Charity Trip To Jordan: A Real Family Affair

It was a real family affair when Tony Richards, director of Computer Strategies, went out to Jordan with his two sons, Sam and Jo, to set up a computer network in a school in the town of Ajloun. And Tony's brother, Chris, made a massive contribution by raising over £25,000 for the project most of it donated by the parishioners of St Lady of Grace & St Edward in Chiswick. The father and sons team installed Microsoft's latest operating system for small businesses, Microsoft Small Business Server 2008, they also provided training for both the pupils of the school and the staff. Chris, meanwhile, kept himself busy by sourcing desks and chairs for the refurbished computer room.

The trip to Jordan was the company's first charitable venture and both Tony and fellow director, John Goodyear, were delighted to have the opportunity to offer their financial assistance and their time to this important project.

Investors in People

Following our recent review we are very pleased that we have retained our Investors in People accreditation.

The Assessor's overriding impression in her report was "of a professional company where quality and customer service are important and where investing in people is seen as pivotal to on-going success".

Celebration BBQ

Computer Strategies merged with System Automation five year ago. To celebrate 5 years together a company BBQ was held by Director Tony Richards. Partners and children enjoyed the garden and the splendid sunny afternoon.

Overseas Help

Computer Strategies will be voluntarily setting up an IT facility at a school in the Holy Land. Tony Richards, supported by his sons Sam & Joel will be travelling to Jordan later this year to setup and train the pupils in the use of up to date Dell computers. The fundraising for the project was arranged by Tony’s brother Chris who will also be assisting in the project. A real family affair.

New Trainee

For those of you that have recently called our Helpdesk you may have spoken to our latest recruit Alex. He will be assisting Albert on our Helpdesk, whilst training for his Microsoft Certification.

New Consultants

Lawson and Matt are our latest members of staff. They both bring a good blend of skills to the company and we welcome them onboard. Lawson and Matt will often be out and about visiting our customers.

Our Work in the Community

At Computer Strategies, we strive to look beyond our immediate environment of colleagues and clients in order to play a part in the wider community. With this in mind, we have selected some worthy charities and organisations and offered them our help. Here we include some background on our work with these companies. If you are aware of a locally based charity (or branch of a national charity) which would benefit from our help and support, please feel free to contact us.

We began working with Chase Hospice Care for Children in 2006. Chase had identified that they were in need of some IT training on both a basic and a more advanced level. Tony Richards put together a set of training modules covering Word (basic and advanced), Excel (basic and advanced). Powerpoint and Publisher. The training was held at The Manor House in Godalming across 3 months and 12 sessions. After a lot of hard work from Tony and the delegates, we are happy to report that the courses were a resounding success!

‘Tony, I just wanted to thank you for all the time and effort that you put into our four day training seminars. The booklets have also been particularly useful. They have been a great benefit to all of us and the response from all my colleagues has been excellent.’
Jane Magowan, Facilities Co-ordinator, Chase Hospice Care for Children

The Samaritans are another very worthy charity which we are pleased to be supporting. We recently donated a printer and are pleased to offer the Guildford Samaritans free PC support.

New Client

We are very pleased to announce that Guildford Cathedral have asked us to support their network of Computers.

In the picture we see our new client Tony Lyddon with Dave Brett, our Support Technician, who will be responsible for the site.

Surrey Business Awards

On Thursday 8th February, the finals of the Surrey Business Awards 2006/7 were held at a glittering Oscar style ceremony at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge.

We are very proud to have been selected as runners-up for the Marketing Award.

Surrey Business Awards

We are delighted to announce that we have been selected as finalists for the prestigious Marketing Award. Computer Strategies representatives will attend the Surrey Business Awards Ceremony at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge on 8th February 2007.

All New Corporate Style!

Computer Strategies has embraced a new corporate style. Employees will now have a choice of clothing, including Computer Strategies branded collar shirts and similarly branded polo shirts. Our navy blue polo shirts even have a large HELPDESK imprint across the back, to make sure our boys stand out from the crowd!

Another Radio show Appearance

Tony and Sam Richards were guests on the veteran DJ Dave Cash’s phone in show on BBC regions radio stations covering the South East of England. Callers quizzed the Computer Strategies representatives on all sorts of IT issues from hardware problems to the future of the Internet.

Ten Pins and another Awards Dinner

Thursday, 21st September 2006 was a busy evening for Computer Strategies. Several members of our team attended the Chamber of Commerce Ten Pin Bowling Challenge at the Guildford Spectrum. No one’s admitting to the final score, but we think they had fun! Meanwhile, Tony Richards and Kate McCarthy attended the South East Chamber Awards Dinner at Loseley Park, where Computer Strategies was recognised in the Innovation Through Technology award category, sponsored by Microsoft.

Summer Drinks Party

Our annual Summer Drinks Party was held on Monday, 17th July at our new offices. Many of our clients were able to join us for a much needed drink as temperatures soared! We used the occasion to showcase some new products and services and it was also the perfect opportunity for our new members of staff and valued customers to meet one another.

New Recruit

Computer Strategies is delighted to announce that Gary Blackburn will be heading up our Helpdesk from 12 June 2006. Gary has over eight years’ experience and will be a very welcome addition to our team. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome Gary on board.

We've Moved!

After a successful move, we have now settled into our new offices in Guildford. Located in Queen Elizabeth Park, the office is easily accessed via the A322 which runs between Guildford and Woking. Please click on the CONTACT tab above to view maps of the area.

We're Moving...

Computer Strategies are delighted to announce that we will shortly be moving to brand new offices in Guildford’s Queen Elizabeth Park. Our steady growth over the last three years has meant that the move to larger, self-contained offices is the next logical step for us.

Our move is scheduled for Friday, 21 April.

Surrey Business Awards

The Computer Strategies team attended an Oscar-style awards ceremony for the first ever Surrey Business Awards on Thursday 9th February 2006. Held at the Sandown Park Racecourse, the evening was attended by all finalists in the various award categories, as well as their guests and a host of media personalities.

As runners-up in the prestigious Technology Award section, Computer Strategies were delighted to have been recognised as leaders in the provision of outstanding IT solutions.

Surrey Technology Awards

Computer Strategies are delighted to announce that we have been selected as one of three finalists for the Surrey Technology Award 2005/2006. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony to be held on 9 February 2006.

Tony Richards on BBC Southern Counties Radio

Director Tony Richards was the Breakfast Show guest on Southern Counties Radio on 17 October. Tony joined show host Ed Douglas to chat about the week's news and highlight some recent advances in IT technology that have made our lives easier.

Investors in People

Computer Strategies is delighted to announce that it has been recognised by the Investors in People programme, a national quality standard which distinguishes successful organisations from their competitors. Companies are evaluated based on internal communications, staff management procedures and training.

Royalty Free Image Library

We thought you might find this site of interest: www.areaimage.com. It was developed by Tony Richards' son.

Rio de Janeiro

Computer Strategies setup servers, desktop computers and WAN connections for 2H Offshore Engineering, our Woking based client.

Future Developments

Our next developments for this new site will be the addition of some case studies.

Latest Research

Computer Strategies completes research projects for antispam and spyware solutions. Contact us for our findings and strategic recommendations.

Tony Reaches Summit!

Tony Richards, Director has reached the Summit of Kilimanjaro. He has raised over £3,300 for the Children's Trust Charity. Many thanks to all for their generous support.