Member News
Smart IT has established itself as one of the industry leaders and the entire team is focused on delivering friendly and proactive IT services to over 1,000 customers across the UK.
From full network management to third-line support, the highly experienced Smart IT team has continuously grown and adapted to the ever-changing marketplace, working tirelessly to keep business IT infrastructures online and up to date 24/7.
In 2017, after years of rapid growth, the company realised that it needed to rethink its current team structure. Due to the fast-paced and expansive nature of the industry, Smart IT does not just service one type of technology or network, operating across thousands of different solutions.
This meant that hiring candidates who then needed a further six months of training in order to deliver the standard clients had grown to expect no longer made sense. Instead, it became apparent that launching an apprenticeship scheme would be a more appropriate solution for the business.
Being able to train people via a custom apprenticeship with QA would help to ensure that even the most inexperienced person would quickly earn the qualifications and skills required to meet the variety of requests Smart IT’s busy support desk sees on a daily basis. That thorough approach meant that in the same six months it would take to expose a junior engineer to their landscape, Smart IT could instead mould an apprentice into exactly what was needed.
Working on the busy help desk provides the perfect learning environment for apprentices, exposing them to every possible IT scenario imaginable and ensuring they are well-prepared for any career in the technology industry. However, with a 90% apprentice retention rate Smart IT has also managed to keep much of its experience in-house, allowing them to create two first-line support teams that can resolve any issues clients might face.
Andrew Bainbridge, Smart IT’s Service Delivery Manager, works closely with apprentices to assist them throughout their training. “I’m passionate about offering apprenticeships to those who might have been turned away. So many of our apprentices do not have any previous IT experience; they’re fresh from school or even from a different industry entirely. That is why in interviews, I do not ask about qualifications or experience; instead, I want to know the person.”
Smart IT aims to put diversity at the centre of its apprenticeship program, working to encourage more gender and cultural diversity across the IT industry. The company is actively providing time for people of different faiths to work, learn and worship as their culture requires.
Andrew concludes: “When people think of coming into the IT industry, I want them to automatically consider an apprenticeship. I want them to know that it is exciting and accessible, no matter where they are from or their experience. Apprenticeships really are an amazing opportunity to combine learning and earning.”
