IT consultancy Mason Advisory celebrates 5 years in business

2019 sees IT consultancy Mason Advisory celebrate its five year anniversary. Speaking to Consultancy.uk, Mason CEO Steve Watmough explored the highlights of the last few years, as well as the firm’s hopes for the future.

With offices at Manchester, Salford, and London, Mason Advisory provides IT consultancy and advisory services, solving complex business challenges through the intelligent use of IT resources including IT strategy and transformation, sourcing, architecture, cybersecurity and IT delivery. Launched in May 2014, the firm operates in sectors such as education, retail, finance and banking, health, insurance, government and private security.

In the last 12 months, Mason has been praised by a number of business groups. Earlier in 2019, Great Place to Work, an institute that assesses and certifies top employers, named it as one of only three consulting firms on a list of excellent places to work in the UK. In October last year, the firm received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its work overseas, where it oversaw projects in the US, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Jamaica, Qatar, and Mauritius.

This praise means Mason reaches the milestone of five years in business with a growing reputation as an IT specialist, both domestically and abroad. Home to experienced consultants with specialist skills, it is able to support digital transformation projects and partnerships for its clients, which include household names from sectors such as finance, life sciences, retail, FMCG, emergency services, health, energy, water, education, government and transport. According to Steve Watmough, Mason’s CEO, while the last five years have been impressive, big changes are still ahead for the fast-growing firm.

Speaking to Consultancy.uk, Watmough said, “Challenges are all around, so picking the right people to add to the team and staying on top of current issues are key. Mason Advisory plans to double its team and revenues over the next three years by tapping into the continued challenges and constant change of the world of technology.”

Digital transformation has been the main driver of growth in the IT services and consulting industry over recent years. Mason has been no stranger to this trend, and as clients are increasingly keen to work with smaller, more specialised firms, the consultancy has grown revenue five times over in its first half-decade in business.

Forging ahead

According to Watmough, the firm’s success is down to the calibre of consultants on its team, as well as the company’s collective desire to bring digital transformation and technological innovation to its customers around the world. He added that doing well amid such “uncertain, disruptive times” made him especially “proud of the outstanding results.”

Watmough formerly headed KPMG’s UK CIO Advisory team, and this experience has proven extremely important when Mason competes for clients with the Big Four. As the firm expands further, it will also take on an enhanced importance, as the firm works to place itself as relevant to the most senior people in top organisations, while illustrating the importance of brand and capability in its work, and the importance of senior sponsorship and stakeholder management.

When asked to name a few projects that Mason has worked on that are typical of its successful service portfolio, the firm’s CEO cited a long list of well-known brands. These included helping Standard Life Aberdeen with merging two IT infrastructures over three years, Sainsbury’s, University of Manchester, Football Association and Irish Fire Services.

Looking to the future, Watmough concluded, “We’ve got exciting expansion plans, including a recruitment drive for consultants in the UK to support global clients. Skill requirements are becoming more complex and challenging and we are able to guide our clients through the digitalisation process, align ourselves with their business culture and deliver results that allow organisations to fast-track their digital transformation initiatives, and operate in a more agile manner to ultimately enhance customer and staff experiences.”