Member Article

Constructing his own vision

Leeds entrepreneur becomes first provider to offer Desktop as a Service after his employer rejected the idea

What do you do when you have a brilliant idea that you know will benefit your company but they don’t see the value? If you are Richard Hall, you leave to set up your own company so that you can implement it yourself.

Leeds based IT professional Richard has worked for a multi-national construction firm, and its subsidiary companies, for almost 20 years. A few years ago, he came across pioneering work being done in the field of virtualisation made possible by the emergence of cloud computing. He knew it could have great advantages for his employer and put the idea to them but they weren’t convinced it was right for them. Spurred by the courage of his own conviction, Richard knew that it would work and decided that if they couldn’t see the value he would offer it to other businesses by setting up his own consultancy and going it alone.

After a year of working weekends and evenings setting his business up, ITAAS 4 U has finally been officially launched.

So what was the ’big idea’?

Known in the IT industry as ‘Desktop as a Service’, the idea is that firms who would usually need to spend large amounts of money every year buying and maintaining high spec computers and expensive industry software could in fact achieve the same results using a relatively low spec machine and owning no software of their own. In layman’s terms you simply access a powerful computer, loaded with all your software requirements, via the cloud. The obvious advantage is cost – you simply pay a monthly fee rather than the big capital investment in equipment and software – but there are also huge benefits in terms of efficiency, security and flexibility.

Richard has teamed up with an established hardware and software supplier to be able to offer his own version of Desktop as a Service, which he has branded as ‘Xencad’, and as such is the only UK provider to do so. It is specifically advantageous to the construction industry – building firms, architects and interior designers – though other businesses could also benefit.

Richard spoke of his new venture:

“Leaving my employer after almost 2 decades was a very difficult decision to make but my vision of implementing Xencad was too strong to be constrained in that way. In hindsight it has worked out well as I can help many businesses to take advantage of virtualisation and that gives me, as someone who is truly excited about technology and its potential, a real sense of satisfaction.

I still think that my old company would really benefit from Xencad and I hope that one day I can help them to implement it when they see how well it works for other businesses in the industry.“

More information about Richard and ITAAS 4 U is available on his website http://www.itaas4u.co.uk.

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