"Tech is about enablement", says UK IT finalist Intercity's Richard West

November marks the return of the UK IT Awards. For the first time in two years, the industry's best and brightest will gather in Battersea to meet their peers, share stories and celebrate each other's successes.

With hundreds of entries, reaching the shortlist is a great achievement in itself. As Richard West, COO of two-category finalist Intercity, says, "The value isn't just in the winning, it's the taking part."

What is Intercity all about?

Intercity was founded in 1985 as an independent service provider, at the dawn of mobile technology in the UK. The company experienced rapid tech start-up growth and grew from 1 to 80 employees in just 18 months. As of 2021, Intercity now has circa 200 employees across 4 office locations.

Capitalising on continued growth, Intercity diversified its portfolio (through investment and acquisitions) to become a true end-to-end IT managed services provider. With 35 years' experience, we pride ourselves on being one of the few businesses that can securely bridge the IT gap between home and corporate working.

Today, Intercity is proud to have delivered innovative digital workplace and enterprise mobility solutions to over 4,000 known public and private businesses, large and small, across the globe. These range from public sector organisations like the Environment agency, to global enterprises like Ingeus.

What makes you different from your peers?

Technology is so much more than just what it is; it's about enabling amazing things to happen, that's why we love it. Technology is the NHS performing life changing surgery, the police getting to a critical incident or a charity delivering aid to those that need it most.

But we'll let you in on a little secret: the technology isn't the most important part of making it happen.

So, what does make us special? It's all about Do More. It sums up the way our people work, what we deliver to our customers, and how we deliver it. We enable our clients to do the things they're currently doing but better, and enable them to do new things they've never done before. We also back this up with sector leading NPS scores, two ** Best Companies awards, and we're in the top 50 mid-sized business to work for in the UK. 

We believe that having a team of colleagues who enjoy what they do every day, and who live and breathe our values, allows us to give our customers an experience that no other technology partner can. We measure this continually and will never rest in pursuit of excellence and market leading customer satisfaction.

What was your proudest company achievement in the last 12 months?

Earlier this year, we were awarded a coveted ‘2 Star Accreditation' by Best Companies in recognition of ‘Outstanding levels of workplace engagement'.

Intercity also came 9th in Top Telecoms Businesses to Work for, 50th in the top UK Mid-Sized Businesses and 19th in the Best Companies to Work for in the Midlands. The Best Companies award highlights the advances the company has made to its engagement strategy over the past year and also acknowledges the adaptations made during the pandemic to ensure the continuation of support for colleagues, customers and partners.

In addition, the business has recently seen its NPS score further increase to an industry-leading +65, acknowledging the company's excellence in workplace engagement.

What are you working on this year?

A significant number of projects this year have focused on us delivering critical national infrastructure - enabling businesses to switch to hybrid ways of working, delivering seamless communications, collaboration and security to entities that have needed it most during the pandemic, such as blue light, councils and critical care - keeping the country going during a pandemic.

To continue to support these customers in a way that delivers world-class standards, we have an ongoing NPS strategy to drive the customer service it delivers. This year, that score has risen to an impressive +65 - significantly above what is seen across the industry and a score that is continually supported by strategy to improve upon.

Why are events like the UK IT Industry Awards important to the IT industry?

The value isn't just in the winning, it's the taking part. Successful events can be the catalyst for growth and success of businesses.

The events industry has undergone significant change through the pandemic; organisers have had to adapt to new trends and changing consumer preferences. Events like this are now creating a face-to-face experience for businesses, creating value instead of the usual selling face-to-face opportunities.

Having the opportunity to inspire innovation, educate attendees on new products and services, facilitate the sharing of ideas, and help people build and evolve connections among peers or within the marketplace is hugely powerful, that is the value of taking part.