While we're all taking some much-needed rest and spending cherished time with friends and family over the fesrive period, it's given us a chance to reflect on another landmark year for PSP. Celebrating our 15th year in business, we achieved our highest number of employees, won an award for customer care, started working on some great contracts, and enjoyed some great moments with our staff.

Here are some of the highlights of our 2023:

January: PSP Starts Year By Signing Software Testing Contract

We were delighted to sign a contract with a major chartered institute to provide manual and automated outsourced software testing. It was a big year for our software testing team, we worked on some great projects and two further members of our customer service team became qualified in ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level 2018. 

February: Launched New Intranet for 2023

After developing our online training academy the previous year, we extended our internal resources with a brand-new cloud-hosted document management system. The centralised system included:

1. Online training academy
2. Quality management system which ensures we're working up to an ISO:9001 standard
3. "Suites" for each department, making it easy for teams to collaborate and share files
4. Integrated with our VISION CRM and Microsoft Office apps, making it quick and simple for staff to work

The SharePoint intranet forms part of our wider focus on quality management. Speaking about our quality procedures and practices, Head of Quality, Lynsey said:

"Our quality processes ensure the business is compliant and doing what we say we're doing. Our procedures are there to ensure that we don't cost the business money, or we don't do something wrong for our clients. We must adhere to them; they're there to make PSP better than anybody else.

The standard of work we produce, the standard of our development, the standard of the systems they (our clients) get, the testing that we do and the service we offer, are all driven by the quality. Everyone should get the same experience. So, whether they come to us for one project or whether we run two or three projects with them, they should experience the same for all those projects as they go through the lifecycle."

March: Grammar School Signs Up To PSP Agile IT

Louth Grammar School, King Edward VI, signed up for our Outsourced IT Management service. The contract included delivering a 1-2-1 device strategy, cloud adoption, technology strategy creation and ICT procurement. Upon the school signing the contract, our Deputy CTO, Scott said:

"I'm very excited to start working with King Edwards VI Grammar School as their Director of ICT. I've worked in the education sector for 18 years in a strategic IT leadership role and I am passionate about utilising the latest technologies to make learning accessible for all, taking academies and trusts on digital first journeys to improve their learning outcomes."

"King Edward VI Grammar School putting their IT strategy and management in the hands of PSP is a testament to our agile IT roles and services tailored for the education sector and I look forward to bringing all that experience and knowledge to help the school with their IT management, plus develop and support them on their digital transformation journey."

May: Digital Transformation Project Starts

After several weeks of kitting out our second office with new equipment, May was an exhilarating month for us when we kick-started a multi-year digital transformation project for an awarding body. We hired new staff (including a Project Manager, Business Analysts and QA Engineers) and fitted the office was sleek gaming chairs and a wireless conferencing centre for collaborating with the client.

As part of the ongoing contract, we are responsible for overseeing and implementing core business systems, such as CRM and finance systems. This includes working with the client to find the right systems, configure them and train staff on how to use them.

When the contract started, CTO, Brett, said:

"We're thrilled to be commencing on this two-year contract this week. The transition from shifting our Software Testing Centre to Unit 1 and completely renovating the workspace with new, modern equipment was seamless. Between the director team, we have over 30 years of experience working in education, so we're delighted and confident to oversee such an important project for this qualification provider. Bringing in the extra resource as part of this project now means PSP has its highest-ever number of employees, and with that comes a massive amount of knowledge and experience under one roof."

September: PSP Celebrates 15th Birthday!

Amongst all the excitement and buzz of all the projects and go-lives, we still had a birthday to celebrate! In September, we brought all our staff together at our offices and enjoyed a delicious BBQ in the glorious sunshine, complete with chicken and chorizo kebabs, minted lamb steaks, vegan sausages and more. But the fun didn't stop there. After the food was all gone, everyone's name was put into a hat for a special staff raffle where the top prizes included £500 in Amazon vouchers!

It was a special occasion for the company to celebrate such a momentous moment and we'd like to say thank you to all our customers, staff and suppliers from the past 15 years for joining us on this journey.

September: Software for Boston-Based Client Goes Live

In September, another client system went live. This time, it was a Windows-based soil analysis system which was an upgrade on their old original system and made it effortless for staff to perform their day-to-day roles.

Local agricultural business, Richard Austin, asked PSP to develop a new web-based application for their soil analysis. The system, built through our VISION platform, made it easy for their testers to input lab results. The system would then generate automatic analysis reports based on the numbers, and customise them in line with the client's branding.

We built their new system on .NET 6 to make sure it was on the most up-to-date framework and provided a seamless experience for their staff. Through the system, the customer can manage customer information, set up different analysis types and easily input the results of the sample tests.

The VISION system was a major upgrade on their existing solution, performing faster and looking sleeker than what they originally had in place. We performed a data migration from their outdated system to the new, shiny version so all their customer information was stored in one central system. 

The benefits of the system include:

• Self-generating analysis reports save time for staff
• Manual entry of lab results is quick and effortless
• Stripping the system of unwanted functionality improved system performance
• The modern interface and quick performance significantly improved user experience
• Managed migration of existing data from the old system to the new ensured the security of their customer data

November: Winners of Excellence in Customer Care

Pictured below is our Deputy CTO, Scott, proudly collecting our award at the South Holland Business Awards 2023 for Excellence in Customer Care! The judges said:

"It's clear from their entry that the team at PSP submerge themselves in the business to meet the needs and expectations of all their customers, some of whom have been clients of theirs for several years, even a decade."

We were delighted to also receive 'highly commended' in the Supporting the Community category following our work with local charities.

What else happened?

We reached our highest-ever number of employees (32) when the digital transformation project began. The new hires included our first apprentice developer, James, who returned home after a few years away and joined our internal development team. Read more about his return to PSP here.

We treated our staff to some great days out and events, including VIP day at the races at Market Rasen Racecourse, more members of staff undertook company-funded training, and we saw our business turnover triple in three years. We developed a new SharePoint Intranet for a client, whilst we're continuing to develop an online food ordering website for a large catering business, among many other exciting development projects.

All of this in 2023 would not have been possible if it wasn't for our great clients and hard-working staff. We would like to say thank you and Happy New Year to everyone who was involved in our 15th year! We look forward to working with you in 2024.