The Kent IT Consultancy (KITC) is part of the School of Computing and is a student staffed IT consultancy delivering services to local small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Its mission is to solve business problems with technology and to make our student consultants more employable.

This year the KITC had 26 undergraduate consultants who delivered between them 7000 hours of work across both Canterbury and Medway campuses. The team delivered a range of customer facing projects including 9 Digital Transformation projects, helping small businesses to make the best use of technology, Three App Prototype projects, four Website projects and 29 Cyber Security Health checks, helping businesses to benchmark themselves against the National Cyber Security Centre’s Small Business Guide.

In feedback clients were highly satisfied and indicated they were likely to recommend the services to others.

Catherine Barratt, Managing Director at Furnitubes International Ltd, for whom KITC created a standalone website that promotes a new product said: “The KITC team were fantastic. They understood the brief really well, were very well organised, checked in every week and delivered a fantastic site within a few weeks. Probably the best supplier experience I have had in a while!”

Julian Jennings, Managing Director at Legality Ltd, said “Legality experienced conflicting advice from various IT companies presenting difficulties in determining the best solution. The KITC team gave us a clear and unbiased assessment of what we required to best meet our needs. Giving us reassurance and confidence in choosing the right path going forward.

The KITC is in the process of adapting its offering in the face of in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Local SMEs can continue to access its services over the summer with a new cohort of Master’s student consultants who can help businesses adapt to new ways of working.