Having first set up a car-washing business together aged 12, Gavin Jones and Sean Smith graduated to IT support in 2003 when they launched Planet IT. Co-Managing Director Jones opens up on what lies behind the swift growth of the Oxfordshire-based outfit, which ranked 20th in Oxygen Fast-Growth 50 2024…
What lies behind Planet IT’s swift headcount growth?
The way we look after our people is different. Bigger businesses probably do this, but as a small business I think how we look after our staff is unheard of. We’re doing engagement surveys every quarter, and then putting things in place every quarter. Whatever they ask for, there’s a chance they’re going to get it. We don’t wait until the end of the year to say ‘here you go guys, you can get a volunteer day’, or ‘here’s what we’re doing for your wellbeing’. We’re just quicker at resolving everything – we don’t wait around.
We’ve been doing apprenticeship schemes for the last eight years – we do try to grow our own talent base internally.
We win clients because of our people, and ultimately that leads to more vacancies being created – and that’s why you’ve seen the sharp increase.
We’re also very flexible with our clients. There is no one-size-fits all.
What’s the story behind how you and Sean founded Planet IT?
I’ve known him since I was 10. We had a car-washing business when we were 12. I wanted to buy a Game Boy. For him it was fishing tackle. Fast forward 14 years – Sean had been travelling, I was working in IT. My cousin lent me his credit card because at the time the banks wouldn’t give you a loan unless you were putting your house on the line.
We predominantly fired up as a box shifter – just hardware and software – and that was it.
The longer it’s gone on, the more we’ve realised that people need services. That’s been the biggest growth part of our business. Having been a salesperson, I never thought I’d see the day where we have more technical than sales people. But there are probably three or four techies to every one salesperson in our business now.
What services have you added to your portfolio most recently?
The biggest drive has been managed threat response. It’s just bolstering up more of what the customers need to make sure they remain protected.
We always make sure our guys are trained and certified on the leading products, because services have become what we’re selling almost as much as hardware and software. I remember a vendor saying 10 years ago that for every pound you make on the hardware, you’ll make two on services. I never believed it, but it’s true.
Who owns the business?
Sean and I own 90% of the business, and 10% is owned by [Technical Director] Nick [Johns] and [Sales Director] Adrian [Sweeney]. Adrian has been with us for 18 years and we gifted him that about eight or nine years ago. Nick has been with us for ten years. And then we’ve got associate directors who we put into an EMI share scheme, which we have found to be amazing. We want people to be rewarded for their loyalty.
What keeps you awake at night as an IT solutions provider MD? The risk of customers in terms of what they’re exposed to. Not every customer is going to want to buy everything to protect themselves, so if they’re exposed, it feels like we’re exposed as well.
Other than that it’s just the staff being fulfilled. Without them, we don’t have anything. As much as Sean and I have grown this business, I would honestly say that with our skills set it would have got to 20 or 30 people. The fact that it’s grown to over 100 people has been down to the other people in the business.
Planet-IT ranked 20th in Oxygen Fast Growth 50 2024, which was produced in partnership with Giacom
