No aspect of working in the comms channel enthuses Astro Communications Managing Director Steve Hodges more than delivering an impeccable customer service. From giving clients what they really want to encouraging and nurturing tomorrow's business leaders, he is the embodiment of everything that's good in our industry.
Dartford-based Astro was established in 1984 by two of its current owners, Steve Smith and Rob Trollope, who at that time worked for Cable&Wireless. They saw the industry's focus shifting more towards technology rather than the customer experience, and they believed that to be successful the two must go hand in hand.
More recently, Astro has undergone a challenging two-year transformation programme, migrating from project-centric revenues in favour of recurring revenues. "Moving from an up-front model to a drip-fed one while taking on new members of the team and investing in core infrastructure so we could become a fully independent ISP has been hard work at times, but very rewarding," said Hodges. "We've built an incredible platform for moving us forward. Maintaining our independence and adapting to the changing landscape of our industry has been our greatest source of success."
Hodges' primary focus is controlled growth while maintaining Astro's position of being cash generative and delivering an excellent service. The company is on target to hit £3 million revenues this year, representing over 30 per cent growth on last year. Hodges expects £4 million next year. "While top line revenue is important to us as an enabler for our development, we're also focusing on the proportion of our business that's made up of recurring revenue which has grown from 10 per cent to 30 per cent over the last two years, and we hope to get it up to 50 per cent by the end of 2016," explained Hodges. "Repeat business and customer longevity are also key measures for us. By the end of 2017 we will have doubled the size of the business and we have more ambitious plans that form part of our 2020 vision."
Hodges is not wholly focused on turnover growth. There's more to Astro than financial goals. "I've been involved in businesses that have focused just on revenues and it can come at the cost of customer focus, service delivery and staff engagement," he said. "We'll continue to grow Astro but remain committed to delivering a first class customer experience, technical excellence and value for money."
Hodges is just as determined to remain independent and not be beholden to any specific vendors. "We cover all technologies from cabling to cloud applications and genuinely pick the best solutions for our customers' needs," added Hodges. "It sounds a little clichéd but when customers come to us with specific business challenges to solve we get involved in lots of vendor agreements to provide the best solution."
Astro has been involved in some significant projects over the years. The company designed the wireless network that the Heathrow T5 driverless car system runs on, recabled Hiscox Insurance after the Bishopsgate bomb wreaked havoc in central London, and for many years delivered a managed service for IPC Magazines, as the company still does for Bourne Leisure up and down the country.
"We continue to be asked to move customers' key services into the core of our network and are more and more involved in virtual infrastructures and centralised services," added Hodges. "It seems to be the nature of communications that everything boils down to just being an application or a service, including voice, so we're excited by the prospect of Software Defined Networks, the Internet of Things and developments in access technologies that enable faster, more resilient and more highly available connectivity.
"Focusing on delivering core connectivity and helping customers with their WLAN, LAN and WAN infrastructure has enabled us to be involved in every aspect of their IT and comms. As a result we have done some major projects in video conferencing, Unified Communications and SIP services, all from solution sales through to managed services."
Hodges would like to see Astro remain a boutique service provider, delivering both run-of-the-mill and technically challenging solutions with a level of flair and customer focus. "Our underlying service model is somewhere between First Direct and John Lewis," he said. "If we can achieve all that and reach £10 million turnover by the end of 2020 I will not be at all disappointed.
"I am confident that Astro will continue to develop from a revenue and EBIT perspective as well as in the complexity of the projects we get involved in and the services we deliver. That is the most fantastic thing about our industry. Our client list is growing every month, mainly through customer referrals, and we're attracting some fabulous talent to the business to support our transformation. I am grateful to be in an industry that affords us the opportunities to develop talented people and watch them go on to do great things. To have two of the final three in the ITP's SMB Apprentice of the Year awards was a great boost to our business at every level, and I see the strategy of developing young talent as being key to our evolution."
Hodges began his career in comms in 1995 with a part time job for a cable company. He then looked after corporate clients at WorldCom in the early days of the industry. "Being in the City and working for companies that wholly relied on comms gave me a real sense of the value our industry brings to an organisation," stated Hodges. "It planted the seeds of what has become my most passionate professional subject - customer service."
Astro now has 24 employees and a team of around 10 contractors who have worked with the firm for over 20 years, so they are classed as 'part of the family', a sentiment that reflects the bond Hodges develops with colleagues past and present. "I have worked with excellent people and had some fantastic customer relationships over the years, but while I do keep in touch with many of them there are many more with whom I'd also like to have had more regular contact," he said.
"We are privileged to be part of such a dynamic industry. There are not many other markets where the fast paced, highly progressive and developmental nature of what we achieve directly impacts and improves so many peoples' businesses and lives in general. It pains me to see people not make the most of this or take it for granted. I look around the industry from time to time and see people who are taking up valuable space where more enthusiastic personalities with a greater contribution to make are held back waiting for others to move on. When it comes to leadership in this industry I am fond of adopting the view of the band Reverend and the Makers, 'If you're not living on the edge, you take up too much room'."