I have now been with CE Services for 2 months and in this time I have learnt a lot and I am still learning more and more each day. I am progressing with my studies and hope to gain some more qualification by the end of the year; I am also getting the hang of driving.

Since my last diary entry I have been doing similar things as usual reloading laptops and pc’s, fixing things in the workshop and so on. But I have also done a few different things like doing my first helpdesk call and going out on site with Ian which was different because I wasn’t just doing installations like i have been with Phil, I was actually fixing problems. I have started call logging to and I finally have the confidence to answer the phone whenever it rings. I am still enjoying every moment of working for CE services.

CE Services have gained Microsoft Gold Partner status. We have been working towards this goal as the business and IT support market place has changed from an onsite break – fix model to a predominantly remote helpdesk  support solutions environment.

On receiving the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner certification managing director Mark Ralph made the following comments:

“We are all delighted at CE Services to have received this prestigious certification from Microsoft. It is recognition of all the hard work our team put in every day. I am particularly pleased as it proves the long term staff development plan put in place was the correct decision and carried out in an effective manner. I would like to thank all the engineers for their proactive attitude towards the training programmes which have helped us secure this award. However achieving Gold is not only a reflection of our technical ability, we also had to score highly on Microsoft’s customers satisfaction survey and it makes it even more satisfying to know your customers are very happy with the support they receive”

Alongside the Gold partner status CE Services were recognised to have the following key competencies, “Small business specialist community, Server Platform, Midmarket Solution Provider and Network Solutions” reflecting the areas of specialisation we have followed.

CE Services training programme does not stop here however, they have recently taken on two new local engineers, Josh and Ash who are both revising for their Microsoft exams currently. You can find more about how they are getting on in their online blog entries.

As mentioned previously CE Services once again are taking part in the Warrington Half Marathon to raise money for the superb Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation for Peace organisation. Last year we raised £700 pounds for the charity, this year our athletes hope to raise £1000!

The Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation for Peace is CE Services charity partner.

The CE Services team are very proud to be running for The Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation for Peace. This is helping to motivate them to train in this ‘summer’ weather! Perhaps training too hard though as one member of the team was late for work because of over sleeping due to a ‘run’. We’ll believe him thousands wouldn’t!!

If you have a moment please check out the wonderful, Foundation For Peace and if you feel inclined to please recognise the tremendous work done by the Foundation for peace and the effort being put in by all 5 members of the CE Services team by sponsoring us.

The CE Services Team is:

Mark Ralph, Darryl Cann, Matt Dyson Rick Delooze and Rob Fellows

I am now halfway through my second month at CE services and everything is still going well. I am currently studying for the CompTIA Network plus certification and also for my driving test. I recently had my first driving lesson which went well. I look forward to driving these:

I am enjoying working here and have taken on more responsibilities as Phil has gone away on holiday so I am doing more things independently. It has given me a glimpse of what it is going to be like once I am ready to go out on calls by my self. I can’t wait!

Other things that I have done in the last week are fixing more laptops, reloading PC’s and I also built a computer from scratch which was challenging but in the end it all came together and worked fine. This made me happy. I also replaced a hard drive in a laptop.

One of the most enjoyable things I have done was going on a night out with everyone after the company meeting. We all went bowling followed by pizza hut and it was a good night. I can’t wait for the Christmas Party!

I am now in my second month at CE services and I am really enjoying it. I am currently training for the windows server administration exam which is a Microsoft qualification. I have also recently started my driving lessons. I’ve booked 13 in total so hope to pass quite quickly. Soon I will soon be able to go out on calls by my self.

I believe that I am making a lot of progress, I’m learning new things everyday and I hope I can get a few more qualifications. I am getting on with everyone in the office and everyone at other companies when I am on site. Everyone has made me feel welcome and I am really enjoying working for CE services.

The last week on helpdesk has been a little more challenging than the previous weeks as Andy has been on holiday. Although I feel that I worked well under the pressure and with help from Dayryl have been able to cope well with more calls. Although I wouldn’t call it being thrown in the deep end I’m glad that I’ve been tested with more responsibility and proved myself so early on in my career at CE Services.

I have also been working towards a Microsoft Certification in Exchange 2003. I’m doing this as a large majority of the calls we receive are regarding emails and having a formal qualification in MCE 2003 will be very useful.

This morning I has perhaps my most challenging call to solve. A customer logged a call because he couldn’t logon to his laptop as his profile was unable to be loaded. Essentially making only thing the laptop could do would be a door stop! This was the first time that I had seen this problem so I used my own initiative, problem solving skills and available references to identify the problem. I then instructed the customer on how to solve the problem by configuring the registry file. This worked and the customer was very happy with the result.

