C V Ross & Co Limited

Alan Beard, Director of Accountancy Services, C V Ross & Co Limited
CV Ross & Co Limited provides accountancy and tax consultancy services, predominantly to owner managed and family businesses. The firm provides a professional and director-led personal service, from strategic tax planning to payroll assistance. www.cvross.co.uk

“We’ve gone on to recommend iTeam Solutions to about ten of our own clients, which is the best accolade you can give anyone.”

“I’m fairly IT conversant, so during our firm’s first six months in business I was looking after our systems myself. However, by summer 2006, with the business growing, we were looking for some more structured IT support and iTeam Solutions was suggested to us by a client – a large and serious business so we knew the recommendation wasn’t made lightly!

We met James and David and got on immediately, so we handed our IT support over to them and have never looked back. In fact we’ve gone on to recommend iTeam Solutions to about ten of our own clients, which is the best accolade you can give anyone.

iTeam set up a new network server for us and we agreed a general IT support and maintenance contract. We also have quarterly visits to review any issues and developments, and we can call them in at other times if needed for consultancy.

iTeam staff quite often pass near our office, so they can drop in if necessary, but most of the work is done remotely. Time is critical for us and working this way saves downtime, which is ideal for our needs. Everything is always dealt with proficiently and professionally.

Early last year iTeam advised us to upgrade our server, which was four years-old and out of warranty, so we met to discuss requirements and they installed a bigger server with better capabilities. We shut down the old system on Friday and worked on it over a weekend, so that by Monday lunchtime we were up and running and working normally again. We have moved offices twice too and iTeam has advised us on transference, and everything has gone smoothly thanks to them.

We have 10 local printers and have had particular problems with drivers, which iTeam has been able to resolve. At the moment we also have issues with our broadband speed – it’s not really iTeam’s remit but they have taken it on and are liaising with the provider. It’s great to have someone dealing with the problem and keeping me updated, so I can get on with core business.

Another aspect of the service we really appreciate is a daily email telling us whether backup completed successfully overnight, which tape should go in next and whether the latest anti-virus update has installed. It’s a comfort update really – I like the peace of mind it gives and I don’t have to worry about it then for the rest of the day.

We always know that iTeam is there for consultancy on specific issues or if we are looking to expand, and that any problems will always be dealt with properly, effectively and promptly. It’s about confidence.

Beyond technical skills, the relationship is based on personality and being comfortable with each other, which is important to us and is how we like to work with our clients too. Some of our staff are less IT savvy but iTeam has a knack of adjusting technical language so that they understand what to do – as we do when we explain taxation to people for example.

We’ve had quite a long-term relationship with iTeam now. The team is easy to work with and we have quite a laugh too, but they are also very professional and knowledgeable – the ideal mix really.
The relationship has made a lot of sense financially too. Because previously I was dealing with everything myself, even taking infrastructure set-up costs into account, we recouped the original IT investment within 18 months in time savings, so it has paid for itself.”