View from the channel 01732 759725 32 Adam Monaghan Alex Viola Lee New needed at the time,” says Lee. Over the next few years, the Directors gradually built up the business, making use of serviced offices to accommodate growth, including the Arena Business Centre in Segensworth, near Fareham, before in June 2021 moving to their current location in St Mary’s Place, Southampton. “The business really took off when we moved here three years ago because it allowed us to create our own identity. In a serviced office, there were limitations on what we could do – even little things like what screens we were able to put on the wall. It became really important for us to have an office we could put our own stamp on.” “Segensworth was fantastic, but we didn't have our own office there, which was fine until you needed to have a private conversation. And we didn't have a boardroom so there was nowhere we could invite suppliers. We didn't have a break room. We didn't have a stock room – it was one square office.” F One’s new premises have all those facilities and a city centre location, which is a big attraction for the young, energetic staff Lee is looking to recruit. “When we were at the Arena Business Centre, because hardly any young people drive anymore, they would have a 30-minute or 40-minute walk from the train station, and just popping out to get a sandwich was impossible. There was nothing around. Now, we’re in the centre of Southampton, people can go out and grab some lunch and we can take suppliers out. It’s a very social environment. Before, because of where we were, the social activities that we could do as an office or as a team were limited. “We had a good core in Segensworth – and everyone from there is still with us – but every time we tried to add to that core there just weren't the right people. A major reason for the move was recruitment and that's proven to be successful. If you look around the office now there's not one person that isn't a crucial cog. Everybody knows their job, everybody knows what they need to do, everyone works hard and everyone works for each other.” At the end of June, F One took the whole company to Benidorm for the weekend as part of its first incentive programme. This year, the reward is a ski trip. “These incentives aren't just profitdriven. They are also driven by customer thermometer – how many positive Google reviews we receive; how many gold stars and mentions for the internal tech team. Last year was the first time we ran such a scheme and it proved to be a great success.” Catalyst for growth F One’s move has also been the catalyst for a new growth phase, including a 50% increase in turnover last year, from £2.3 million in February 2023 to £3.5 million in February 2024. Exceptional as it was, Lee sees last year’s performance as a true reflection of the company’s capabilities. “We were one of the fortunate ones during Covid because we had a base of customers that still needed broadband, that still needed phone lines, that needed to work from home. That base ticked over, but Covid did stop fresh growth as we were unable to go out and sell to new customers. If Covid hadn’t happened, we would probably be another year ahead of where we are now.” Today, F One’s product offering has four main pillars: phone systems, accounting for around 60% of its business; internet (20%), mobiles (10%) and Wi-Fi (10%). It has 1,300 customers nationwide, predominantly small businesses, with an average of 6 to 8 seats, but also some larger organisations like Hampshire County Council for which it is a preferred supplier for local schools. Much of F One’s recent growth has been driven by the addition of business-grade WiFi to its portfolio as a natural complement to its cloud-based telephony solutions. This was initially prompted by enquiries from care home customers that have become much more reliant on cloud services. F One Technologies started life ten years ago in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, in the bedroom of Solutions Director Adam Monaghan. He and fellow co-founders Alex Viola, Operations Director, and Lee New, Sales Director, had worked together at Peach Technologies (now Tailor Made Technologies) before leaving to set up their own business selling phone systems, internet connectivity and mobiles. They started their new venture with a combined investment of just £25,000 and a lot of goodwill from contacts they had made at Peach, notably NEC, which, because it had dealt with them before was prepared to waive the normal requirement of two or three years’ trading for new partners. Today, F One Technologies leads with NEC’s Univerge Blue cloud-based phone system and is one of just 10 NEC Platinum Partners in the UK. Gamma was less accommodating, initially, demanding a partner signing on fee of £5,000, returnable after six months. However, that relationship has proved equally important for F One Technologies, which from the start has resold Gamma’s internet connectivity products and Horizon telephony services. “Five thousand pounds was 20% of what we started with,” explains Lee. “We thought long and hard about whether giving up £5,000 was the right thing to do at that point, even though we knew we’d get it back. In the end we paid up and I'm glad we did. We've now been working with those guys for 10 years and they're fantastic – they invest huge amounts of money in the product and huge amounts of money in marketing that we can make use of.” First steps F One quickly secured a mobile comms contract with a company called Faversham Ships and moved into its first office, a converted barn with four desks on a farm in Titchfield. “I'm not exaggerating when I say chickens would walk in and out of the building. It was that type of place. But it was exactly what we New directions Ahead of its 10th anniversary next month, Technology Reseller speaks to F One Technologies Co-founder and Sales Director Lee New about the Southampton-based telecoms provider’s expanding product and services offering
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