01732 759725
IT engineering
30
Outsourced IT support
Quentin Hoidge, Managing Director of QD Tech, talks to
Technology Reseller
about the value-add experienced IT engineers can bring to the channel
services, the company expanded to offer
training, with Dipesh Solanki joining the
team as Training Director. In 2006 they
closed the training division and created
QD Tech.
Solid foundation
QD Tech has been built on a solid
foundation of IT engineering experience
and is focused on delivering a wide range
of skills to its clients and partners within
the channel.
“Our product is our engineers and
what we do is provide our partners with
a comprehensive range of white label IT
services, from cloud services, support,
technical consulting and network services
to rollout and deployment,” Hoidge stated.
The company has seven full-time
engineers on the payroll but provides
additional resourcing for large scale
roll-outs as and when required. “We have
a strong track record of provisioning,
training and managing engineers and have
delivered projects as far afield as New
Zealand, America and Papua-New Guinea,”
he said.
The two founders have almost four
decades experience in providing onsite
and remote support and are committed to
imparting this knowledge to their engineers.
“The IT industry can be a tough one to
break into,” Hoidge said. “To some degree it
doesn’t matter how well qualified you are,
you need experience. With our background
in training, we’re very successful at
recruiting good people on short-term or
temporary contracts, which gives them the
experience they need to move on.”
Through strong partnerships and some
impressive clients, QD Tech has continued
to expand its engineer base. “Our previous
background in IT training has allowed us to
take graduates and mould them through
hands on experience, into professional
first- and second-line engineers. It’s very
satisfying that a good portion of our young
engineers do such a good job that they end
up getting employed by the client at the
end of the project,” he added.
Growth plans
QD Tech has recently recruited a sales
director to support its growth plans. Hoidge
said: “We have successfully built strong
relationships over the past ten years.
We’re reliable, deliver a great service at a
competitive price and our partners know
we’re here to stay.”
He added: “I firmly believe our
knowledge is unparalleled and we provide
high level specialist support that generally
companies don’t have access to. Our plan
now is to strategically grow the business
and win more large scale projects. We’ve
got a track record of winning business both
direct and through our partners, and we
want to build on that.”
Future plans include setting up a
specialist call centre to serve as a first-
level IT helpdesk, which via the latest
technology will also enable engineers to
fix issues remotely. “Whilst the bulk of our
work is conducted on a client’s premises,
we’re keen to expand and provide
additional services that include telephone
support and break-fix in real-time to
clients,” Hoidge said. “At the end of the day,
we’re not here to sell hardware, we provide
best-in-breed engineering expertise and
that’s what we will continue to focus on.”
0207 859 4593
•
Hoidge discovered he had a knack with
computers when he was 19 years old
and very quickly carved out a successful
career working for a number of IT support
companies. Over time, he became
disenfranchised with the whole approach
and felt very strongly that there was a
better way to support end-user clients,
which prompted him to set up his own IT
engineering company in 2000.
“I spent a few years going from client
to client and simply sorting out IT-related
problems. Engineers are highly trained
specialists and client-facing, but I felt there
was a lack of recognition for the role they
played and wanted to do things differently,”
he explained.
The company went from strength to
strength and its focus on delivering a great
customer experience paid dividends. “I
always say that 90% of the job is fixing
the client and 10% is fixing the kit. We
can teach engineers the technical skills
they need, but more important is for them
to have the right approach and to instil
confidence in the client,” Hoidge said.
In addition to providing IT support
I always say that
90% of the job
is fixing
the client and
10% is fixing
the kit
EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD
QD TECH:
IT ENGINEERING
