IT Companies in Berkshire

How many IT and cloud providers are listed in Berkshire?

Compare the Cloud lists 163 IT and cloud providers in Berkshire, covering Reading, Slough, Maidenhead, Windsor and Bracknell. Berkshire is a county rather than a single town, and its listings are unusual in one respect: a high proportion are technology vendors and their UK operations rather than local service firms, because the corridor along the M4 has long been where international software and hardware companies place their UK offices.

Does a Berkshire head office mean local support?

A head office address in Berkshire tells you where a company registers itself and very little about where its engineers sit. Support for a vendor with a Thames Valley office is frequently delivered from another country entirely, on a follow the sun rota, and the Berkshire site may hold sales, marketing and finance alone. Ask specifically which country will answer a ticket raised at three in the afternoon and which will answer one raised at three in the morning.

Should a Berkshire business buy from the vendor or from a partner?

Buying directly from a vendor gets you the product and the vendor's own support terms, which are usually standard and hard to negotiate below a certain contract size. Buying through a partner or reseller adds a layer that configures the product, holds your account and escalates on your behalf, at the cost of another party in the chain. For a smaller organisation the partner route is normally more responsive, because a mid sized business is a significant client to a partner and a rounding error to a large vendor.

What should a Berkshire buyer check in the contract?

Check who holds the contract and who is liable when the service fails, since these are often different companies once a partner is involved. Check whether support hours are stated in UK time or in the vendor's home time zone. Confirm what happens at renewal, because automatic uplifts and multi year commitments are common in vendor paperwork and are far easier to amend before signature than after.