The community we have created here at Central over the last 30 years is the beating heart of our business, and we wouldn’t have been able to provide a valued service that clients can rely on without it. With that in mind, we’ve been keen to spotlight our behind-the-scenes team as much as possible this year — from events attendance and goings-on at HQ, to demonstrated expertise, personal achievements outside of work, and more.

If you caught our first instalment of the series, you’ll know we had a very busy and fulfilling start to the year. And with plenty of events and client-related activity spanning the spring season, it’s been an equally pacey second quarter too! Here are some of the highlights…

Success in business is not just about technology and innovation. Crucially, it’s about building strong, honest relationships to — and the best way to build a fruitful partnership is by taking the time to connect on a personal level. That’s why our team was so pleased to join Jonathan Daniels at First Garden Cities Homes for tea last month.

This client's server cabinet was a tangled mess of cables and old, outdated hardware — difficult to navigate, and troubleshooting was a nightmare. After some much needed decommissioning and re-organisation by Andrew Walker, our technical engineer, the cabinet now looks much sleeker, and operations are far more streamlined too. Excellent work, Andrew!

It was a pleasure to be involved in the annual DTX 360 expo at Manchester Central earlier this month. With an expert speaker line-up delving into all-things IT strategy and innovation, and a host of like-minded professionals to knowledge-share with, it was great to hear about the exciting technologies and methodologies shaking up the industry.

…Plus, this clone trooper knows the ultimate 'force' in a tech event is a well-timed 'firewall' shot!

We had a wheel-y good weekend earlier this month, coming together for our latest team building exercise at our local go-karting haunt. The competition was fierce and the overalls even fiercer, but it was a well deserved win for our technical architect Jordan Gallier in the end, who dominated the leaderboard.

Following closely behind Jordan on the podium was finance and business manager Darren Crompton, with technical engineer Tom Lindley in third. Excellent effort, Central team!

That’s all for Q2! We’ll be back with more of this in September, to share what the Central team gets up to over the coming months. If you’re keen to see more in the meantime, don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The community we have created here at Central over the last 30 years is the beating heart of our business, and we wouldn’t have been able to provide a valued service that clients can rely on without it. With that in mind, we’ve been keen to spotlight our behind-the-scenes team as much as possible this year — from events attendance and goings-on at HQ, to demonstrated expertise, personal achievements outside of work, and more.

It has certainly been a busy start to the year too! So, let’s see what they’ve been up to, in our first quarterly round-up…

Here, business development executive, Harley Mycock, joins cyber security specialist VIPRE’s partners-only event in Manchester. We’re always striving for continuous improvement in our relationships — and this was an excellent opportunity to develop trust, transparency, and disseminate knowledge with other like-minded professionals.

Did you know, January 31^st is National Gorilla Suit Day? Clearly, John Blackburn, our operations director, was the only one who got the memo!

We couldn’t deliver our exemplary levels of service without the expertise of our team, as well as their ceaseless drive to learn and grow. A big shout out to our technical architect, Jordan Gallier, for putting his IPAF training to use recently — as he installed a new switch to help manufacturer Aflex Hose with its digitisation project.

Here’s a look at Central’s refurbished breakout room, fitted with brand new furniture and a games console. The significance of an area for colleagues to relax and socialise is emphasised in studies examining energy levels at work. It’s important for us to have a space for our team to rebuild their energy, in order to increase engagement, boost performance, and maximise productivity. From the looks of it, finance and business manager, Darren Crompton, and sales apprentice, Joe Mulkeen, are happy about the new digs!

Earlier this month, it was great to see our client director, Mike Dunleavy, catch up with our long-time client in social housing, Lee Walsh from Bron Afron. These relationships are sustained in and out of house, through engaging and honest communication and collaboration — which has allowed us to make positive differences to people’s lives over our last three decades of operation.

Congratulations to Darren for his hard work and dedication in receiving an Advanced Driving accreditation from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)! We are endlessly proud of our team’s  ability to achieve success both inside and outside of work. Anyone fancy a spin?

Well, there goes Q1! Don’t forget to check back in June, to see what else the Central team has been up to. In the meantime, why not follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to catch more of the latest?