Established in November 2002 we have developed from a basic IT support company to the proactive company we are today.  The PC Office philosophy is to provide support above and beyond others.

The director of The PC Office gives insight into its direction.

Why did you start The PC Office and how is The PC Office different from other IT support companies?

I have worked in the IT industry since 1989 and have been involved in everything from box shifting to circuit board repair companies and there seemed to be something missing. Technology has progressed rapidly yet other support companies still work in the same way they did 10 years ago.  Others follow the Microsoft path, but I had a determination to make IT work invisibly. I wanted to start a company that would be proactive and reactive to problems that arise, to be able to fix things in the background and to seamlessly make systems work.  Being proactive enables us to benefit the customer tremendously by repairing things invisibly and maintaining systems with the minimum of interruption therefore saving the customer not only time but money.

Who is the target customer of The PC Office?

A typical customer is a small business owner within the Sheffield area - over 90% of our clients are within a half mile radius of our offices.  We have a community of select and IT proud clients.

What is your relationship with Microsoft?

We are a Microsoft partner but we believe that not everything is set in stone.  Where most companies would suggest that the customer moves to small business server we offer a range of options.  Our portfolio holds a selection of programmes capable of doing what Microsoft programs do at a fraction of the price and in a simple fashion. The client doesn't have to have an all singing/dancing server that when a problem occurs grinds the business to a halt.

Why is being independent and different important?

A lot of the IT industry has remained the same over the years.  We view things differently and challenge the way things work with what's important to customers so they have the best options at hand.  We spend a lot of time sourcing, testing and looking at a range of options to find the best fit for the customer. 

What else should a potential client know about The PC Office?

Our ultimate goal is to save businesses time and expense, we do this by working closely with the customer by monitoring their computers and systems.  Planning is important to us, so upgrades are regularly made to systems and costs spread out.  If the IT company that works for you tells you that everything needs to be upgraded or replaced simultaneously they haven't been monitoring the best interests of your business.  We consider it's our job to know things that other companies wouldn't necessarily look at unless they made constant visits which could be expensive.

What is your fee structure or support contracts?

For a long time our normal hourly charge has been £50 plus VAT but recently we have introduced a remote repair system which allows us to repair 80% of software problems without even leaving the building.  This reduces the cost to the customer and reduces the time taken to get support from an average of two hours to less than five minutes. Our low-cost maintenance availalbe for our support provider are paid for on a monthly basis and have produced excellent results.

The PC Office now provides an exclusive and monitored service to a reduced number of clients -businesses who realise how important their IT is and require monitoring their IT to grow and progress their business.