all the extra IT equipment they would need to have outside of the office environment. We were inundated with laptop and desktop rental requests, as well as additional screens for home workers. With the uncertainty for how long this would last, businesses turned to renting and we were here for them. Growing our own stock and sending it out almost as soon as it arrived for next day delivery.
Many customers have said they just couldn’t have coped without us. As things begin to return to some level of normality and will hopefully continue to do so, we will continue to be flexible and serve businesses as and when they need us, as we have always done.
Our very first long term rental customer John Ryde Commercial is still a customer today – 25 years of exceptional service. This is something we’re really proud of and it’s great to have shared this journey with them. Long may it continue.
Nowadays you can find us here. We’ve grown to the successful business we are today by constantly innovating our offering and responding to what our customers want and need. We’re proud of how far we’ve come and look forward to another successful 25 years ahead of us. Who knows where we’ll be and what we’ll be offering then, it’s an exciting, fast paced industry to be in.’
Tim Potts
Sales Director
