We know our stuff.
And we'll make sure you know what we're doing and why.

What that means in practice

Most IT support businesses sit in one of two camps. There are the pure technicians - excellent at the work, but poor at communicating what they're doing or why it matters. And there are the account-managed operations - polished and professional, but the person you speak to is several steps removed from the engineer doing the work.

We combine the best of both.

When you deal with Hayes IT, you're dealing with people who can go deep on a technical problem and then explain the implications clearly to whoever needs to understand them - whether that's the business owner or office manager.

We also don't have a sales department: with clients happy to refer us we haven't needed one. As a result nobody at Hayes IT is measured on what they sell you, which means when we recommend something it's because we think you need it - not because it helps us hit a monthly target.

In an industry where upselling is routine, we think that's worth saying plainly.

That combination - technical depth, clear communication, and no sales pressure - is rarer than it should be in this industry, and it's the reason most of our clients come to us through referral rather than advertising.

London-based. UK-wide reach.

We're based in London and most of our clients are in and around the city and the northern home counties. For day-to-day support we fix problems remotely where possible: it's quicker and cheaper for you and more efficient for us. If a site visit is required then we'll be there. For clients further afield we offer support around the UK.

We also manage IT operations for the international offices of several of our UK clients, supporting New York, Pakistan and South Africa, so supporting businesses with operations outside the UK is well within our experience.

James Hayes, Founder & Director

I started my IT career on the helpdesk at AKQA in 2000, straight out of university. I worked across pretty much every part of the business - which turned out to be the best possible training for running an MSP, even if I didn't know that at the time.

In 2006 I moved to be IT Manager at Conchango until they were acquired by Dell EMC in 2008. I realised fairly quickly that the breadth of work I'd been doing wouldn't survive the transition to a large corporate structure. So I decided to take a shot at doing it on my own.

Hayes IT has been through a few iterations since then, some of which were even planned: pure consultancy, growing a support team, shrinking a support team (thanks 2010's market downturn), chasing public sector contracts with a sales function, realising that was a terrible idea and reversing course.

Each iteration taught me something. Where we've landed is where we do our best work: a focused MSP providing hands-on support to SMEs, with no sales team, and no interest in being anything other than very good at that.

I still answer the phone. I still turn up onsite. And I still think the best IT support happens when the person fixing your problem actually understands your business.

Outside of work you'll probably find me and my other half at the cricket club, watching our son play and either helping out behind the bar or propping it up. If I'm not there, I'll be at home. Possibly building Lego.