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Hertfordshire-based Cheeky Munkey Ltd, the IT support services and consultancy with expertise in cloud security, SaaS protection and hosting solutions, is experiencing impressive growth as technology becomes more of an enabler. Here, we speak with MD Graham Lane following IT Europa’s Managed Services Summit in London about the journey he’s been on with the company, which is now seeing an annual turnover of £3 million, and strategies in place to ensure the company’s longevity.

For the uninitiated, can you briefly describe how Cheeky Munkey came together, what it does and its unique place in the market?

We’re 21 years in the market now and it came together because the job I was doing at the time was working for a security company. Electronic security was becoming more computer based, and I was having fun, so I thought I’d try to make something out of this for myself without the technical skills, so I had to quickly recruit technical people to help along the journey. The name came about because we ran a competition and the winning name was Cheeky Munkey and we kept it ever since.

And with the unique spelling as well?

Yes, because at the time we couldn’t get the domain name. It would have taken about 10 years to get the correct spelling. But the way we had it seemed to stick even though it seemed to be a little like Marmite at the time. There were some professional services companies that didn’t like it, but a lot of the creative companies loved it and certainly people tend to remember the name, so from that point of view, it’s worked very well.

So the brand is well embedded in the sector then.

Yes it is.

Can you distil your main priorities, as well as some of the issues brought up during the panel discussion at IT Europa’s Managed Services Summit in London, like futureproofing and the overall climate of the MSP model?

We’re experiencing a lot of change and the pandemic has increased the rate of change. I think people appreciate technology a lot more than they used to. It used to be a necessary evil and now it’s an enabler that helps people work from anywhere, and we can support customers all around the world. So I think it’s great from that perspective. From a people point of view, it’s easier for us to recruit people from further afield, which is great. At the same time, there’s a huge challenge in the market because if we can recruit from further afield, so can everyone else considering there’s a shortage of skills in the market. One thing I do as part of my community activities is chair a training company at the two colleges that are local to me, and it’s very clear that the skills required within the sector three or four years ago aren’t the same as they are now.

And presumably they won’t be the same in another three or four years.

Yes, and who knows what that might be then. The conversations we’ve had with customers now are very different to what they were. It’s not a technical conversation; it’s more a risk and risk mitigation conversation. So not just technical people need to bring skills but anyone dealing with customers. It’s more of a business conversation as opposed to a technical conversation so the types of things that you need are very different. In terms of futureproofing, we recruit apprentices, so we have a constant flow throughout the organisation who get mentored. For me, it’s about encouraging young people into the sector and making it appealing for them. With everything that’s gone on, certainly in the last couple of years, there seems to be a misalignment between the jobs market and the skills that are out there, so we’re trying to make Cheeky Munkey a great place to work so we can attract the skills we need. We also tend to recruit on cultural fit, first and foremost, and then you can look at the technical skills thereafter because you can always teach those. If they’re not the right cultural fit, then it’s a non-starter. There’s been a big shift in our approach to recruitment.

So you have to stay flexible and be ready to adapt as changes come about.

Indeed. And you have to have conversations with existing teams in terms of what they think is working and what isn’t.

Can you walk us through your professional journey and how a company like Cheeky Munkey is a culmination of what you wanted to achieve?

For the first 10 years, it generated enough income for me so I could do things in the community where I could help and lend support. That’s how it came about but it wasn’t like that for a very long time. I sat on a lot of not-for-profit committees and was a director or a board member for 10 companies at a time, so I was working in the business for half the time and being a board member for other organisations the other half. Eventually that decreased because I had spent more time in the business.

And what did the company look like 10 years ago compared to now?

Then it was only three or four of us, and where we are today, we have about 30 now. And the numbers are suggesting from the conversations we’re having with customers, and the rate we’re taking on new customers, is we’ll probably be closer to 40 people by the end of next year.   

How do you see the MSP market evolving and what measures are you taking now to ensure you’re well positioned to remain competitive?

We look at the technology that’s available, just to make sure we’re efficient and deliver services effectively. There’s also the development of the team, so everyone has their own development plan that we review and monitor as the year progresses; it’s that continual upskilling, and the opportunity around the working from anywhere model and the security that plays into it. Everybody is talking about security. It’s got to the point where every organisation will have some form of cyber attack within the next 18 months. I think people are starting to know somebody that’s been impacted where historically it was always an ‘It’ll never happen to me’ type of approach. One thing I do that really helps is facilitate a couple of peer groups, so you get to see what the industry is doing, and you get to share best practice. So that’s a real positive, and it gives you the opportunity to give back as well. So it’s a combination of keeping up to date with the sector and understanding business conversations with customers.

Considering how unpredictable business has become over the last couple of years, from remote working to investment and forecasting, how would you define your approach to leadership?

I have a very longstanding and experienced leadership team, so my approach is quite a light touch. It’s an open door, people have KPIs and there’s a huge amount of trust within the leadership team, so we must be doing something right.

Can you describe a pivotal experience, whether in your personal life or professional career, that you can draw a direct line to where you are today?

That’s a difficult one. It’s various things. I think my exposure to sitting on different boards and committees has given me good insight and a different look at the world. From an MSP point of view, I think we’re all quite similar in our approach and how we do things, the tools we use and everything else. I think it’s that broader business experience with the touch points in lots of different organisations whether not-for-profit or for profit. Some of the people who were on those boards and committees I was on included the managing director for Warner Brothers in the UK and another was an HR director at Tesco, so you get to meet so many different people at so many levels at different organisations. It’s probably that if I could pick one thing.