We’re thrilled to be celebrating our 30th anniversary here at ITHealth. We really couldn’t be prouder of the successful business we’ve built over the years, the customers we serve and the team we have surrounding us today. As we reflect on how we got here, we thought you might like to take a trip with us down memory lane to look back on how it all began and the journey that we’ve been on over the last three decades.

In the beginning…

23rd September 1991 marks the day the company was founded as BMS U.K. Ltd (does anyone remember the Cadbury’s purple branding?!); the web presence of ithealth.co.uk was also launched (strangely, we’ve been ITHealth all along… although that didn’t come formally until later).

Due to an increased demand for IT hardware, BMS was soon established as a reseller. A few years later, it was noticed that many of our main customers were within the NHS. Naturally, it made sense to talk to more NHS organisations, learn about their needs and source specialist solutions.

Our focus on IT security quickly evolved in response to industry demand. The NHS National Network (NHSNET) was established in 1992, and BMS began selling firewalls and early web monitoring solutions.

In 2004, we acquired a company called ISL. More importantly, we also acquired their flagship remote access product, Secure-IT, meaning we could offer our own in-house remote access solution. Today, we’re proud to say that Secure-IT is still growing strong and we have over 87,000 users in more than 100 NHS organisations using our scalable two-factor authentication product. (Naturally, the demand increased somewhat during the pandemic!)

Evolving, but protecting what is important to us

As the company grew organically, we took great care to remain independent, and to stay small enough to offer the flexible, responsive, and personal service that our customers had come to expect. Job vacancies here have been rare because no one ever wants to leave; we’ve built a team of highly experienced and loyal people with a thorough understanding of the industry and NHS IT needs. Our original values of ‘being credible’, ‘doing things right’, and ‘being helpful and easy to work with’ remain core to who we are and how we aim to do business.

New management: new brand

In 2013, our then Professional Services Manager, Brett Draper, acquired the business and soon re-branded it as ITHealth – bringing a synergy to our name in terms of what we do and who we serve – creating a stronger, more defining brand for the business (and finally marrying up the company name to the URL, which had been so apt all along!)

Today, as ITHealth, we continue to focus on selling cyber security and access management solutions to the NHS. We work closely with our partners and customers to continually develop our offering and invest in our in-house solutions to ensure that we consistently meet the demands of an ever-evolving NHS. A perfect example of this is our ITHealth Dashboard Solution – which was initially developed for NHS IT Teams to help better manage the cyber security and compliance of IT assets through a single pane view. We’re delighted that the ITHealth Dashboard is now installed at over 100+ NHS organisations, with the uptake continuing to increase. We are also pleased to be talking to local government authorities as to how the Dashboard can help increase security visibility of their IT estates.

Thank you to our customers, partners and to our incredible team

Of course, we simply wouldn’t be celebrating 30 years if it wasn’t for our customers and their continued loyalty, for which we are extremely grateful. We’re pleased to say that many of our original customers have remained with us, which is testament to the dedication of the ITHealth team and unfailing commitment to deliver the best service possible.

Over the last three decades, we’ve also worked with some fantastic partner organisations – who have always been chosen with utmost care – to ensure that our joint offerings continue to meet the specific needs of our customers. We’re grateful for all our existing partner relationships and that they continue to grow from strength to strength.

As we look forward to and plan for the next decades ahead, we would like to say thank you to each and every customer and partner that has made this journey with us, and of course to the incredible team of staff behind our brand.

Happy 30 years to ITHealth!