Architecture is a volatile business with unpredictable periods of growth and decline that can make financial planning and forecasting a real challenge. Within this landscape, Ruddle Wilkinson has chosen the UK's leading IT finance provider, Syscap, to ensure they always have the equipment they need – from new PCs to the latest computer aided design software – keeping them financially flexible and helping to drive sustainable growth and development, whatever the future holds.

Ruddle Wilkinson is a dynamic architectural design practice, established over 100 years ago,with experience in a broad range of sectors including air, rail, retail, education, workplace and urban living. For the past thirteen years, Ruddle Wilkinson has been undergoing a period of change and development, moving away from its provincial roots into large-scale project design and delivery. Today, with clients such as IKEA, London Underground, BAA, Countryside Properties and Marks & Spencer, Ruddle Wilkinson has grown to become a world-class practice with a reputation for innovation and delivery.

Ed Taylor has been a Director at Ruddle Wilkinson since 1991 and has witnessed this evolution while helping to drive the change. “Investment in technology has been a major factor in our success,” he explains. “If you want your staff to deliver their best you have to give them the right tools for the job. It's about matching quality with quality.” Ed has always driven the investment in IT at Ruddle Wilkinson, but with his background in accountancy, he also knows how to invest wisely. “As an accountant, one is disciplined to match funding with asset life and never to finance long term assets out of short term capital,” he explains. “This means that when you buy anything with a life of more than a year you look for some form of funding that matches the life span of the asset. Apply this to IT, and leasing is probably the best solution.”

But finding the right funding partner can be difficult, as Ed explains: “Architecture is a volatile business which relies on the strength of the construction sector. Even during good times, like now, predicting and forecasting is extremely difficult to do accurately. This can make building a good relationship with a finance partner quite tough.”

In addition, there is sometimes the uncertainty over whether a proposed project will actually get off the ground. “You can win the business and plan for a period of rapid expansion which then never comes to fruition,” says Ed. “Alternatively, a large project might suddenly get the green light and you need the IT resources for a whole new team of people to manage it. This means you need to find a finance partner who is flexible enough to meet your requirements, who can act quickly, who understands the architecture industry and with whom you have a mutual trust.”

Ed and his colleagues have worked with a number of funders over the years, but they now use Syscap for all their IT funding requirements, from hardware and software to services such as maintenance and training. “Syscap has become an intrinsic part of our growth and development,” says Ed. “With links to a range of funders the company provides an excellent service for our continually growing asset acquisition programme.

More importantly, Syscap understands the nuances of our business and we have built up a strong level of trust. Our account manager has confidence in us as a business and we have confidence in his discretion and ability to deliver.”

Syscap has appointed a dedicated account manager for Ruddle Wilkinson, so Ed always works with the same person. “All businesses are about people,” he explains. “It is fundamental that we work with a finance partner who not only understands the vagaries of architecture, but also our individual needs and business development plan. Our Syscap account manager does just that.”

Ruddle Wilkinson continues to expand, recruiting new staff, developing its London office and creating the IT infrastructure to match. Ed is confident in the future of Ruddle Wilkinson, and knows that Syscap will be with the company every step of the way: “You learn never to be complacent in business and with Syscap as our IT finance partner we can retain the flexibility and agility to keep moving the company forward whatever lies ahead.”