One of the UK’s leading managed service providers has celebrated four decades in business by completing a landmark £1.8m investment.
First started in 1985 as a mobile phone specialist by Alan Jackson, Intercity has replaced its legacy platforms with an AI-powered ecosystem designed to give it the foundations to realise a £100m vision by 2030. The company has not stopped there, upgrading its five sites in Bedford, Bolton, Nuneaton, Northampton and Birmingham to create greener, smarter workplaces, as well as a new technical training and cyber awareness Academy. It marks what has been an exciting twelve months for the firm, which delivers access to communications, managed IT and the latest cyber security services to organisations, including HORIBA MIRA, King’s Cross Business Park and Saïd Business School.
“Our 40th birthday was the perfect time to put a real marker in the sand to celebrate how far we have come as a technology business and, importantly, where we want to go next,” commented Charlie Blakemore, CEO of Intercity.
“The mantra has always been to ‘do more’, whether that’s in the systems we provide, the security services we deliver, the investment we put into local communities and how we look after our team – the latter putting us in the Top 10 Best Companies to Work for in the Midlands.” He continued: “This approach has seen us become one of the UK’s fastest growing technology managed service providers and we want to build on this by almost doubling revenue to £100m by 2030.
“It’s ambitious, it’s bold, but it is achievable. The £1m ecosystem investment, powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Halo ITSM, gives us the foundations and the capability to accelerate our expansion, whilst maintaining the same quality of consultancy and best-in-class service.” Whilst Intercity wasn’t formed until 1985, the germ of the idea started three years earlier when Alan Jackson had a chance encounter with Martin Cooper, the inventor of the first handheld mobile phone in Chicago. This led to the launch of Intercity Telecom, a day 1-partner agreement for Vodafone and international expansion in the Netherlands, before a milestone moment took place 25 years later when the company was relaunched as Intercity Technology.
This sparked a shift away from being just a mobile phone enterprise and an important change that has guided the business towards its current position as a leading technology managed services provider. Today, Intercity operates across the UK and, following three years of strong growth, has more than doubled revenues from £25m to £55m. This has been achieved through strong organic growth and the major acquisitions of Chandler Communications and Centrality - the latter seeing the company become a Microsoft First Managed Service Provider (MSP).
Being a Microsoft-first MSP means acting as a trusted Microsoft partner, responsible for running, securing, and optimising an organisation’s Microsoft environment - from Azure and Microsoft 365 to security, compliance, and ongoing performance. It has also seen Intercity invited to become a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA) earlier this year, making it just one of 300 companies globally to be part of this exclusive community.
Andrew Jackson, the son of founder Alan and now Group CEO, picked up the story: “We have been in Birmingham for 40 years and are hugely passionate to call it our home, tapping into its rich talent pool, enterprising culture and industrious nature.
“As well as working for a lot of firms in the city, we are delighted to be the official IT partners of Edgbaston Cricket Stadium and Birmingham City Football Club, two landmark deals that has put us on the sporting map and ensured both stadiums are world class technology venues. To mark our big birthday, we have also reaffirmed our ESG commitment by planting 200 trees per year and renewing our support for LoveBrum and Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s Changemaker Programme.”
Intercity, which has been named as a ‘Wired Trailblazer’ and the Employer of the Year at the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards 2025, has focused heavily on developing a suite of products and fast acting security services to enable businesses to get a handle on the rapidly changing cyber threat landscape at a strategic level.
