15 Years of Resolution IT

Olly Duquemin and Steve Brehaut reflect on their journey through 15 years of Resolution IT.

Olly Duquemin, CEO, begins:

During September, Resolution IT turned 15. This is a monumental milestone for us, and as things continue to move quickly around here, it’s important to take a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come in this time.

As I write this, Resolution IT has just been nominated for the Network Group’s Large MSP of the Year Award. This seems remarkably poignant as we think about our journey from what was essentially a garage that Steve and I converted ourselves, to the point we’re at now – with a growing team of 50+ based in Guernsey, Dubai and beyond.

It can be difficult to measure success, but industry recognition, both locally and globally, is always a huge moment for us. Thinking back to the pre-award days, before we had any budget to put behind marketing, every time a client recommended us was a big moment. We were lucky enough to earn new business through word of mouth, which made us feel really proud – and still does. Every piece of gold feedback for our hard-working team, each testimonial, case study, recommendation and rating is an indication that we’re doing something right.

Every office move, extension, renovation and refurbishment has been a marker of growth and success for us too. It can be difficult to pause and reflect on success, it’s so easy to get swept away in the next project, but Steve and I feel a real sense of pride in these moments.

Our wonderful team continue to do us proud, and one of my favourite things is watching new people join us, study hard, earn their certifications and progress their careers. We’ve had a lot of people come on board from completely different career paths, looking for a change. Seeing how hard they work to nail their new position is really something. Commitment is one of our company values and our team remind us why we chose it every day.

Of course, this journey has not been without its challenges. It’s inevitable that running a business comes with its fair share of difficulties, and one of the biggest we’ve faced is managing growth. We’ve not always handled it perfectly, but we are a company that always tries to learn from its mistakes. We’re human, so we accept that we’ll make errors along the way. What we won’t accept is not learning from them.

It’s important to own your mistakes too. I remember a client once commented on how refreshing it was that we’d been open, honest and quick to respond about a mistake we’d made with them. We told them straight away that it was human error and they really appreciated that. Trying to cover things up can often make things worse, and to us, it actually shows a lack of respect for the client. Integrity and respect are both important company values, and in order to live by those, it’s important that we remain transparent. Mistakes are inevitable. It’s how you deal with them that’s important.

Steve Brehaut, Managing Director, continues:

We’ve learned some important lessons over the years; stay humble, ask for help and surround yourself with people that are better than you are. I think a lot of people are afraid to employ people that know more than they do, but we’ve never taken that attitude at Resolution IT. We want to lift each other up, continue learning and encourage success for everyone in our team.

When we began this business 15 years ago, our goal was to provide IT support with a difference. The ‘difference’ for us, meant the level of support, care and attention given to our clients, the proactive and forward-thinking approach, and the ever evolving and improving service base. The IT industry had a certain reputation that we felt needed to be turned on its head, so that’s what we did. These goals have remained true throughout our expansion into new markets, industries and jurisdictions. It’s incredibly important to us that we continue to provide the service we’ve become renowned for.

Continuous improvement is one of our core aims and pretty much everything we do, and every decision we make, is built on its foundations. In essence, continuous improvement means we are always looking to develop our products and services to best serve our customers. It also refers to our goal of driving our clients’ businesses forwards and lifting them ahead of the competition. Lastly, it represents who we are, both as a company and a community. We are always striving for improvement, growth and success for Resolution IT and the people who make it great.

Looking back at our company milestones, there are definitely a few dates that have particular significance for us.

• In 2011, we moved into purpose-built offices to support our expansion and then had to double that space three years later.
• In 2013, we achieved Microsoft Gold Partner status.
• In 2014, we appointed two new directors; Matt Le Patourel and Pierre Jehan.
• In 2015, we opened an office in Dubai.
• In 2016, we became the first IT company in Guernsey to be awarded the Cyber Essentials Certification.
• In 2017, we became the only IT company in the Channel Islands to make the prestigious list of the world’s top MSPs. We’ve retained a spot on the MSP501 every year since then.
• In 2019, we moved into 10,000+ sq ft of new offices, including disaster recovery suites.
• In 2020, we guided numerous businesses through their transition to remote work, helping them continue through lockdown with cloud solutions.
• In 2021, we established a new set of core values; Passion, Excellence, Commitment, Integrity and Respect. We also received Community Champion status from the ESI monitor and welcomed a new director to the board: James Kelsh.

Now in 2022, we have more than 50 team members, 5 directors, two Guernsey offices, one Dubai office, 5 electric vehicles, over 150 clients and 2750+ end devices supported.

So what’s next for Resolution IT? The focus will always be keeping our clients happy. Olly and I have always said, keep your team and clients happy and the growth will take care of itself.

Aside from that, we’ll keep building more around our trainee program to support the skills-shortage on island, but as we continue to grow we have also had to start looking for talent elsewhere. It’s important to us that we have the right people for each job, and with our strong cloud infrastructure we’re lucky to be able to employ people remotely.

On a final note, Olly and I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely thank our team, clients, vendors and partners for your role in helping us reach this milestone. Here’s to the next 15 years!