A North East IT company has celebrated its 10^th anniversary by opening its fourth office on Teesside. 

Razorblue Group already employs over 40 people across its Catterick and Leeds bases, and has just posted record results, having grown 39% in the last financial year.

Managing Director Dan Kitchen – who went to Red House School and lives on Teesside – said the expansion into Wynyard Business Park was “like coming home”.

Although Razorblue is retaining its offices in Catterick and Leeds, as well as continuing to grow their London staff base, the opening of this new office is key in helping business achieve further growth.

“At Catterick we experienced problems with recruitment – and although we will keep recruiting in that area – we feel there are greater opportunities here, to find new talent from Teesside and the other local universities,” said Mr Kitchen. 

Over the next 12 months Razorblue will employ 10 more people at its 2,500sqft Wynyard site to work with its current clients – who include Sports Direct, Wensleydale Creamery and financial advisors Gale & Phillipson – and support its growth plans to increase turnover by over 30% in the next 12 months.

“Although this is a new office, this is not new territory for us,” said Mr Kitchen. “We already have a large client base in Teesside, Darlington and Newton Aycliffe – having a presence here will only help us to grow further”.

He added: “What we have to offer, I believe, gives us the edge over our competitors.”

Razorblue began as a cloud hosting business – and still works with some of its early clients – but has gradually evolved.  Now it offers expertise in Managed IT Support, Cloud, Super-Fast Connectivity, Telecoms & Bespoke Business Software. 

“We became an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in 2009 and built our own network. We also wholly-own our cloud infrastructure and the knowledge behind that goes back more than 10 years. Very few of our competitors in this region have that in-depth level of knowledge or control, and that results in a better more joined up service for our clients.”

Mr Kitchen, now 26, was born in Sunderland, grew up in County Durham and North Yorkshire.

Razorblue’s steady growth over 10 years has been built on its technical excellence, repeat business, recommendations and market intelligence. Its success has come amid dramatic change in the IT sector, but – said Mr Kitchen – that will continue to be the case.

“We’ve got to move with the market and keep up with the times – that’s what we’ve done for the 10 last years and is why we continue to grow.  If new technology comes to the market you’ve got to embrace it,” he said.