H&C News meets with suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest product and service innovations, aiming to get the inside track on what companies offer to the market and how it is delivered. This week, we met with Steve Rac, Founder and Managing Director of ARC Services (UK) Ltd at their offices in Berkshire to gain a better understanding of the business. ARC is a vendor independent, full range EPOS and IT services provider operating throughout the UK & Ireland, Europe and the Nordics.
Today you service a very large territory, but where did it all begin?
Steve Rac, Founder and Managing Director of ARC Services (UK) LtdARC was set up over a decade ago to provide a full range of EPOS and IT services to businesses operating large and widely distributed estates but who have little or no “boots on the ground” IT staff of their own.
We provide site surveys, hardware staging and configuration, cabling infrastructure installation (fixed and wireless), hardware installation and onsite support and maintenance services and a range of complementary services such as line/comms provision and public/private WiFi solutions to some of the largest and best known brands in the Food & Beverage, Hospitality, Retail and Leisure markets.
We touch travel hubs (rail stations, airports and seaports), high streets, shopping malls and outlets, sports stadia, motorway services, hotels, pubs and night clubs, restaurant chains, your favourite coffee shops, cinemas and more – in other words, “ARC is Everywhere”.
How does your service proposition work?
Being vendor independent we are able to work with our customers without the limitation of trying to sell them a particular product or application. This means we can work with whatever the best hardware and software is to meet exactly what the customer wants. Independence also helps us to provide a complete end-to-end solution which eliminates the nightmare for customers of working with multiple suppliers to deliver a project or rollout.
We know that our customers need flexibility – this may be the need to install out of hours or to work with landlords or other third parties such as airport/rail station authorities to gain access and work permits to service trading outlets located there. We deal with these sorts of requests every day and they are second nature to us. Our business is built on long term, mutually beneficial partnerships with our customers – a model that clearly works and one that we will continue to follow.
Can you tell us a bit more about why you believe vendor independence to be so important to your business?
Vendor independence is important to us as it is one of the keystones of our success. It is important to our customers for a number of reasons including the need to reduce the number of different suppliers that they work with, the need for a partner that can work in a multi-vendor environment – a typical EPOS bundle or lane can be comprises hardware from half a dozen or more manufacturers, not to mention other onsite devices such as back-office PC’s printers, digital signage, WiFi and the like, and the need for a partner that can maximise device uptime through delivering fast-fix-first-visit service to consistently high standards.
How do prospective customers begin the process of selecting a service partner?
They will generally already have a good idea of what they want based on either existing outlets or their vision for new outlets. The important part is selecting a service partner that can service those outlets properly in order they can do what they do in the most cost efficient and profitable way possible, be that selling coffee, jeans, cinema tickets or burgers.
This involves understanding the importance of device uptime, first time fix wherever possible and providing a service built around what the customer wants, not what the supplier wishes to sell.
All of our partnerships start with a conversation. We listen to what our customers want and we design solutions that work for them – simple but effective!
Where is the business going?
We will continue to grow the business through doing what we do best – delivering excellent customer service and continually looking for ways in which we can improve. In addition to this, we have recently set up a Network Security Practice – ARC NetSec – to address the need within our existing and future customer base for independent network security advice and service. This is an exciting addition to our portfolio and is very much in line with what our customers are looking for in terms of innovation from us as their service partner of choice.
H&C News comment
Once in a while you walk into a Tardis, the offices from the outside are very modest and unassuming, just a normal meeting you imagine as you walk in, not at all. Steve and team run a business of such scale that it is hard to get your head around the logistics of the operation. The ARC Services strapline “ARC is Everywhere” is almost literal.
They are also very passionate about what they do and how they do it, the customer comes first every time and the business is built on that culture. Vendor independence is discussed on numerous occasions and is central to everything at ARC Services.
Our meeting was a real eye opener and all we can say to readers is…if you operate EPOS and IT services through your business visit the Tardis that is ARC Services.
Let’s start a conversation!
Contact ARC Services and one of the team will be in touch
Units 4 & 6 Carlo Court, Marino Way, Hogwood Lane Industrial Estate, Finchampstead, Berkshire, RG40 4RF
0870 066 5569
E-mail us enquiries@arcservices.co.uk
Visit our website here