UK business and IT consultancy Waterstons expands North of the border

UK business and IT consultancy Waterstons has opened its first office in Scotland, as it eyes further growth and expansion. Meanwhile, the firm has appointed IT management veteran Ricky Milliken as Regional Head.

Waterstons provides IT solutions across multiple sectors, including higher education, manufacturing, transport and professional services. The firm was established in 1994 and is a UK-wide Business and IT consultancy with its headquarters in the North East of England and offices in Glasgow and London. This year, Waterstons was shortlisted in the Gold Employer of the Year (50-249 employees) category at the Investors in People Awards 2017 – with winners to be announced in November – and with the demand for technological and digital consulting continuing to be the fastest growing feature of the UK consulting industry, the group is aiming for further expansion.

Now, the Durham-headquartered business and IT consultancy Waterstons has expanded its presence to the North of Hadrian’s Wall, opening its first office in Scotland. The company has worked with numerous high-profile clients in Scotland for more than a decade, and as it seeks to further expand its Scottish client-base, the group opened the doors to their new space on the M8 corridor, between Glasgow and Edinburgh in September 2017. The firm, which employs 130 people across the UK, has wasted no time in making three key appointments for the new outfit, and is currently in the process of recruiting more employees for its base at Regus Eurocentral, Maxim Park, Motherwell.

Ricky Milliken, who spent the previous 6 years as a Professional Services Manager at Capita, has been appointed Regional Head for Scotland, and will be leading the Waterstons team. Milliken boasts more than 17 years’ experience in IT management, having previously also worked at technology companies Sx3 and Northgate IS in that time.

Having only joined the company four months ago, the new Regional Head said, “It’s the company values, capability and ambition of Waterstons that really resonated with me. We have a very efficient and professional business-focused outlook, offering technology as an enabler to maximise real business outcomes and benefits… We’ve been leading business transformation, solving business problems and helping clients to generate a real return on their technology investment right across the UK for 23 years. The move to open a dedicated office in Scotland demonstrates our commitment to our existing Scottish clients and provides a fantastic opportunity to grow both our business and our team.”

Milliken is joined at the new locale by Sally Edgar, who has been appointed as Senior Transformation Consultant, and Cosmin Argatu has relocated from Waterstons’ HQ to take up a position as Bespoke Consultant in the office. It is expected that a further four or five people will be based at the Scotland office initially, with the firm aiming for this figure to grow to 30-50 within the following five years.

Commenting on how the new office fits into the long-term goals of the organisation, CEO Susan Bell said, “We have been in business for almost a quarter of a century, and these are very exciting times for Waterstons. We’re an ambitious company with a strong desire to use technology to ultimately improve their performance, and we’re hoping to be able to increase the number of employees significantly over the next few years by strengthening the relationships we already have and building new ones.”