Member Article

ITS celebrates 50th anniversary

ITS, a leader in IT services and solutions for UK SME businesses, announced today that February 2015 marks the company’s 50th year anniversary in the IT industry.

Founded in 1896, ITS started as a printing business in Northfield, Birmingham; under the name Kalamazoo. Famous for its business stationery, in the form of loose-leaf binders and account forms, Kalamazoo noticed the shift in technology during the 1960s and began time-sharing its mainframe to offer computer services outside of the business.

In the early 1970s, Kalamazoo started the development for a dealer management system (DMS) and by 1975 was supporting these computers with hardware maintenance. By the 1980s Kalamazoo had become the UK’s largest DMS provider. This success saw several acquisitions, including TE Datacare, an IT maintenance company for dealerships. This acquisition prompted the company’s transition into managed services outside of the automotive industry.

Following the acquisition by UCS in 2002 and UCS’s merger with Reynolds and Reynolds in 2006, Kalamazoo has undergone several name changes. Still situated in Northfield, the original Kalamazoo is now split into IT services (ITS) and DMS solutions (Reynolds and Reynolds UK).

Today, ITS focuses on offering innovative IT services and solutions to the SME market, across the whole of the UK. With the financial backing of Reynolds and Reynolds, ITS has developed into a market leader, employing over 250 staff across its three regional offices and engineer stations.

Terry Hanvey, Head of UK Operations, said, “We have always been an innovative company. As Kalamazoo we introduced time-sharing to our mainframes back in the 60s and more recently, entering the cloud arena. The company has been built on sound foundations of quality products and services topped by the excellent people who have worked for the company throughout this period. I am particularly proud to be at the helm at this key point in the company’s history.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ITS .