Robyn and Grant Hulley, are the husband and wife team and co-owners of Ghost Enterprises. Founded by Grant in 2013, Robyn joined the team during the height of the pandemic to assist clients with the shift to remote working. Since then, the duo has not looked back, turning Ghost into the thriving tech company it is today.
What originally started life as an IT support company to local businesses, has steadily evolved into a large multi-service provider, offering a wide variety of technology solutions for businesses of all sizes and sectors.
We wanted to take the opportunity to ask the dynamic duo their thoughts on the tech industry, how AI is influencing business leaders, and more importantly, their motivation behind Ghost Enterprises.
What was your motivation behind starting Ghost?
Grant: I wanted to start a true and honest company that showed value to the client with a client focus. I was tired of seeing other IT firms take advantage of the “little people/elderly/poorly informed” charging a lot of money fand giving them a poor service. I wanted to offer a business that provided a high-end service, one that always wowed its customers.
Robyn: Grant is the brainchild of Ghost, so I joined him long into his journey when the company already had a solid client basis and ethos. I came on board to work with Grant and the team just as Covid took hold, and together we learnt how to work together, navigating isolation and parenting a 5-month-old – all in close confinement. It was a baptism of fire to say the least, but we are a stronger team and have built a better company for it.
What differentiates your company from its competitors in the technology sector?
Grant: The scope of what we can offer is incredibly vast. Many companies home in on specific elements of IT, but instead we offer a full end-to-end service – one call to our helpdesk can deal with any problem.
Robyn: Alongside our wide range of services, the people we hire are all great personalities who really invest time with the customer to deliver the excellent service we strive for. A great example of this is our IT Manager, Paul, who created a client exchange fridge magnet programme, he sends and receives fridge magnets from all over the world. The point I’m trying to make is, our customers get to know who they are speaking with on the phone, we have high staff retention so there is consistency to our workforce, which allows our clients to build a relationship with our team.
What qualities do you believe are most important for leaders in the tech industry today?
Grant: I think that honesty, being approachable and knowing the field without over complicating the topic or talking in “techno babble.” At Ghost we strive to communicate efficiently in a way the client will understand – regardless of their experience or understanding of the IT sector and latest technologies.
Robyn: Agility is key, the landscape is changing all the time with new products and technologies available and discerning what is key for our clients is sometimes tricky when new products are coming to market all the time. The development of AI software means that there are efficiencies to be made in every business but managing that integration with a company workforce and senior management expectations is imperative to ensuring a smooth integration and that the software is received positively.
Robyn and Grant attending IT Europa Channel Sec Awards Finals May 2024
How would you describe your leadership style, and how do you foster a positive company culture?
Grant: I am 100% laissez-faire. I will delegate a task out to a staff member and let them lead and run with it, should they run into difficulty I will have the expectation that they ask for help and I will coach them through to a solution.
Robyn: Anyone who asks me about why I do what I do will see tears in my eyes and see me trying (and failing) to keep my cool. Grant and I both run Ghost the way we do; so we can provide the best for our family and ultimately spend more time with our kids. As a company, I want to extend that same courtesy to our staff. I think it is mad that the average company’s annual leave policy is less than the total school holiday days; which is why we offer flexible working and TOIL opportunities to our staff. It is why we allow staff to work from home where required and overall, just try to offer every staff member the same flexibility that we are looking for ourselves. I think every human on the planet finds the pull between family, work, social life, home admin hard and I don’t want our company to be another heavy load on someone’s plate, so we try to offer flexibility and understanding wherever we can.
How do you see the technology landscape evolving in the next five years, and how is Ghost preparing for these changes?
Grant: Right now, the central drive is AI and Cyber Security – which go hand in hand because AI opens up the risk to potential attack vectors. Within the next 5 years AI will come into the marketplace in a big way. At Ghost I am always working on research and development, which makes up at large part of my role, which can be as simple as taking a course or practically building an AI environment. Alongside this, we’re investing in advanced cyber security products to better protect our clients and proactively monitor their estate for potential threats.
What are your top priorities for the next year, and what goals are you aiming to achieve?
Grant: My top priority for the next 12 months to focus on cyber compliancy and certification and to expand our dark web and Pen testing services. I am currently offering training on the use of AI and virtualisation to our technicians to ensure the entire team is up to date with the changing landscape as AI and Cyber security look to become a larger percentage of our day-to-day offering.
Robyn: We have been working hard to transform our business from an IT Support company to a complete end-to-end solution. My goal now over the next 12 months is to get the message out there to new and existing clients to show that we have so much to offer and celebrate how far we have come from fixing friend’s laptops on the dining room table at home to now offering tailor-made support packages that range from cyber protection and training to cloud services, allowing companies to pick and choose how we partner with them to make a package suitable for their needs and budget.
To learn more about Ghost Enterprises, and their wide range of technical solutions for businesses, please book a discovery call with a member of our team today, or call 01245 208080.