09 Mar 2023 Our 10 years in business
2023 marks 10 years since One Connectivity was founded and we think that’s something to celebrate!
Keeping our vision simple, we were determined to bring corporate standards of digital infrastructure to businesses of all sizes. Ten years on, as one of the UK’s leading independent providers delivering complete business communication solutions. We are proud of what our team has achieved and wanted to share our story.
The Founders
Every successful business must begin somewhere, and One Connectivity is no different.
In April 2013, four close friends – Paul, Carmen, Phil, and Jules all arrived back from a three-week trip to South East Asia. We were feeling refreshed but were all individually contemplating ‘what’s next in life?’ Thoughts of starting a new business or wanting to emigrate abroad were ideas already in some of our heads and were yet to be shared. A few weeks later, these thoughts turned into conversations.
It was on a trip to Spain, whilst chatting over bread, aioli and wine, the conversation turned onto our individual future plans. Phil and Julia were already very successful professionals – with years of mobile solutions experience between them. Paul had successfully become Head of Unified Comms at the same business, and Carmen had been running her own company, designing and managing high end wedding events throughout the UK.
During this trip, we flippantly touched on the idea of setting up our own business and doing things our own way. We wanted to bring transparency to the industry, deliver customers the service they deserved and bring a fresh approach to the business mobile world.
The beginning of the business – Summer 2013
Leading up to registering the business, was a summer of planning. Business plans, brainstorms and brand ideas were mapped out. We knew for the business to stand out in an over saturated market, it needed a name that was easily remembered. We wanted the brand to touch our senses and colours to complement who we are as people.
We spent months perfecting the logo, branding, business model and all the necessary requirements to start a business. Setting high standards to match our vision.
By September 4th, 2013, One Connectivity was officially registered!
Adding to the fun of starting a new business, Paul and Carmen decided it was time to expand the team early on, discovering they were having a baby in the same month as registering the business. After 5 years of trying to start a family, this was an exciting addition to the journey.
The early years
We were in a very fortunate position, friends and family had great belief in us and became part of the team. Dave Bird joined in the September as Sales Director. And, in October 2013, Pete, Ka, Dave, and Dawn joined the One Connectivity team and are all still team members today (except for Dawn who decided to take some time out to enjoy life.)
In 2014, we moved from a co working space to a new office by the waterfront and continued to grow from there.
Three years in, we made the decision to switch from just mobiles to telecoms. The team at Pragma helped with the transition, and we’ve worked with them ever since. At the same time, we also launched our connectivity service and continued to strengthen our reputation in the industry.
By 2018, One Connectivity’s success was continuing to flourish. With growth comes expansion and we needed a bigger premises, so we moved to the Castle Donnington site. From a start-up business of four adults and a baby, we now had a team of thirty members and started to offer energy as another service to our clients.
Our biggest challenges
We’ve been very successful over the last 10 years but unfortunately, there has also been challenges.
Sadly, events happen for which you cannot prepare. In 2017, we suddenly lost one of our founders and directors, Phil Butts at the age of 43. Phil was a big part of One Connectivity right from the start and was always going to be in its future. The soul of the party, Phil had a passion for life, always making people smile. Losing Phil not only changed the dynamics and the way we’d planned to grow the company, but it was tough on a personal level for many in the business. We have many happy memories of Phil and still continue to use his phrase “Teamwork makes the dreamwork.”
Starting as a small family business and growing to employ 30 staff presents challenges. We’ve had to adapt as the team grows and it’s highlighted the importance of ensuring the whole team feel involved and enjoy working at One connectivity.
Like many businesses, Covid presented a whole host of challenges and One Connectivity had to adapt not only for their staff, but for their clients as well.
Our proudest achievements
In our 10 years we have accomplished so many things and have many achievements to celebrate
Our top 10 achievements in ten years would be:
- Starting the business!
- Making it past the 2-year mark- knowing that many businesses fail within the first 2 years.
- Reaching 20 members of staff, then reaching 30!
- Promoting Paul-Simon Brown to technical director
- Reaching a turnover of £3million within the first 5 years of trading
- The business growing enough to be able to split into departments which better served our clients. Still continuing to work as one team though.
- Overseas incentive team trips to Marbella, Mexico and Tenerife
- Surviving lockdown and keeping our core team
- The acquisition of Elite Telecoms
During the past 10 years, our passion, dedication, and success has led us to winning awards. In 2019 we won LG Ericsson/Pragma 2019 Fastest Growing Partner. 2020 saw us win Cloud Reseller of the Year and in 2021 we came out as Best Partner of the Year.
To the future
As we move forward into the next chapter, we want One Connectivity to continue to grow organically. With a focus on becoming more environmentally friendly, adding IT services and support to our portfolio. We will also continue to develop our team with the overarching aim of being the best in the industry.
One Connectivity has achieved so much in the last decade, what started out as four friends discussing how they could do it better, has turned into a successful business with an amazing team.
Here’s to the next 10 years. We’re looking forward to the 20th anniversary already.
Find out more about One Connectivity. Head to our website