From the 1^st of August, the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace will be CE Services’ charity partner for the following 12 months. The Foundation for Peace, based at The Peace Centre, works with individuals and communities to prevent, manage and deal with the aftermath of conflict. It provides educational programmes for children, young people and adults to empower them to make a positive contribution in their own community.

The Foundation is the only organisation in England working with victims and survivors of political violence such as those affected by the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’, 7/7 bombings, Bali or Madrid as well as former soldiers who served overseas.

The Foundation for Peace was created by the parents of 12 year old Tim Parry and supported by the parents of 3 year old Johnathan Ball. Both Tim and Johnathan were tragically killed as a direct result of the IRA’s 1993 bombing of Warrington. Based in a purpose-built £3million Peace Centre, the Foundation currently operates across the U.K.

On the 23^rd of July Mark Ralph, managing director of CE Services explained, “we are delighted to announce the Foundation for Peace as our charity partner, we have a long relationship with this organisation and are pleased to cement this by making them our inaugural charity partner. Everyone at the Foundation works so hard and we’re delighted to be able to help in our own small way”

Lynn Hitchen, Operations Manager said “CE Services have provided IT support to us for the last year and they have always been professional, offer a prompt service and all the staff are very helpful. We are really pleased that they are taking us as their first charity partner and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them.”

The next fundraiser CE Services will be taking part in for the North West based charity is the Warrington half marathon. CE Services will have 5 runners taking part. This is the second time CE Services have taken part in the race for the Foundation for Peace. Last year they raised £ 700. This year CE Services aims to crack the £1000 mark.

My name is Ash Newton, I have recently become a member of the CE services team after I graduated from Zenos IT academy. As well as being one of the newest employees at CE services I am also the youngest as I have only just turned 17. My role at CE services is a trainee IT field engineer.

On my first day at CE services I was quite nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but I settled in quickly. Since my first day I believe that I have made progress and learnt a lot. There has been a lot of challenges for example when I have had to visit customers with challenging IT Support or network support issues but Phil my mentor was always willing to help and talk things through with me.

The most challenging thing that I have had to do is fix the laptops in the workshop but I managed to do it without anyhelp, this may have been a challenging experience but was also one of the most enjoyable.

During the next few months I hope to gain more qualifications which will help me to progress with this company. Gaining qualifications like the network plus and various Microsoft certificates will be an advantage in helping me to progress.

My name is Josh Skyner and I am the newest member of the CE Services team. I joined the company after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire and I am currently working on the helpdesk.  After being offered the position, I’m not sure I would of been if Mark had known what football team I support however!!!, I was happy to accept as the Helpdesk position was ideal for what I was looking for once I left university.

On my first day at CE Services I was a little nervous as it was my first career job. Once I arrived on my first day I was

warmly welcomed and given a tour of the office by Andy, who was been with CE Services for 18 years. Andy has helped me settle in on the helpdesk answered any questions I have and really just taken me under his wing. He helps me apply what I learnt at University to the fast paced IT support industry.

The most interesting thing I have done so far whilst at CE Services was my first on-site call. We were extremely busy one morning and all the engineers were already attending clients. One customer rang with a problem which could not wait; they couldn’t connect to the network. Over the phone I correctly diagnosed the problem, their network switch was dead. I then volunteered to attend the call out personally so the issue could be solved as soon as possible. I visited the company with a spare switch and swapped the switches around. This solved the problem and the customer was immensely pleased with the IT support service she received from me and CE Services.

I’m looking forward to gaining my Microsoft engineer accreditation, taking on more responsibility especially with network and server support.”

Does the size of a business hold any weight when choosing a supplier in these difficult times?

I think not, maybe this was the train of thought in the 90’s. The first question I would be asked by prospects was how many branches do you have and are you nationwide? Even if the prospect was only based in the North West. Like it was some sort of measure of security. I found peoples importance with the size of a business very frustrating. I have never measured a supplier’s service level or success against the size of the business.

Look at some of the large nationwide stores, Woolworths for example. I was reading this morning that a former Woolworths manager has defied the recession by reopening the store under the name Wellworths and handing colleagues their jobs back. Claire Robertson recruited 20 of her former Woolworths staf to join her new shop, nicknamed “Wellies”, in Dorchester.

She said: “Dorchester was always a profitable store. The sales were always good even though Woolworths as a company wasn’t profitable.”

So I think gone are the days of having to appear Nationwide to be accepted. Prospects are more impressed by customer references and good customer service.

As CE Services enters into its 20th year of business we are proud to be able to say “we are big enough to cope and small enough to care.”