Outsourcery

Outsourcery Plc, was a UK-based cloud services provider founded in 2007 by co-CEOs, Piers Linney and Simon Newton. The company went into administration in June 2016 when most of the business and assets were acquired by GCI Network Solutions Ltd.

Outsourcery Plc
TypePublic Limited Company (in administration)
IndustryCloud computing, unified communications, telecommunications
Headquarters
Manchester
Key people
Piers Linney, Ken Olisa and Simon Newton
ProductsUnified Communications, Skype for Business, Microsoft Lync, Infrastructure as a Service, Microsoft Exchange Server, hosted video conferencing, connectivity, professional services and Microsoft Office 365
WebsiteOutsourcery.co.uk

Organisation and activities

Outsourcery employed approximately 110 people across three offices in Leicester, London and Manchester. The company provided solutions and cloud-based services, offered both directly and via a network of partners. These were deployed on its proprietary O-Cloud platform, housed in Ofcom regulated enterprise grade datacenters.

Outsourcery was a member of the Microsoft Cloud OS Network.[1] It was also a founder member of the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF).[2]

Outsourcery's O-Cloud platform was certified to run government classified information at OFFICIAL and OFFICIAL SENSITIVE over the internet. This gave Outsourcery CESG Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) (formerly IL2) and Public Services Network (PSN) Protect (formerly IL3) connectivity to meet data sovereignty and security specifications for the public sector and UK government.[3]

Outsourcery's former Co-CEO, Piers Linney, became better known as a 'Dragon' on series 11 and 12 of the BBC Two television programme, Dragons' Den.[4]

History

Outsourcery's origins date from 1997 when the business initially provided mobile solutions to UK organisations. Piers Linney and Simon Newton acquired the business and assets of Genesis Communications – an established business-to-business mobile voice and data reseller. In the same year, Genesis acquired an early stage Microsoft application hosting company, Servelogic Limited, enabling it to enter the hosted services market. Between 2007 and 2010, the company saw revenue for cloud-based services grow from zero to over £4 million and the legacy business was subsequently sold through two transactions during 2011 for a total of £15 million.

Outsourcery's Board was led by Ken Olisa OBE (Non-Executive chairman), along with Piers Linney (Co-founder and Co-CEO), Simon Newton (Co-founder and Co-CEO), Andrew Burton (non-executive director) and Jane Hall (non-executive director).

On 24 May 2013, Outsourcery was admitted to London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).[5] The sale of the legacy mobile distribution business was completed on 3 September 2013.

On 6 November 2013, Outsourcery announced that it had partnered with Dell to design and deploy a secure cloud-based system. The announcement followed Outsourcery's agreement with Microsoft to lead its UK initiative to accelerate the offering of cloud services for the UK public sector, in particular central government.

Outsourcery suspended trading of its stock on AIM, on 3 June 2016, due to its inability to present audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2015. It stated that "the potential proceeds from the current proposals would potentially leave no or limited value to equity shareholders".[6] Later that month Ernst & Young were appointed as administrators and most of the business and assets were sold to GCI Network Solutions Ltd.[7]

Awards and accreditations
  • Outsourcery was ISO 27001 (Information Security), ISO 9001 (Quality Management) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) accredited. As a founder member, Outsourcery had also achieved Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) certification.[8]
  • Outsourcery achieved CESG Pan Government Accreditation in 2014[9]
  • Comms Business: Green Channel Company Award – Winner (2010)[10]
  • Microsoft Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year Award – Winner (2010)[11]
  • Comms Business: Reseller of the Year Award – Winner (2011)[12]
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year Award – Finalist (2011)[13]
  • Mobile News Awards: Business Solutions Provider – Winner (2011)[14]
  • Parallels New Partner of the Year Award – Winner (2011)[15]
  • Comms Business Award: Channel Product of the Year Overall – Winner (2013)[16]
  • Comms Business: Most Innovative Channel Product of the Year (Cloud Based Solution Deployed) – Winner (2013)[16]
  • Microsoft: Server Platform Partner of the Year Award – Finalist (2013)[17]
  • Manchester Evening News: Business of the Year Award (Under £10 Million Turnover) – Winner (2013)[18]
  • IT Europa Awards: Service Provider of the Year – Winner (2014)[19]
  • UK Cloud Awards: Collaboration Product of the Year – Winner (2014)[20]
  • Microsoft: Sales Specialist of the Year – Finalist (2014)[21]
  • National Business Awards: Santander Small to Medium-sized Business of the Year and Blackberry Business Enabler of the Year – Finalist (2014)[22]
  • Storage, Virtualisation, Cloud (SVC) Awards: Saas Solution of the Year – Winner (2014)[23]
  • Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year Awards: Public Sector: Government – Finalist (2015)[24]

References
  1. Microsoft Cloud OS Network Member. "Outsourcery and Microsoft" Outsourcery website
  2. CIF Founder Member. "Cloud Industry Forum",Outsourcery website
  3. PGA Accreditation. "Outsourcery's Cloud Platform Gains PGA Accreditation",London South East, London, 29 October 2015.
  4. Dragons' Den departure. "Piers Linney announces departure from Dragons' Den", Daily Express, London, 30 January 2015.
  5. AIM Information "Outsourcery Overview",Outsourcery website
  6. "Outsourcery PLC Update and Suspension of Trading". Outsourcery plc. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  7. Shah, Sooraj (17 June 2016). "Piers Linney's Outsourcery goes into administration – GCI buys business and assets". Computing. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  8. Outsourcery CIF Accreditation. "Outsourcery certifies against the CIF Code of Practice.",Cloud Industry Forum
  9. "Outsourcery's O-Cloud platform gets CESG Pan Government Accreditation". Comms Dealer. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  10. "South West Comms Scoop Blue Riband Award". Comms Business. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  11. Microsoft Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year Award – Winner. "Microsoft Announces 2010 Partner of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners", Microsoft website, 23 June 2010.
  12. "Comms Business Awards Winners Delight". Miles Publishing. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  13. "Microsoft Announces 2011 Partner of the Year Award Winners and Finalists". Microsoft Dynamics. 22 June 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  14. "Mobile News Awards, "2011 Winners,"". 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  15. "Parallels announces Finalists in Second Annual Partner Awards". Parallels IP Holdings GmbH. 15 February 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  16. "Comms Business Awards, 2013 Winners and Finalists". Miles Publishing. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  17. "Microsoft announces winners and finalists of the 2013 Partner of the Year awards". Microsoft. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  18. "Outsourcery on Cloud 9". Manchester Evening News. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  19. "2014 Winners". ITE Awards. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  20. "2014 Congratulations to our winners". UK Cloud Awards. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  21. Microsoft Sales Specialist of the Year – Finalist 2014. "Microsoft Announces 2014 Partner of the Year Winners and Finalists.", Microsoft website, 27 May 2014.
  22. National Business Awards Finalist 2014. "National Business Awards Finalists 2014", National Basketball Association
  23. SVC Awards 2014. "SVC Awards Winners 2014", SVC website
  24. Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards 2015. "Microsoft Partner Awards Winners and Finalists", Microsoft website
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