Nouveau Solutions among the top 50 companies on The Thames Valley SME 100 Growth 2021

The Business Magazine asked the CEOs and leaders of the Thames Valley SME 100 Growth listing, which celebrates the region’s high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises, to share their experience of managing a company in 2021. We asked Mark Lloyd, the business unit manager at Nouveau Solutions, the following three questions:

• What were your toughest challenges over the past year?
• What were your biggest wins?
• What are your wildest ambitions for the coming year?"

Nouveau Solutions provides end-to-end IT solutions and services. From strategy to delivery and ongoing support, the Wokingham-based company specialises in transformative cloud, infrastructure, compliance, network and security solutions. Nouveau Solutions had an overall growth of 20% this year and a turnover of 7.2%, which is 6% higher compared to the previous year. Through its services it reached number 48 on The Business Magazine’s annual Thames Valley SME 100 Growth index.

What were your three toughest challenges over the past year?

Mark Lloyd: One of the toughest challenges for us was managing supply chain disruptions. There has also been an increased complexity in the technology offerings currently available in the market and the need to educate businesses to clarify these technology offerings was difficult. Disruption has shifted the need for hybrid/multi-cloud environments from the future to today for many organisations and dealing with this was sometimes tough. Lastly, maintaining culture and wider collaboration whilst remote working and shifting business processes was also a challenge.

Your biggest win?

Mark Lloyd: Our biggest win was with a group of councils based in the UK. Our client needed to centralise their data centres to improve efficiency and streamline their service delivery across councils. We reviewed their existing configurations and firewalls, consolidating them into a single solution to hugely enhance cyber security. Due to our Fortinet NSE certified engineers, this multiple technology refresh allows our client to achieve the deliverables they required from the project. With the multiple components and services purchased, we have managed to install and integrate a range of technologies and platforms to provide cross county management and analytics. The single pane of glass approach drastically enhances efficiency, cost effectiveness and insight into their current security posture. The total project represented a significant investment for the councils, around £500,000.

Your three wildest ambitions for the coming year?

Mark Lloyd: Making technology understandable to all. Remove the complexity for organisations from security and compliance driven frameworks. Continue to maintain and improve our company culture to make Nouveau the best place to work possible.

Nouveau Solutions is a new entry to the Thames Valley SME 100 Growth index in 2021. To qualify for the listing, businesses need to be based in the Thames Valley, have a turnover of no less than £1 million and no more than £20m, and to have grown their turnover significantly in the past year.

The 2021 edition of the list is sponsored by law firm Herrington Carmichael, commercial property consultants Hicks Baker and corporate finance advisers Wilson Partners.

Supporting partners are Laithwaites and Lamborghini.

All Thames Valley SME 100 Growth members are now invited to enter the nominations to this year’s awards, which will recognise outstanding achievements in six categories.