by Jay Ball, CEO of Flotek Group
2024 has been quite a ride for Flotek Group, and I wanted to take a moment to share some of the highlights and look ahead to what 2025 has in store. We’ve grown so much this year, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished together.
First off, we hit a huge milestone by expanding to a team of over 100 in just two and a half years, way ahead of where we thought we’d be in our original ten-year plan. This rapid growth has brought its share of challenges, but it’s also opened up so many exciting opportunities for us.
First off, we hit a huge milestone by expanding to a team of over 100 in just two and a half years, way ahead of where we thought we’d be in our original ten-year plan. This rapid growth has brought its share of challenges, but it’s also opened up so many exciting opportunities for us.
In April, we rolled out 7-day support, which has been a game-changer. Now, our customers can reach out during quieter times or we can schedule those server updates and restarts outside of regular hours to avoid any interruption. This has been especially helpful for our hospitality clients and came at no extra cost.
We’ve also been honoured with several brilliant awards, like the Technological & Innovative Business of the Year and the Digital Technology Award from Insider Media. Plus, we had the pleasure of sponsoring the Welsh Law Awards, showing our appreciation for the legal sector’s hard work.
Our strategic investments are showing incredible signs of growth. We completed our investment in OES in North Wales in early 2024 – which has since delivered organic growth of over 90% as well as introducing Managed Print as a service nationwide to our group customers and acquired Colbek Systems in the Midlands over the summer period, enhancing our presence in this region which is already showing growth.
We have welcomed over 50 new team members and launching our Customer Experience (CX) department has been a highlight. This team now resolves over 75% of incoming tickets, freeing up our senior engineers to tackle more complex issues and mentor our growing apprentices.
In November, we formed a New Business Sales team to drive our growth initiatives into 2025. From a customer perspective, we’ve onboarded over 750 new customers and now manage over 6,000 end devices through our IT & Cyber Security Support teams. This rapid expansion has brought its own set of challenges, but we’re tackling them head-on and I’m pleased with progress.
Our field technical team has been engaged in various projects, including installing telephony and SDWAN across more than 150 quarries in the UK, which required substantial labour. They have also laid numerous miles of fibre, set up over 1,200 new laptops, and conducted several Microsoft Azure installations. There has been a significant uptake in our CyberGuard users, with our customers seeing the value in a service which provides enhanced 24/7 security for our clients. Furthermore, we have secured additional NHS Trusts for our installation team, installed an average of over 300 cloud telephony users per month, and added an average of 160 IT Support users per month, leading to a very active field team.
Of course, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Every business faces challenges, but a growing one comes with even more. What we’ve done this year is add strong people into our ranks, senior people, and seen individuals rise to team leaders and step up to the mark. Where we have a strong team, it’s showing through that growth, and I’m really thankful for the team we have today.
Overall, 2024 has been a transformative year for Flotek, and as we look ahead to 2025.
Looking Ahead to 2025 and what to expect?
Flotek Group has set goals for 2025, targeting £20m in revenue through growth and acquisitions. Two acquisitions are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, which will bring new customers, opportunities, and technical talent. Additionally, private cloud capabilities will soon be available, fulfilling a huge demand from our current customers to support the hosting of business-critical applications like Sage without relying on outdated servers and VPNs.
Our focus remains on delivering world class customer service, ensuring we add a ‘wow’ factor to everything we do, and constantly asking, “What else?” can we do for our customers, team, and products.
Businesses will increasingly invest in technology for growth, moving away from outdated IT and communication providers. They will demand advanced AI, technology, and services, driving automation and innovation, and will seek suitable partners who can support their growth and understand the requirements of a fast growth business. We expect growth from customers turning to us for these needs and are already seeing our existing customers see huge value from this.
Technology is advancing fast, and Microsoft 365’s service offerings—such as Bookings, OneNote, Loop, Teams Phone, and AI features—are game-changing. We are working on projects like developing our own Teams Apps to enhance customer communication through SMS/Whatsapp and creating a job sheet application for our own field engineers. This demonstrates our commitment to moving beyond standard solutions and embodying the principle of “drinking our own champagne.”
We’ve also invested in a new business development team at the end of 2024 to drive our growth in 2025. There’s so much opportunity out there, more businesses need to move past loyalty of outdated systems and suppliers to consider tech like Teams Mobile and FMC to unify their field teams on one platform. Companies that continue to pedal the same old tech and push extortionate leases, without asking strategic questions about their future, will inevitably get left behind and we’re in the perfect position to be ready to support their ambitions .
Keeping up with Microsoft’s pace of innovation is a challenge, so we’re planning to invest in our own portal with embedded training, AI knowledge bases for faster answers, and more webinars to show our customers what’s possible. We have a duty to demonstrate innovation and help our customers implement it.
Cybersecurity will be even more critical in 2025, with increased demand for SOC services to monitor alerts from across our customers entire IT and Networking estate, and more need for dedicated team training.
In early 2025, we’ll be moving to our new head office in Bridgend, and we’re excited to welcome customers to our new space. We’re also thrilled for our team to see what we’re planning and to be the tech partner of choice. Our goal is to help our customers grow, expand our team, and keep driving innovation in everything we do.
I am eager to embrace 2025 alongside our team, customers, and prospective clients.
The post A Year Of Flotek Group In 2024 appeared first on Flotek Group.
Ian Hutchinson – Senior Web Designer/Developer
‘Mac’ joined OES following an impressive 24 years in the British Army, bringing with him a wealth of experience he could transfer to ‘civvy street’.
Wayne has been with OES since leaving the British Army in June 2012. He became the Managing Director in 2016 and then Owner in 2021. His 15 year career in the Army is where he refined his skills in project management, problem solving and leadership. He has led the growth of OES focusing on delivering innovative solutions and outstanding service.