Derby business owners join forces to launch new company

Two Derby business owners have agreed to join forces.

Jonny McPhee and Mark Hollingworth, managing directors of city firms Invictus Communications and Clover IT Contracts, are now working together under the name of Invictus Technology.

Both men will run the company, which is based in Derby Road, Melbourne, alongside their existing businesses.

Invictus also plans to launch a new energy supply service, which means that companies will be able to source or upgrade their telephone system, IT and gas and electricity supply by talking to just one business, rather than three.

McPhee, who set up Invictus Communications in 2015, described the partnership as “the right move at the right time”, following a year in which the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to seek new ways of working and required millions of people to work from home.

He said: “The pandemic had a huge effect on everyone’s business, including our own, and it meant that we had to find a new way of working, which to us meant forming alliances with local companies who could pass on leads to us and vice versa.

“I have known Mark for years, but after a few months of cooperating with each other we realised the long-term benefits of combining our products and services under the same roof as a friendly and local one-stop-shop.

“This is the right move at the right time because the move to remote working has created a huge need for secure, reliable and seamless phone and IT systems and people don’t want to waste time talking to separate companies when they can arrange everything through one supplier.”

Hollingworth has been managing director of Clover IT since he set the firm up in 2005 and says he had “no hesitation” in joining forces with McPhee under the new Invictus Technology banner.

He said: “There are so many similarities in the way our companies operate that it makes perfect sense for us both to combine our skills and experience in order to make things easier for our clients.

“The technology we sell enables people to work from home and as a result we are currently very busy, so working with Jonny will ensure that companies have everything they need to operate no matter where their staff are working from.”