FROM offices in Wellingborough, London, and Darlington Anglotech Solutions offers carefully selected equipment and software to provide a one-stop shop approach that avoids the complication of multiple suppliers.
As one of the UK’s largest independent suppliers for copier, printer and multi-functional technologies, Anglotech Solutions can deliver integrated systems that allow customers to improve workflow and increase efficiency.
The firm has achieved approved suppliers status with leading manufacturers, including the likes of Olivetti, Ricoh, Canon, HP and Lexmark – an accreditation awarded to businesses that are annually assessed and certified to be working to a set standard.
Managing Director Brad Piercewright said: “We integrate the best systems from leading manufacturers like Ricoh, Olivetti and document management software from companies like Document Logistix, Planet Press and others, to provide solutions tailored to each client’s individual needs.
“That is all backed up by highly trained professionals with vast experience in the business equipment and document solutions sector, which means we can provide our customers with clear advice and guidance.
“In a serviced based industry you can only create a successful business on a solid reputation. Ours is based on over delivering on customer expectations in all areas. That is why our retention rates are some of the highest in the industry.”
FOR many people, setting up and making a success of one business would be satisfying enough. For businessman Brad Piercewright, the idea of challenging himself to start again was just too good an opportunity to miss.
When, at 24, it became clear to Brad that early success as a professional footballer, including spells at Northampton Town and QPR, wasn’t going to work out, he set up a printer and copier business, Technocopy Solutions in Wellingborough.
Starting in 2008 in his converted loft, he built the Finedon Road Industrial Estate company up to one of the leading copier and printer firms in the UK. The success was recognised at the SME Northamptonshire Business Awards in 2017 when Technocopy Solutions was named overall Business of the Year.
The award came at a time when Brad was actively looking at potential acquisitions, but actually had the reverse effect and brought potential buyers to his door, offering to buy his business outright.
“It wasn’t something I had been considering, and I’d had enquiries before that, but suddenly I realised that it was the perfect time to sell. I had already started Anglotech Solutions three years previously, operating mainly in London, as a sideline and it was ticking over nicely, and so I decided to go for it.
“I sold Technocopy Solutions to BBT in Coventry, most of my staff went over with the company apart from one admin person, and I started all over again, aiming to build Anglotech into the success Technocopy had been.
“It seems like a strange move to make by going again but I just needed to prove to myself that I could do it again. There’s something in me that makes me challenge myself and not sit back on my laurels and this drove me to sell up and focus on Anglotech.
“It’s not like I’m starting from scratch. Anglotech is already doing really well and we have a number of key clients in London and it’s profitable.”
The next step for Anglotech Solutions in terms of growth and development is likely to be an acquisition that takes Brad Piercewright full circle back to his original business plan.
“In 2008, when I was just starting, I gained investment from Bradley Woods, who ran a photocopier and printer firm in Darlington, County Durham. He believed in me and helped me out financially, and I was able to pay him back within a few years.
“Just recently,we agreed a deal that will see Anglotech Solutions buy out his company.
“It’s great to be able to complete this deal and to be in a position to buy the company that was so important to me when I first started.”
PUTTING together the right team to support the growth of Anglotech Solutions was of vital importance to Brad and he has succeeded in bringing together a group of people with winning qualities.
Dylan Hartley, captain of the England rugby team and Northampton Saints, is probably the most surprising face in the line-up, but Brad believes Dylan’s high profile, astute mind and determination will drive Anglotech Solutions forward.
“I have known Dylan for a few years and just happened to have a conversation with him about what plans he was making for when he finished playing,” said Brad. “He has a smart business brain and he understands people and can interact easily – and he needed a succession plan and so together we came up with an agreement that suits us both.
“At the moment, he is completely focused on his rugby, he’s still playing at the top of the game. But at the same time, he will act as an ambassador for us in any way he can, and he’s building involvement in a business that will be there for him to move into when his playing career is over.
“We’re delighted to have him on board.”
Also part of the team is Stephen Etheridge, the recently retired Chairman of footwear group Church Holdings. After Prada acquired Church’s in 2001, they appointed Stephen to lead the team that delivered on Prada’s vision to turn Church’s into a global player with 60 stores in 16 countries.
Helen Borland, formerly with a large copier company in Milton Keynes, has also joined as a director. With 15 years’ experience in the industry, she brings an in-depth knowledge of technology driven hardware and software applications.
CONVINCING an international sportsman of his future goals takes some doing, but Brad Piercewright played it to perfection.
As a sponsor of Northampton Saints with Technocopy Solutions, Brad struck up a friendship with Dylan during corporate events and, as a former sportsman who’d had to decide on a new course in his own life, Brad asked Dylan what his plans were for when his playing days came to an end.
“Brad is a very clever man,” said Dylan. “He asked me if I had a plan for the future, which I really didn’t have, and he also understood that for the time being I was still engrossed in my rugby but also knew that I had skills that could benefit a business.
“As a sportsman you’re kind of expected to be an open and approachable character and for me that’s never been a problem. I enjoy speaking to people and I feel I’m fairly genuine when I’m doing it. If there’s a job that involves networking and talking to people, then that’s the job for me – they say people do business with people, and I feel that’s one of my strengths
“But I also love the idea of business and how it works, and to ride shotgun with someone like Brad, to listen and learn and pick up on how he operates is a special opportunity for me.
“The important thing for me, when choosing a company to be involved in, was about reputational risk. I have some currency in being an ambassador for a something but it has to be the right company. I didn’t want to get involved in something that didn’t work out, so a lot of background checks had to be done, but Anglotech Solutions ticked all the boxes. Brad has a great track record and Anglotech is already up and running and doing well, so I was convinced.
“I could have been an ambassador, someone just going along to meetings and networking and then have the choice to walk away, but I didn’t want that. I wasn’t looking for something to fall back on, I was looking for a realistic business opportunity that I could become a proper part of.
“I wanted to be fully invested in it. I’m not doing any selling – although I am gradually learning an awful lot about photocopiers and printers – but I believe in our products and services and when I speak to people, I can fully stand by what I am saying.
“For the next few years, rugby is going to be my main focus, but it’s important for me that I have this alongside it, something transitional that I know I can give something to and build for the future.”