TMS specialist sticks to strategy

Recruits and expanded customer base are testaments to Fargo System’s keeping to plan

While 2020 brought challenges and uncertainty to every business, Fargo Systems ended the year recruiting six new staff members and a positive uplift to its client base.

Steve Collins, director of the transport management specialist, says: “At the very start of the first lockdown last March we decided to stay committed to our business strategy and to implement our expansion plans, wherever we could.”

Sticking to the pre-Covid business strategy saw Fargo Systems increase its personnel count by six, with new employees joining between its Ipswich and Exeter offices.

Darren Quinton and Bim Patel joined in January 2021 November 2020, respectively.

With over 25 years’ experience in the sector, Darren joined as a product consultant.  Steve says: “With his whole career in IT, Darren brings a wealth of relevant experience to the team, having worked at Wincanton Container Logistics for the last 14 years, and before that 12 years with DHL.”

Bim Patel is Fargo’s new business development manager and joined in November 2020 bringing 20 years of software and commercial experience.  As Steve continues “Bim hit the ground running and has responsibility for identifying new business opportunities for Fargo Systems’ logistics software solutions.”

At the start of last year, Arun Malika took up a test analyst position based at Fargo’s Ipswich Support and Project headquarters. Xueyang Yu joined the team at the company’s Exeter innovation centre in the role of graduate developer.

Steve continues: “Our other two recruits, Keirsten O’Reilly and Daniel Daley, joined our customer support team literally as we headed into the first national lockdown.  Undertaking their training and working remotely for the first few months, they first met their colleagues face-to-face on our socially-distanced return to the office in July.”

Currently, Fargo Systems is navigating its way through lockdown number three and the challenges of finally having left the EU.  Steve goes on to say: “A reaction to Covid has been the heightened interest in paperless business solutions and future-proofing supply chain operations.  Which has resulted in us securing new customers throughout the year, all of whom are keen to benefit from everything our remote Cloud TOPS platform offers.”

In summary, Steve says: “For me, the three factors that have enabled us to weather the last year have been remaining committed to implementing our business strategy, keeping our operations agile and being dynamic at all times.

“It’s impossible to plan for the unknown. But what we can do is ensure we’re not relying solely on any one of our six products and work hard to have the right business mix available at our fingertips for when it’s needed. I feel extremely fortunate to say that Fargo Systems is in great shape, but this is no time for complacency.  Staying this way requires all hands-on deck and everyone here supporting our clients in any way we can.”