Q&A: Tom Stone, Managing Director, Trust Systems Ltd
Tom is the Managing Director of Trust Systems Limited, a digital consultancy, managed services and technology company. With years of experience in the IT industry, Tom has gained outstanding technical knowledge which he demonstrates when consulting with clients, to ensure each customer invests in the best fit solution for their business.
His expertise range from Networking, Cloud Datacentre Deployment to Network Infrastructure Management and Enterprise WiFi including Cisco Meraki. Tom believes that if your network foundations are unstable, it will hinder all other aspects of technology which are built on top.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
From my degree to my earliest roles, technology has been my interest and focus, even my holiday job whilst studying for a degree in Computer Systems Engineering was for a technology company on the service desk. Following my graduation, I landed a full-time job with the local technology company I had been working for part-time, where I began my career in the server side of the business. From here I moved into networking and then into security. During these early years I was working on large scale rollouts for a number of national high street retailers installing new equipment.
Today, I am the Managing Director of Trust Systems where I joined nearly 15 years ago as Technical Director. When I joined, we were delivering professional services to a handful of well-known retailers. My ambition was to grow the company and our ability to deliver technology to enterprise businesses and in partnership with Mike Dowson we have transformed and grown the company to become a successful Managed Service Provider.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
Trust Systems are a provider of digital, mobile and cloud technology, consultancy, and services. We offer the whole life cycle for Retail and Enterprise businesses. From a firm expertise in networking and infrastructure management we also have expertise in the retail sector to offer a range of applications to support the growing need for digital transformation. These include POS and Mobile Payments, Mobile Stock Management, Digital Signage and Guest WiFi. Our offerings are provisioned as a managed service and we offer a 24/7/365 Service Desk along with 7 days a week field services.
We work with leading technology partners and are a leading Cisco, Zebra, Samsung, WonderLane, Extreme Networks and IBM partner deploying Enterprise Network, Security, WiFi and applications. We are deploying an array of projects to our customers focussed on networks to strengthen security capabilities, support more mobile solutions, enable enhanced customer experiences and deliver infrastructure that is up-to-date.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
Many of Trust’s clients are long standing customers, we build a relationship with our clients and truly get to know their needs and vision. This allows us to offer the best fit solution based on their requirements, needs and aspirations. But this is wrapped up in our service. I recently caught up with a customer who is a multi-faceted company with a network of food stores, where we rolled out 660 devices coupled with our stock management solution. It was a delight to hear them express their gratitude not only on the solution we deployed, but the fact we delivered within the rollout time frame.
What advantage does it add?
With our listen, consultant, and innovate approach, we help businesses streamline their operations to help cut back costs as well as helping businesses build a network which is secure, robust and flexible.
We provide expertise in network and WiFi implementation, infrastructure architecture consultancy and in network infrastructure management. By delivering on-site field and remote services ranging from network topology, proactive network monitoring, remote management, user and credential management and troubleshooting. We harness the capabilities to ensure customers reap the benefits.
How does a product/service implementation actually look like and how do you measure success?
At Trust we offer the whole life cycle with a fully managed service. We work very closely with all our customers to ensure we provide the best fit and with best-of breed partners to ensure we deliver the best available technology. Our team of experts carry out surveys and audits to understand requirements and consult with our customers team to ensure we propose the best solution.
It’s all about our customers, we want to hear that they are experiencing benefits and ultimately a return on investment.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2021 / What challenges are retailers facing right now to prepare better?
We believe that building the right foundations to digitalise stores is essential. It is critical that businesses have stable foundations (LAN/WAN/WiFi network) to deliver the customer experience required. If your network is unstable, everything that is built on top will be on shaky grounds. With our Managed Enterprise WiFi Network expertise, we are able to provide businesses with the foundations to build a robust, agile digital transformation strategy.
Enticing customers back to stores is one thing but enticing customers back to YOUR stores over your competitors is another. Customers are looking for that ultimate customer experience.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
At Trust we can transform your stores with; Digital Signage to capture the attention of your customers or provide relevant information. Enterprise WiFi to enable you to engage and connect with your customers in-store, as well as when they leave your store to encourage them to return by offering them discounts and personalised messages. Mobile Stock Management to streamline your store operations. One device which allows your colleagues to fulfil the requests of customers, such as product information, making a payment or asking if the stock is available or when. Essentially, providing your employees with a ‘store in their hand’.
What is on the horizon for you as a company?
Trust is continuing to grow in size and in success, earlier this year we secured a partnership with NVM Investments to underpin the continued success and growth of Trust. In the coming years we hope to expand our reach.
To find out more about Trust Systems visit them online here.
