A leading Gwent IT company, whose yearly turnover is the top end of six figures, is expanding shortly, opening a new office in Swansea. A2Z Computing, whose offices are in a former chapel in Hereford Street, Newport, is the brainchild of Az Ashraf, whose partner is the man who taught him IT in the beginning, Howard Kirkman.
The company which embraces IT support, IT solutions, online services and a training section, has been so successful over thirteen years that many clients - among them Newport Unlimited and Caerleon Comprehensive School - have penned their praise for the company’s services.
An important ritual that keeps the company and its 12 staff on its toes are the regular Friday breakfasts starting at 8am. It’s here that problems, if any, are ironed out and importantly, future needs and commitments are talked over. ‘Whatever it is, new events, new clients, training we talk everything through,’ said Mr Kirkman, adding: ‘If a company wants IT and does not want the burden of doing it themselves we do the job. We’re a one-stop shop for total solutions.’ Mr Kirkman has been in the IT business for 25 years. ‘We used to teach but what we do now is supporting an IT structure and leaving the business of teaching to the teachers who can get on with their job without fixing errant computers.’
Mr Ashraf, whose been in the industry for the past 16 years, said: ‘Howard actually taught me. That’s how I got interested.’ The business was started in a small room of a house and expanded rapidly, so fast that Mr Ashraf approached his former teacher and asked him to join the company. ‘We support education very strongly from primary school through to comprehensive and through to university,’ said Mr Kirkman.
The partners have more than 200 clients who use A2Z solely as a backup. With seven servers available their clients who have laptops can work without any fear of losing their material even if a laptop is stolen or breaks down. ‘Our servers scoop up their material and hold it here,`said Mr Ashraf.
An important part of A2Z’s range of services is their learning centre. It is a Microsoft Academy offering various courses in Microsoft programmes and is a City and Guilds accredited centre for diplomas in IT system and support and software development. The company online services not only has remote data backup but can offer domain registration, web design, as well as broadband internet access and email solutions. Indeed, as the company titles suggests, it embraces all that is IT and you can’t do better than that.
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