Two Yorkshire headquartered cloud tech firms have collaborated in the hope they can supercharge the digital transformation solutions delivered to clients.
Managed IT specialist CloudCoCo, based in Leeds, will strengthen the cybersecurity offering provided by Huddersfield’s Vapour. And in return, network specialist Vapour will enhance CloudCoCo’s infrastructure with the addition of security-first SD-WAN connectivity – described as a cost-effective, scalable cloud technology that integrates network and user security, with ease, for high performance remote working.
The alliance signals the latest in a series of strategic partnerships for Vapour.
Vapour’s CEO Tim Mercer, said: “Organisations – certainly in the larger SME market and above – don’t expect or want a vendor to be a ‘jack of all trades’ anymore.
“They seek to place their trust in a small number of proven experts who will listen carefully to the brief and deliver exactly what the business needs. Partnerships, in this environment, are therefore key. But they have to be carefully formed, between specialists whose technologies, standards, and cultures, are on a par, with no exceptions.”
Mercer added: “We’re here to demystify cloud technologies to make the impossible, possible. You can only do that by remaining straight-talking and customer focused at all times, and sometimes going against the grain. We’re not afraid to do that, and neither is CloudCoCo. I think both companies – and the teams within them – are respected for their honesty, so we’re a good fit when it comes to devising solutions, together.”
Like Tim, Mark Halpin’s cloud-first vision was also dismissed when he too left the corporate world to set up CloudCoCo. Fast forward three years, and the business now has more than 1,000 customers, £27m turnover, and has recently acquired managed service provider IDE Connect and Nimoveri IT Support.
Halpin said: “I was told I was cloud cuckoo for believing the managed IT sector had become slow, unresponsive, boring and broken, so in April 2018 I left my long-term job and built a company of agile, fiercely passionate, and supremely talented cloud, cybersecurity, connectivity, hardware and hosted voice professionals.
“Tim and I share a similar back story and many values too – not least a passion for delighting customers with the help of progressive people and powerful technology that doesn’t have to be complicated. This partnership could mean great things for both our respective teams. CloudCoco has an unlimited ambition in terms of growth, so the future starts now.”
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