W&F September 2017

www.wealthandfinance-news.com 6 Wealth & Finance International - September 2017 Managing Director, Keith Ali shares with us the firm’s mission and how they engage their clients, as the interview begins. “The mission of Creative ITC is built around my mission in life. We strive to be the best you can possibly be and treat everyone with respect and as such, this philosophy is applied to everybody from the cleaner to the CEO. I think it’s important to always remember whatever role you have in a firm, we are all just human beings looking to earn a living by doing something we enjoy. I like to remind my staff of that at every possible opportunity. “We always engage a client project as if it is ours, so that involves quick mobilisation and taking last-minute changes in our stride. If something needs fixing, we’ll just take care of it, often its done proactively before their end users even notice there’s a problem. Our passion and dedication that runs throughout the business, is why our customer retention ratio is so high and keeps climbing. We’re extremely proud to be an eight-figure, referral based business that is growing by 25% year-on- year. I believe that success is built on delivering an outstanding customer experience, something that I never forget.” How does it feel to be selected as the exclusive ‘MD of the Year – UK’ Award, within the 2017 Business Elite Awards? “It’s an honour - when you’re so focused on growing the business and developing staff to represent the firm’s personality - it’s easy to forget sometimes the impact that you have. It’s not very often as an MD that you get a pat on the back, with somebody saying: ‘Well done, you’re making a real difference’. So, any recognition is nice, but to be selected as ‘MD of the Year – UK’ is extremely satisfying and I’m very proud to hold that award title for 2017. “We are in such a dynamic fast-moving industry, that staying ahead of the game is a misnomer. What’s more important, is ensuring that what you do today doesn’t close any doors for any future technologies. At Creative ITC, of course we always have an eye on the latest technologies, but ensuring our clients infrastructure and strategic direction is flexible enough to adapt to emerging technologies as they mature or sometimes fade away, I believe is the firm’s real strength.” Creative ITC’s financial performance over the past year has been impressive to say the least. “When Creative ITC started 11 years ago, we traded under a single entity ‘Creative IT Consulting Ltd’ and were a consultancy practice, turning over around £200,000 a year. Today - we have multiple entities under the Creative Group - with offices in the UK, Dubai, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Australia and Hong Kong with a 2016 combined group turnover of over £24 million between them. “In 2015, the firm turned over £12 million globally, so during the past 12 months we have doubled in turnover, whilst slightly increasing our blended gross margin from 14.8% in FY 2015 to 16.3% in FY 2016. Now, we are six months into FY 2017 and are on track to hit double-digit growth and slightly increase our blended GP margin as well. To say that we are pleased with the results and forecast, is an understatement.” Culture is something very close to Keith’s heart. Creative ITC works with of some of the world’s largest brands defining and delivering IT infrastructure solutions. Their fresh approach to delivering quality infrastructure whilst remaining grounded and honest has been part of the company’s DNA from day one, and to which they owe their remarkable success. They were honoured to achieve the prestigious ‘MD of the Year – UK’ Award, within the 2017 Business Elite Awards. To mark this achievement, we interviewed Managing Director, Keith Ali to discover the firm’s mission and his expert insights on the wider IT industry today. Driving Success 1709WF05 Company: Creative ITC Name: Keith Ali Managing Director Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.creative-itc.com LinkedIn: @keithali Address: 320 City Road London, EC1V 2NZ UK Telephone: + 44 (0) 2076 822 820 “We always engage a client project as if it is ours, so that involves quick mobilisation and taking last-minute changes in our stride.”