2016 – What a Year for Everyone!

Written by Steve Ross

With 2016 almost over, Steve Ross takes a look back at Shackleton’s highlights from the past 12 months and looks forward to what 2017 might bring…

I’m sure 2016 will be remembered by many as a year with lots of important moments. How can anyone forget the Brexit vote or the American Presidential Elections? I almost forgot the Olympics happened. It’s safe to say there has never been a dull moment!

At Shackleton, we always have a quick glance back through the past 12 months, but this year we are more interested in the future. You can’t change the past but you can influence where you are going as an individual and as a business.

The Year in Review

I’m pleased to report that we had a good 2016, and I sincerely hope you did too. In our industry, business is constantly evolving and we saw this change with lots of exciting new products and services coming to the market during 2016.

The way we have run our business during 2016 has changed also, with particular emphasis on Shackleton becoming more efficient and productive, helping our clients through the sometimes complex world of IT. It can be fascinating, frustrating and bewildering all at the same time – but as a company we secretly love the challenge, and are already wondering what 2017 will bring!

Developing Partnerships

But what have been our most notable highlights? We’ve grown our client base whilst also putting particular emphasis on ensuring our Support Contract clients are more secure than ever before. We’ve made it our goal to make sure the business risk from their IT systems has minimised in the past 12 months. We have reviewed our support offering with IT Security coming at the top of the pile. Clients now benefit from a multi-layered approach, meaning they are protected from any internet and hacking nasties.

Back in January, we made it a goal to develop our expertise in Cloud and Business Continuity solutions. Today, developing partnerships is key to your success and we have been working more and more with the top data centre in Scotland and with the best Disaster Recovery solution providers in the marketplace.

Growing the Shackleton Team

For the team, we welcomed Steve Smith on board as our new Business Development Manager in April and Steve has slotted in with ease. He is also the top networker in the Dundee area and for that he should be congratulated! Phil Magson, a director of the business, retired last month and we wish him and Yvonne a happy and healthy retirement. He will be sitting in Spain reading this as we speak. Cheers Philip!

The Millennials are taking over the world and we have moved in that direction also. Sean Cruickshank, a 4th year Ethical Hacking student from Abertay University has been with us for six months and has helped us enormously with our security offerings. Young people help you look at the world differently at times which is never a bad thing.

Merry Christmas to Everybody!

It’s sometimes very difficult to get the whole Shackleton team in one room for any period of time as in IT support every day is different. Therefore, having a great team event is particularly important. We had one recently at the Escape Rooms in Dundee with a meal afterwards. It’s always good to bring the team together in a more relaxing environment. We’re looking forward to our Christmas Team lunch already!

Lastly, thanks to all of our clients for their continued support – we really do appreciate it. And, also to the whole Shackleton Team who do work so hard to ensure that our clients systems are always working and any downtime is minimised. Hats off guys!

Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2017.

Steve