A Tyneside tech firm has expanded further into the legal services industry through the acquisition of a London based business.
Newcastle company Newcastle company Atlas Cloud, which specialises in delivering cloud-based IT solutions, has snapped up Islington based Challow Design Network Services Limited amid moves to boost its geographical footprint. The deal has been carried out for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition will also see the city centre-based managed services and cyber security services provider expand its offering into the legal services sector, as well as increase its capacity to service larger clients. Challow, which has its offices near Kings Cross, is a niche IT services provider for barristers’ chambers and law firms, with its solution aligning firms and chambers with the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme.
Atlas Cloud bosses said the combined company will allow Challow to widen its solution for the legal sector, while also merging Atlas Cloud’s cyber security division to incorporate Cyber Essentials accreditations and services under one roof. The Newcastle business, which has clients including Ward Hadaway and Thackray Williams, will take on Challow’s customer base which includes firms like 7 Bedford Row and Warners Solicitors, to become a leading provider to the legal sector.
Pete Watson, CEO of Atlas Cloud, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the Challow team to Atlas Cloud, it’s an ideal match. Challow have spent years perfecting a totally unique solution, choosing to refine with their current customer base over pursuing growth.
"Atlas Cloud has in recent years placed a huge emphasis on developing an operational blueprint that delivers a great service in a scalable way. It’s given us greater capacity, allowed us to tighten SLAs and our customer feedback scores are now consistently world-class. Together, we make the industry’s best-kept secret – eager to disrupt the legal services sector.”
Challow director Andy Fryer, who has become operations director across the new group, said: “From day one of meeting Pete and the team, this has felt like the right thing to do. Now is the right time to combine Challow’s compliance capabilities with Atlas Cloud’s security capabilities and take it to a wider market.”
The acquisition comes at a time when compliance and security are hot topics in the legal sector as well as the wider business community, with guidance issued jointly by the Law Society and the Bar Council last year aiming to “promote a culture of change” about information security in the sector.
The Government has recently announced plans to tighten cyber security across its supply chain and later this year, Cyber Essentials certifications will become mandatory for all legal aid firms.
Mr Watson highlighted how the deal comes two years into a five-year strategy for Atlas Cloud, saying the company will continue to invest in the Newcastle and London offices, with the north becoming a hub for service and cyber security operations and the south focusing on technology operations. He said the next step will be to ramp up its innovations team.
He added: “We’ve invested heavily in perfecting our operational blueprint. Now we’re full steam ahead on innovation – the next technological wave will come from the combination of AI and automation; we plan to be ahead of the curve.
“We’re already holding innovation roundtables with customers and building out proof of concepts, our next investment will help us dedicate more time to driving the legal sector forward.”
