VAR pins bold growth plans on 'expensive' support model

ZenZero claims its expensive support model ensures "extremely satisfied" customers

Midlands reseller ZenZero has outlined its plans to almost double in size in the coming three years, claiming its expensive IT support model will help it do so by providing exceptional customer service.

ZenZero works with the likes of Dell, Microsoft, Kaspersky and StorageCraft and has bases in Warwick and Chelmsford, which are collectively home to about 32 staff. The company is due to close its current financial year with revenues of about £2.6m but by the end of its fiscal 2018, it hopes that will rise closer to £5m. It aims to have 50 staff on its books by then too.

Its commercial director Will Brooks told CRN that its ambitious plans will be achieved by a combination of laser focus and its unusual support model, which he admits is expensive to run.

"One of the things that is important as to why we have been successful is about how we run our support team," he said.

"We do run an expensive model, so our cost base is probably higher than it should be. But that's repaid in customer satisfaction results. We don't have a traditional first-, second-, and third-line support desk, we have first response and escalation. First response is basically an engineer answering the phone. It keeps them fresh and it means the customer is getting a decent calibre of engineer when they call in.

"What that means is issues get resolved much faster than if you were calling a typical first-line engineer who would typically triage a call and then have to pass it on. In our world that doesn't happen, so you get extremely satisfied customers, and so very little churn in our customers. When we win a customer, it is going straight to increasing our business rather than just maintaining it."

About 45 per cent of ZenZero's revenue comes from annuity support and 40 per cent comes from project work. The remaining portion comes from software development, Brooks said.

He added that in the past, the company was focused on very small customers - which had between two and 20 IT users - but now, it is gunning for larger firms with between 20 and 200 users.

"They realise they can get a more cost-effective solution if they outsource to someone who has more critical mass and offers a better all-round service," he said.