As a relatively new starter, I went on a mission to discover all I could about ANS and here’s what I found out (there might even be some facts in here that will surprise even some our longest serving employees)!

• You might know that ANS was born in 1996, but do you know how? Many moons ago, ANS founder, Scott Fletcher, and Paul Sweeney, Executive Chairman, worked together on a YTS scheme in Manchester. Scott was a techie working on the help desk whilst Paul was in Sales, unfortunately the company they were working for went bust, they were out of a job and their customers without IT support.
• Scott had a thought, “who is going to take care of these customers I’ve been helping every day?” And so it wasn’t long before Scott, with some help from his Dad (Stevie F), started working from Scott’s back bedroom and ANS was born. Paul Sweeney rejoined him a couple of years later.
• Some people know that ANS stands for Associated Network Solutions, but do you know why we chose that name? Back in the days before search engines, companies were listed alphabetically in directories. The guys wanted a company name beginning with ‘A’ so that they would always appear at the top of any list. There’s a clever piece of marketing if I ever did see one.
• Many people know Nick Litherland, one of our longest serving employees, as a Client Director. But did you know that back in 2002 he joined ANS on the Pareto graduate program and started out as Paul Sweeney’s Business Development Manager? Check out this blast from the past..

                                                                                                        

• Some of our employees will remember Elliott the Mannequin who lived in our Secure Operations Centre. Elliot was a cool guy, always in his purple ANS tshirt. He was representative of all our consultants who were out of office delivering exceptional service on customer sites. And so as a badge of honour to Elliott, we dedicated our Facebook page to him…
• With so many positions and so much talent at ANS, it’s no wonder some employees change job roles. Some have done so more than others, whilst it was a close call for the top spot, the employee with the record number of role changes is our very own CEO, Paul Shannon! He’s gone from Technical Consultant, to Senior Technical Pre-Sales Consultant, to Principal Architect, to Head of Technical Services, to Managing Director of Managed Services, to COO, to CEO. Phew!
• Did you know that our founder Scott Fletcher MBE, was made an honorary Doctor of Business Administration by Manchester Metropolitan University in 2017? He was given the doctorate in “recognition of his outstanding contribution to business and the North West region”. Scott said: “It’s a great honour. Nobody in my family has ever had a degree so I’m the first in any generation of the Fletchers.”
• Did you know that our first office was on Ducie Street in the centre of Manchester? Since then ANS has expanded so much that we had to move premises to keep up with the growth of the business! We moved to Synergy House in March 2001 and then expanded our presence on the science park by moving into the Managed Services wing in 2010.
• You might not have known that Sheffield Children’s Hospital was our very first customer back in 1996 and they transacted with us for over 18 years!
• ANS has transformed over the years which means our image has changed with it. Check out the first ANS logo. Retro!

                                                                                                                         

• We all know Manchester is our home, but did you know that 8 years ago ANS made the leap to the capital and set up an office there too? David Vukomanovic, Director of Sales South, was our first employee to work at the London office and we never looked back.
• These days the world never stops and neither does technology. That’s why in January 2015, we officially had our very first 24/7 shift and since then ANS has not stopped working round the clock to ensure all our customer are well looked after. Jack Cottrill, Level 3 Technical Analyst, Jordan Bridge, Project Manager and Ryan Froggatt, DevOps Engineer, were all on that shift and it can’t have been too tiring as they’re still here!
• Did you know that ANS has been visited by royalty? In 2002, Manchester hosted the Commonwealth Games which were sponsored by one of our partners, Cisco. So, in 2016, as part of the regeneration of the city since the games, HRH Princess Anne came to ANS to visit our Academy. It was an incredibly special day which turned out to be the same day that a mouse was spotted in our Secure Operations Centre! What a welcome for the princess!
• Do you know the longest commute done by one of our employees? I know what you’re thinking, a few hours across the country until they reach Manchester. Well, you’d be wrong. One of our technical consultants, Valdemar, commutes all the way from Lithuania. That’s right, he travels across different time zones every 3 months to join us in Manchester for our quarterly all staff meetings.

Want to find out more about ANS? Browse our current vacancies here and join our team today!