GBM rebrands as Sync
MANCHESTER TECHNOLOGY FIRM INVESTS OVER £100,000 TO HELP BUSINESSES AND SCHOOLS WITH NEW WORKING FROM HOME CHALLENGES
Manchester’s most reliable tech company kicks off 2021 with a bold new re-brand and new digital platform that includes a 24/7 e-commerce store and access to tech services.
With a HQ in Ardwick and a state-of-the-art Deansgate store, Sync may be headquartered in the North West, but operates on a national scale, with a team of tech heads stretching the length of the country, as well as working with some of the biggest companies around the UK.
Sync, the ‘technology experience’ which specialises in Apple tech and training & support for professionals has invested £100,000 in three new online stores, Sync:Pro, Sync:Gov and Sync:Ed, in order to help UK businesses and the public education sector make the most of the challenges posed by new flexible working norms and at home learning.
Sync customers can now take advantage of improved customer interface tools including a ‘configure to order’ (CTO) service on all Mac products allowing customers to build bespoke products online, factoring in price differences while checking stock and lead times.
As an official Apple partner, Sync work directly with the brand’s financial services to create a financing solution that works for businesses. Bespoke deals on the latest Apple tech, including brand-new MacBook Pro subscriptions from as little as £19 per month.
The company has adapted and continued to grow during the pandemic which has been one of the busiest trading periods in the company’s 28-year history.
Since 2018, Sync has invested more than £600,000 in a combination of physical and online facilities, including: an outstanding three level hub on Deansgate housing a store, repair centre and training suite and more recently their online stores.
All of the new facilities have been designed to ensure Sync can serve the customers with a digital support network on a 24/7 basis - even during the pandemic.
As part of the recent investments, Sync has also made substantial contributions to education initiatives, partnering with Oasis Academies to help supply 30,000 iPads to primary, secondary and sixth form students and staff over the next academic year. This scheme, named Oasis Horizons is just one of several national activations designed to improve tech-assisted learning. Although the Oasis scheme predates COVID, recent lockdown restrictions mean it’s even more vital for kids in the UK to have access to the right tech resources.
The company is also offering free places on some of their acclaimed training sessions, including 15 fully-funded spots on a three-day Adobe XD course, which would normally set tech-heads back, upwards of £195+VAT per person.
On the rebrand, Sync Commercial Director Chris Costello said: “GBM is a brand that has been synonymous with the business tech space for 29 years, however after rapid growth and a record turnover, we wanted to breathe new life into the business.
“As we work across business, education and consumer sectors, it made sense to bring these all together, under one synchronised name – Sync.
“Thanks to preparations over the last year, Sync is better placed than ever to ensure we remain agile as a business, responding to the various changes imposed by both the ongoing pandemic and new methods of home working.
“Prior to the pandemic, our teams were running and supporting over 280 days of face-to-face training and informational events per annum, all at zero-cost, in order to support businesses and schools. We knew that trying to retain the kind of conversations created from those events was going to be a challenge, but it is one we tried to address straight off the bat.
“In 2020, we delivered over 110 free skills-based virtual training sessions to businesses and key workers in lockdown, helping them to navigate the shift from physical to remote technologies.
“Although many businesses have managed to adapt, it’s clear that a lot of work still needs to be done in the education industry to ensure every child is receiving sufficient remote learning.
“As a Google for Education partner, Sync has been selected to support the Department for Education’s new ‘Platform for Programme’ which has been designed to ensure that schools can support remote education through a central assessment, collaboration and storage system.
“Sync is proud to support schools and trusts across the UK, helping with the integration of technology in order to support learning wherever possible.”
“There’s never been a better time to explore how Sync can develop your business, whatever 2021 has to throw at you.”
Over the last 29 years as GBM Digital, the company has had years of success and sustainable year on year growth. With the rebrand and investment in online services, Sync are proud to be in a position where their experts can blend the strong organisational knowledge developed over three decades with the new skills and strategic employee acquisitions of recent years. While the technology and deployment practices may have changed since the start of the pandemic, Sync’s overall approach remains unaltered: To deliver customer centric solutions via a consultancy led approach, in order to progress and support UK businesses.