Thirty years ago, connecting a small business to the internet meant a beige box, a phone line and the screech of a 28k modem. If you were online, you probably couldn’t take phone calls at the same time.
We started in Hamilton in 1996 as Local Planet Solutions Ltd, and began trading as Why Settle in 2011. This week we turn 30. We’ve seen every major shift in business technology since then, and helped our clients through each one. Here is that story.
The dial-up years: making businesses efficient with data
In the mid-1990s, the internet was a novelty for most SMBs. The real gains were inside the office. Many businesses still ran on paper files and peoples’ memory.
We built databases that changed that. They brought together knowledge held across the company. Everyone could draw on it, and their clients got a better, more consistent service as a result. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was transformational. It also set the principle we still work by: technology should make a business measurably better, not more complicated.
The email era: a new way to communicate
Then email arrived, and the way businesses talked to customers and suppliers changed for good. Letters and faxes gave way to messages that arrived in seconds.
We set up mail servers, domains and the first company email addresses for many of our clients. We also learned an early lesson about technology that still holds: each new tool brings new problems. Spam, lost mailboxes and the first email-borne viruses all needed managing.
A computer on every desk
By the early 2000s, a computer with internet access had become standard for almost every role. That meant networks, servers, backups, printers, licences and a constant flow of “it’s not working” calls.
This is when we became, in today’s language, a managed service provider. Our clients didn’t want to think about IT. They wanted it to work so they could get on with running their businesses. Taking that weight off their shoulders became the core of what we do.
Broadband: always on, always connected
Broadband changed everything again. “Always on” made the internet part of daily operations, not a special occasion. Websites, online ordering, remote access and, eventually, cloud services became normal for businesses of every size.
It also meant a business’s data and systems were permanently connected to the outside world. That set the scene for the biggest challenge of the next decade.
The cyber security challenge
Over the past 15 years, cyber security has become one of the defining issues for UK businesses. Ransomware, phishing and business email compromise are no longer problems only for large corporations. Smaller firms are often targeted precisely because attackers assume their defences are weaker.
Our work shifted to match. Firewalls and antivirus became layered protection: email filtering, multi-factor authentication, patching, monitored endpoints, tested backups and, just as importantly, training staff to spot attacks. Security is now built into everything we deliver rather than added on.
Today: AI and leading the sector
Now we are in the middle of the biggest shift since the internet itself. Artificial intelligence is changing how work gets done, and the businesses that adopt it well are pulling ahead of their competitors.
In some ways, it brings us full circle. Thirty years ago we used databases to help clients work smarter with their information. Today we use AI to do the same thing at a scale that wasn’t possible before: automating routine admin, drafting documents, summarising meetings, finding answers in years of company data, and building custom tools around how each business actually works.
One client uses an AI-powered process that saves 15 minutes every time it runs, and it runs 500 times a month. That is around 125 hours a month handed back to the business, time the team now spends on work that matters more.
Our goal is not to bolt AI on for the sake of it. It is to help our clients become leaders in their sectors, using AI safely, securely and in ways that make a real difference to the bottom line.
What hasn’t changed
The technology has changed beyond recognition since 1996. The thinking behind our work hasn’t. We take each new wave of technology, work out what it means for our clients, and make it practical, safe and worthwhile.
None of this would have been possible without our clients. Many have been with us for a long time, and we are grateful to every one of them for their trust.
Here’s to the next 30.
Paul, Managing Director, Why Settle Technology
Call to action: To mark our 30th, we’re offering free AI readiness sessions until the end of the year. Find out where AI could save your team time. Book yours →