How It All Started
An insight into how we started to where we are today
'Hi, I’m Mark Cronin, founder and Managing Director of MSC IT Solutions.
Running a successful business is not without it's challenges however, I’m amazed what my team and I have achieved since we started up in June 2011. Back then I was a one man band working from a spare room. Now we have a team of 12 amazing staff and a very strong foundation for our wonderful clients. We offer a wide range of IT Services and support more than 6,000 people day to day with their IT, not only in the UK but across Europe too in schools, colleges and businesses.'
My Journey
I started my “IT journey” returning to work at the secondary school I had just left at the age of 16. Classroom-based education was never really for me, so went into an apprenticeship. From here I gained a lot of experience and various qualifications before being accepted onto a flagship apprenticeship scheme within the local college and working with an adult training provider supporting multiple training centre’s and offices around the North East.
After completing this scheme, I was hired by Hartlepool College of FE as a technician, before 18 months later deciding to give full-time education another go and heading to Teesside University. 9 months later after completing Year 1 with flying colours I decided (again) that full-time education was not for me and returned to IT, this time as a contractor for Capita as a desktop engineer within the government BSF (Building School’s for the Future) scheme – simply putting computers on desks and racking switches in new build schools all around the country.
Our Business
After successfully working my way up into various positions across multiple schemes around the UK (working with over 60 schools and colleges) – a lot of hard work and training, BSF came to an end. I then moved into various government-based contracts, working as an Infrastructure Architect and Technical Project Manager for organisations such as ATOS, Capita, NHS BSA, MOD and NNB (New Nuclear Build). It was during my time working with NNB that I realised that large enterprise was no longer for me; and my passion for helping educational organisations and Small to Medium Businesses was where I was meant to be.
A colleague and I decided to start our first education specific MSP, and this started the journey to the business you see today. The business thrived while our partnership didn’t! We amicably split after four years. All the clients from that MSP business are still clients of MSC today, and two of our original staff are still here too.
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