Headcount: 63 (+133%)
Specialism: MSP and cloud solutions partner
HQ: Stafford
Founded by brothers Kerry and David Burn in 2010, this family-run MSP more than doubled its average monthly headcount between its fiscal 2019 and 2022, from 27 to 63.
The Microsoft, ServiceNow, Arctic Wolf, Cisco and BT Wholesale partner is a “key collaborator” of Deloitte, on whose behalf it plans, builds and runs digital transformation and IT projects.
848 Group continues to grow, with headcount currently standing at 82 (plus 12 contractors on a year or more contracts), it told us. Its name is derived from the belief in some cultures that ‘848’ indicates lifelong success.
Q&A with CEO Kerry Burn
What lies behind 848’s lightning headcount growth?
We’ve had a lot of new opportunities and exciting projects over the past few years, which made us put a big focus on recruitment to find some of the best talent in the industry to deliver them. We also put a lot of time and effort into staff development, whether that’s new qualifications or learning new skills, and our employees really value this.
What do you see as your biggest growth opportunity for the next 12 months?
A lot of businesses are feeling the pressure to jump on AI, but very few are actually ready to do so. We’re really focusing on helping clients with AI readiness so they can leverage its capabilities effectively, responsibly, and securely. This isn’t just looking at their data and infrastructure, but the internal skills available and ability to embrace change. There’s no point rushing into the AI world without a clear strategy and capabilities.
We’re also doing a lot more with newer partners such as Arctic Wolf and BullWall as cyber security continues to be a priority for customers. 848 has always focused on delivering services and solutions that are ‘secure by design’ and now we’re expanding our security capabilities to help our clients in the complex threat landscape. We have a great team of cyber security specialists, and our new partnerships – alongside our strengths in the Microsoft stack – are enabling us to offer more when it comes to Security Operations.
2024 would be a successful year if…
We continue to build our client base across all areas of the business. We have a really strong managed services arm with a continuously growing client base. But we also have a diverse solutions portfolio that includes networking right through to CRM and unified comms. Seeing further growth in these areas would mean we’re in for a really big year.
What’s a strange or interesting fact about 848?
When we were thinking of a name for the business, I got into a conversation with a friend who said some cultures believe the number 8 is lucky, while ‘848’ indicates lifelong success and achieving goals. It was simple and I liked it – and that’s the short story of how the name 848 came about. We never really fact checked that mind you…
