Shift F7 Group ups headcount as it guns for growth

Fast-growing VAR taken on key new staff and has invested in datacentre gained through DSL acquisition

Aggressively growing VAR Shift F7 Group has hailed a successful first six months since it acquired Datashare Solutions (DSL).

The firm, which was awarded CRN’s One to Watch award at the 2012 Channel Awards, snapped up DSL six months ago as part of its plan to acquire non-competing businesses and double in size.

Since the acquisition, Shift F7 Group has upgraded the DSL Datacentre with a range of technologies including the VMWare Vsphere v5.1 for DC replication, development of a multi-tenanted VDI delivery platform and a disaster recovery portal to improve communication and access for staff to key information.

John Eady, managing director of DSL, said: “Delivering enhanced core solutions to existing and new clients has always been our aim. However, we can really give it our full attention now with the group admin functions giving us more time to focus on projects.”

It has also taken on five new starters since the beginning of the year, including Sue Beckwith as group marketing manager and Mark Robson, who joined from 2e2 where he worked as a technology consultant. His new role includes delivering technology adoption and training solutions – including a skills and training portal – as part of a drive to increase client learning content on the Shift F7 site.

Garry King, chief executive of the Shift F7 Group, said: “It has taken us six months since the Datashare Solutions acquisition to merge our operations and now we work well together – the cultural fit between the two companies being one of the major successes of the whole process.

“We are collectively investing now in infrastructure, communications and employees which will show a positive bottom line in six to 12 months’ time. I am really pleased with the outcome and our development and future acquisitions will all play a part in our growth aspirations.”