Stockton-on-Tees-based Circle Cloud, which specialises in providing IT support packages to SMEs that include cyber security as standard, has agreed a five year deal with Elddis Transport.

The business has plans to double its team of eight over the next 12 months, with growth has been driven by focusing on providing value to SMEs.

The focus on the SME market has seen Circle Cloud certified by Microsoft as a specialist in the SME sector.

Tomas Roberton, director of Circle Cloud, said: "As a provider who are purpose built for SMEs, there is an opportunity to provide a first-class service to these businesses.

"A lot of consolidation in the IT sector typically results in SMEs being left unsatisfied with larger providers who may not see them as their priority. Our business aim is to focus on meeting the needs of the SME and to continue to build our reputation as the best IT provider for companies with under 100 IT users.”

Elddis Transport, a national logistics firm based in Consett, has worked with Circle Cloud for the past ten years and have recently migrated its IT infrastructure to the Microsoft cloud to improve stability, uptime, and ease of access to their remote locations.

Richard Toner, Elddis commercial director, said: "Signing a five-year contract with Circle Cloud means we continue to receive support from their excellent helpdesk team whilst also implementing their comprehensive cyber security measures.

"In the coming months we will be utilising their 24/7 security operations centre to provide around the clock monitoring and response to Cyber Security threats. This alleviates our concern that having security monitoring during office hours only means the damage by an attack could be done by the time somebody looked at it the next day."

Michael Povey, a director of Circle Cloud who has worked closely with Elddis, added: "This is excellent news for us, to extend our relationship and sign a new five year contract with Elddis Transport who are a family business with long history in the region."

Tomas Roberton, technical director from Circle Cloud, said: "Many businesses, particularly with 100 or fewer IT users, have IT Support in place but are left to take the initiative to begin the cyber security conversation and tackle this ever-increasing issue. Our aim is to provide companies of this size with Cyber Security as standard without asking the customer to make to many decisions along the way."

Neil Stephenson, previously CEO of Stockton based managed service provider Onyx has recently started working with Circle Cloud. His knowledge of the SME market and proven track record growing a business in this sector makes him well suited to help steer the leadership team to achieve its growth ambitions.

Original article written by Laurence Kilgannon of Insider Media