GDC Services CEO Chris Ellis addressing Cloud redesign, partnership development, and retail offer

GDC Services has been steadily building its reputation as a reliable partner for global clients and, expanding its portfolio of projects. In an exclusive interview, Chris Ellis, CEO of GDC Services, reflects on the challenges and opportunities shaping today’s IT services market.

Chris, what trends and changes in the market can you see right now?

It is a challenging environment, with political and economic uncertainty putting pressure on CIOs and IT departments to cut costs and reduce risk. At the same time, there is strong expectation to make best use of new technologies, especially AI, to stay ahead of the competition. Many fear that standing still means falling behind, even when the right next step is not always clear.

How do you see the role of GDC Services in this landscape?

Opinions on AI range from “it is all hype” to “it will take over the world.” The reality is likely somewhere in between.

Our role is to help companies get the fundamentals right. Consolidating IT systems, putting proper processes and documentation in place. More and more, the IT tools we use every day already have AI capabilities built in. We advise on how to use those capabilities effectively and assess the impact of any AI implementation on a company’s cloud and digital workplace environments, then make the required changes and improvements.

Are there any new business activities in the company?

It is mostly about making steady improvements and bringing more value to customers.

For example, we recently migrated a customer in the medical-solutions sector, subject to strict regulatory requirements, to SharePoint Online. We also expanded our team of architects, project managers and operations managers supporting a global manufacturer. They play a key role in improving its worldwide IT support, much of which is outsourced to Asia.

Another milestone is achieving Microsoft accredited service provider status in Modern Workplace for Enterprises. This recognition shows our capability to deliver and manage Microsoft modern digital workplace solutions for organizations of all sizes.

Last quarter of the year is always busy for IT companies, what can you share with us about your plans?

We are addressing customer needs by focusing on three particular topics in next period.

First is cloud assessments and optimization. Many organizations are questioning the value of their current cloud usage concerned about costs, security and flexibility. Over the last three to five years most companies have migrated wholly or partly to the cloud, and now they are re-evaluating whether their setup still meets their changing business needs.

To address this, we are launching free cloud assessments. We review a customer cloud environment, check how well it aligns with business requirements and best practices, and recommend improvements. Our certified cloud experts can then implement those changes. We see strong demand among small and mid-sized enterprises, who often lack the internal resources or vendor support that large enterprises enjoy. We can bring them the experience we have gained in complex global environments.

Second, we are focusing on partnerships with local IT service providers in Northern and Western Europe. Collaboration is part of our DNA. We look for synergies and ways to complement each other’s services and capabilities. We are in promising discussions to work closely with local providers to meet the needs of small and mid-sized enterprises across cloud, digital workplace, IT support, and service management.

Third, we plan to promote and expand our expertise and services in the development, integration and management retail point of sale (POS). Until now, we have focused on supporting two long-standing international fashion retailers. We are now ready to bring our expertise to new partners and customers. We are not a one size fits all provider. Our focused approach delivers measurable results and value that larger, more generalist firms often cannot match.

Thank you for this interesting interview and good luck with the new projects!