Swan Communications was formed in Hertfordshire in 1992 as a simple partnership established to provide and manage Engineering resources for manufacturers such as Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya and Telrad directly, as well as for their network of Dealers and Distributors. At this time Swan handled all southern based installations for PC World, Currys and Littlewoods Stores amongst many others as well as other contract work throughout the UK.
The business' growing National profile allowed a move of its head office functions to the West Country at a prominent Trading Estate location in Exmouth whilst retaining a presence in the South East.
During 1999 and 2000 Swan became a Dealer in its own right specialising in Alcatel-Lucent solutions, as well as continuing to provide contract engineering services, and quickly accumulated its own portfolio of over 60 SME clients nationally. This phase of growth and the advantageous commercial and legislative framework of the time led to Swan incorporating as a Limited Company in April 2000.
The next few years were characterised by a further period of organic growth focused on strong Customer Service principles and this saw the client list rise to over 270 with a further commensurate increase in staff numbers.
In late 2005 Swan acquired Outlook Business Systems providing immediate supplementation of a further 60 SME and Large Corporate clients into the customer base.
Swan were awarded the accolades of 'Fastest Growing Re-Seller’ with MTV Telecom in 2005 and again with Sphinx in 2007 which, after an essential period of integration and consolidation, proved to be the biggest year yet for swan. This saw significant investment in human resources, infrastructure and improved business processes built upon deployment of Microsoft CRM throughout the company. This was integrated with a widespread re-structure, re-branding and re-launch of the company in partnership with Mango (ICT) Ltd.
In the second half of the year John Benfold was appointed as Financial Director, in addition to which new Sales Consultant, Account Manager, IT Manager and Web Developer roles were established and resourced. These changes enabled the company to target and secure several new Blue Chip clients worldwide. Swan also established its first overseas presence with a satellite office in Budapest.
The start of 2008 brought a, by now, much needed relocation to prestigious new offices incorporating space for a new IT Department, Technical Assistance Centre and Training Facilities. On the back of this significant human and financial investment Swan is targeting a 100% growth in revenue in 2008.
In July 2008 Swan will establish a new representative office in Mauritius serving Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This will also serve a number existing clients based in Dubai; an area of planned expansion in the coming years.
Whilst, compared to some, we remain a relatively small company in terms of direct employees, our scope is vast and our ability to successfully implement large projects should not be under estimated. We have purposely avoided accelerated growth as we strive for stability and longevity first and foremost which we see as fundamental strengths in today's highly competitive and fast-paced business environment.
It is our firm belief that it is not the size of our organisation that allows us to successfully operate in this manner, rather our ability to manage the people that make it happen. We provide nothing short of 1st Class Service & Support and we do this by constantly evaluating and improving our internal processes, by listening and then adapting to the ever changing needs of our customers.
Our methodology is simple: You talk, we listen and together we take action.
