Get to know the people behind Ratcliff IT, because the people are the service.
We have supported growing London businesses since 2009. What separates a good IT partner from a frustrating one is almost never the technology. It is who picks up, whether they know your business, and whether they follow through.
Ratcliff IT was founded in 2009 to serve one particular kind of client: the well-run London business that holds itself to a high standard and expects the same from every professional around it.
That decision shaped everything that followed. It set who we hire, because a demanding client is not well served by an inexperienced engineer. It set how we charge, because a business planning three years ahead cannot work with a supplier whose invoices move every month. And it set how we grow, which is slowly and by referral, taking on new clients only where we can hold the standard.
We are independently owned, we are not part of a larger group, and the same people have run this business for well over a decade. When you deal with us, you are dealing with a firm that answers to its clients and nobody else.
Our People
Every IT provider sells the same tools. What differs is who is on the other end of them. We made a decision early on that we would only employ experienced engineers, and then built the business around keeping them: proper training, time to do work correctly, and small teams where people cover for one another rather than protect their own patch. Our engineers average twelve years' experience each. That figure is the whole strategy in one number.
We treat what we see inside your business as confidential, permanently. Nobody has to ask us for that.
The right people in the right roles, kept there. Below is who you will actually be dealing with.
Founder and Managing Director
James has worked in IT for more than twenty years, moving from hands-on technical and consultancy work into leadership. That background gives him a balance of technical depth and commercial judgement, and he works closely with client leadership teams, boards, and partners as a trusted advisor on technology, security, and where the business is heading. Building the team and watching clients thrive is what keeps him at it.
Outside work he is at Barry's Bootcamp most weeks, and will talk about Citizen Kane, Jaws, or Interstellar given the smallest opening. Do not bring up F1 unless you have time.
Managed Services and Client Success Lead
Debbie has spent nine years at Ratcliff IT and knows the client base better than anyone. She supports the technical team in making sure clients receive the standard we set for ourselves, and she is the person who will answer a billing or operational question properly the first time. Clients tend to deal with Debbie for years, which is exactly the point.
Away from the office she is chief taxi driver for her son's football matches and chef to a four-year-old daughter who loves to eat. A Tottenham supporter, which she bears well.
Technical Lead
Filipe has more than twenty years in IT and leads a team of skilled engineers delivering the day-to-day standard clients rely on. He owns technical quality: how work gets done, how problems get diagnosed properly rather than patched, and how the engineers around him keep getting better. When something complicated lands, it usually lands with Filipe.
At home he is father to a famously independent three-year-old daughter. He reads widely and will watch almost any sport you care to name. Don't mention his DIY, though.
Finance and Operations Executive
Claire brings structure and quiet reliability to the finance and operations side of the business. She runs day-to-day financial management and operational oversight, keeping things accurate, on track, and properly organised in a business where standards are not negotiable. She is the person who spots what needs doing and gets it done without fuss, and the wider team trusts her judgement on it.
Outside work Claire values a real work-life balance, and can usually be found travelling, doing yoga, or walking her dog.
These aren't poster values. Every person on the team owns them - and you'll notice the difference from your first call.
Bright, personable people who explain things in plain English. Nobody here hides behind technical language.
Accredited and recognised
Named one of Britain’s Top 50 Best Managed IT Companies for eight consecutive years, up to and including 2025. Independently assessed to Cyber Essentials Plus for seven years running. Sustained recognition rather than a badge collected once and left on the website.
Standards we work to
Clients in regulated sectors ask what we hold ourselves to, so here it is plainly.
Chosen because they say something about how we work rather than what we fixed.
We are not the right firm for everyone, and we would rather say so here than three meetings in.
We work with London businesses of 20 to 100 people, mainly in financial services, professional services, property, and media. These are firms where confidentiality is an obligation rather than a preference, where clients and regulators hold them to a standard, and where IT is expected to keep pace with everything else.
We are a premium provider. Businesses choose us for the seniority of the people and the consistency of the service, not because we are the cheapest option in the market. If cost is the deciding factor, there are providers better suited to that.
30 minutes. No obligation.
Book a call and you will be speaking to James, Debbie or another senior member of the team. If you would rather put it in writing first, we read it properly and reply the same working day, normally within the hour.
The next step is a 30-minute introduction call. You don’t need to prepare anything or be remotely technical. It is a chance for us to understand where you are now and where you are trying to get to, and for both of us to get a feel for how the other works.
If we are not the right firm for you, we will tell you honestly and explain our thinking. We don’t chase, and your details won’t be passed on.
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