The new office in Lowry Hill will allow the business to offer in-house cyber security training
An expanding IT firm has moved into new premises with the aim of offering training in cyber security for Carlisle businesses.
Cache4 IT Solutions founder Paul Crooks and his staff have moved into their new home in Hether Drive, Lowry Hill, and now have space to help the increasing number of firms needing help in defending themselves from hackers.
As well as the repair and refurbishment, laptop leasing and security advice that Cache4 has become well-known for over the past five years, they now also have the capacity to host in-house training sessions.
Mr Crooks said: “We’ve gone from having just one room for everything – including the kitchen – at our old place, to these fantastic new offices that will allow us to do a lot more and gives us the space to expand in the future.
“As well as a separate office and workshop, and a dedicated stock room, we now have a proper reception area and a training room, which will hopefully become a big part of our business.”
It’s an impressive and rapid growth from the one-man outfit that started out in 2014 as Cache4 Gadgets. Quickly realising that most of his customers were coming to him with IT-related concerns and queries, it was only a matter of months before Mr Crooks re-branded as Cache4 IT Solutions.
Moving from his loft at home to a small office in Junction Street, he then took on his first member of staff in the shape of technician Sam Williams, followed by apprentice Liam Coulthard last year – with wife Janet and daughter Abigail also involved on a part-time basis as bookkeeper and social media expert respectively. It meant that it was time to look for a larger headquarters.
Mr Crooks, who learned his trade with the Sony centre in Carlisle before going it alone, said: “When I started out, all I aimed for was to be able to buy a van and then I could be a mobile repair and IT man – I never thought I’d be doing anything like this.
“The other companies in Carlisle that offer IT services – the ‘bigger boys’ if you like – didn’t really cater for smaller businesses and homeowners, so since I started out, my aim has always been to offer that level of support but at an affordable price.”
The new training side of the business comes directly from its customers asking for advice and guidance, mostly around using the latest software and how to defend themselves against hackers.
“The majority of jobs at the moment are related to some kind of security breach, whether that’s businesses or personal security,” added Mr Crooks.
“Scammers tend to target certain kinds of people – very often it’s older people – and the first thing I always say to them is that it isn’t personal. It’s not their fault they were targeted. It would be a shame for people to not use the internet for fear of being targeted as the older generation can get a lot out of it – perhaps even more so than the rest of us.
“We want to work with people and educate them. Something we do for people for free is a computer health check, and that usually includes advice and an audit around their cyber security.”
Cache4 IT Solutions is based at 38 Hether Drive, Carlisle, CA3 0ES. Phone 01228 812614 or email [email protected]
