The 848 Group has been named as one of the fastest growing IT solutions providers in the UK by headcount. After multiple record years in a row, 848 has been ranked 22nd in the IT Channel Oxygen Fast-Growth 50.
This is the first Channel Oxygen Fast-Growth 50 report, which profiles 50 small and medium-sized MSPs, VARs, and IT consultancies experiencing rapid employee growth. The top 50 businesses were drawn from a list of 431 firms with a headcount of 15 or more, which are actively tracked by IT Channel Oxygen.
You can read the full list of businesses in the report here.
We are so proud of the way our business has evolved over the past few years, with all new opportunities, partnerships, and customer success stories. And as a business that is reliant on its employees, our people are the primary reason for our continued growth.
Below provides a little insight into our growth through a Q&A with our CEO, Kerry Burn.
Questions with Our CEO
1) 848 is one of the UK’s fastest growing IT solutions providers by headcount. What would you attribute that to?
848 is a people business and our growth is built on the skills and expertise of our employees. We’ve had a lot of new opportunities and exciting projects over the past few years, which made us put a big focus on recruitment to find some of the best talent in the industry to deliver them. We also put a lot of time and effort into staff development, whether that’s new qualifications or learning new skills, and our employees really value this. We’re a growing, agile business and it’s an exciting place to work.
2) What do you see as your biggest growth opportunity for the next 12 months?
The conversation around AI is non-stop and is going to be a priority for a lot of IT providers. A lot of businesses are feeling the pressure to jump on AI, but very few are actually ready to do so. We’re really focusing on helping clients with AI readiness so they can leverage its capabilities effectively, responsibly, and securely. This isn’t just looking at their data and infrastructure, but the internal skills available and ability to embrace change. There’s no point rushing into the AI world without a clear strategy and capabilities.
We’re also doing a lot more with newer partners such as Arctic Wolf and BullWall as cyber security continues to be a priority for customers. 848 has always focused on delivering services and solutions that are ‘secure by design’ and now we’re expanding our security capabilities to help our clients in the complex threat landscape. We have a great team of cyber security specialists, and our new partnerships – alongside our strengths in the Microsoft stack – are enabling us to offer more when it comes to Security Operations.
3) 2024 would be a successful year if…
We continue to build our client base across all areas of the business. We have a really strong Managed Services arm with a continuously growing client base. But we also have a diverse solutions portfolio that includes networking right through to CRM and unified comms. Seeing further growth in these areas would mean we’re in for a really big year.
4) What is a strange or interesting fact about 848
When we were thinking of a name for the business, I got into a conversation with a friend who said some cultures believe the number 8 is lucky, while ‘848’ indicates lifelong success and achieving goals. It was simple and I liked it – and that’s the short story of how the name 848 came about. We never really fact checked that mind you…
IT Channel Oxygen aims to provide key updates on the UK IT channel, sustainable transformation, and technology trends. For more information on the Channel Oxygen Fast-Growth 50, visit the IT Channel Oxygen Website.