There comes a point in your career when you need an opportunity to really test yourself and identify if you have what it takes to be a business owner. Such opportunities can happen by default, by luck – or from hard work. In our case, there was an element of all three. I’d like to tell you a bit about how our particular opportunity transpired:

Vector has proudly served businesses in Central Scotland for 20 years, which is no mean feat in an industry as fast moving as IT – especially as that 20-year period has seen the internet move from its infancy to what it is today. The company was created by David Andrews back in 1997, starting with no commercial premises – instead operating from a spare bedroom. David had a background in photocopier sales but was looking to create an IT support company who genuinely cared about their customers – and had the capabilities to look after them.

Like most start-ups, David’s role was that of Sales Director, Finance Director and Operations Director! One of the key steps to his early success was recognising that there were important tasks that had to be carried out to ensure the business thrived – wisely, he broke those tasks down into manageable daily steps and started his hard work. He realised that Vector should be introduced to all the small businesses in Glasgow and Lanarkshire who would typically require IT support. This was going to require an OCD attitude and a very thick skin! David set about telephoning every contact on his database – around 100 calls a day, to identify the company decision maker and introduce Vector’s services. Don’t forget – this was long before modern-day tools like email marketing and LinkedIn.

It was with this hard-working attitude and knowledge that David successfully grew the business into one of the most highly regarded IT support companies in Central Scotland.

In 2012 David set the goal of retiring within the next 5 years. Over the years, he had received various notes of interest from companies looking to acquire Vector – but to put it simply, they just didn’t have the resources to write a cheque. It was at this point David realised he was going to need to create a management team who could carry the mantle – and eventually buy him out.

Hence, our opportunity arising. In April 2017, David and his wife Janette finally retired – moving to Spain. The reigns of the business were passed to their new management – Ewan McKay as Finance Director, Scott Cassidy as Technical Director and myself, Kevin Mitchell as Service Director. The three of us have worked for Vector for many years and bring together a skill set which we’re certain will continue to drive the business forward for the next 20 years.

I have been part of the service team since 2006 and learned my trade working alongside David for 11 years. Scott joined the team in 2012 and promptly promoted to a senior engineer’s position after clearly demonstrating his technical knowledge and unrivalled commitment to our customers. Ewan has acted as external accountant for Vector for 17 years – and became a non-executive director 5 years ago. The management team are all of a similar age and mindset – we firmly believe we can grow the company even further over the coming years.

Over the past 5 years VectorCloud have developed relationships with world-class companies and insist on using only industry leading products. This puts us in the prime position to help protect the businesses of Central Scotland – especially during this period of heightened cyber security threats and ransomware attacks.

We have exciting plans to market our company and products over the coming months – so you’ll no doubt see our name more frequently, whether that’s on LinkedIn, Google or through direct mail. Don’t worry though, we have no plans to cold call your company, it’s not a tactic we believe in – Vector and the world in general have come a long way since David sat down with that database 20 years ago.

I look forward to speaking to you soon.

Best

Kevin