Hubtel IT’s decision to expand headcount by 25% and set an ambitious turnover target of more than £2.5 million for 2026 marks a deliberate pivot by a regional managed‑services firm to build commercial value around artificial intelligence and cybersecurity while consciously balancing human-led service with automation. The move — three new hires bringing the team to 15 staff, together with a public target that nudges revenue above the £2.5m mark after reported turnover close to £2.3m in 2025 — is a compact but telling example of how small UK IT consultancies are repositioning for the AI era: selling advisory and secure adoption pathways as much as tools and licences.
Hubtel IT was founded in 2002 by Neil Bayliss from his parents’ home in Hall Green, Birmingham, and now operates from premises near Nether Whitacre outside Birmingham. The company serves a largely local and SME customer base — nearly 400 customers by the company’s estimate — and has framed its latest hires and ambitions around two linked trends: (1) the opportunity to embed productivity and automation through technologies such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and agentic AI; and (2) the rising security and social‑engineering risks that those same technologies introduce. Hubtel’s recent recruitment — a Marketing Manager (Craig Potts), a Tech Help Desk Manager (Michelle Loveland), and an IT Support Engineer (Jake Barwell) — is described as deliberate, targeted investment in people who will combine client engagement, day‑to‑day support, and an outward commercial posture to sell AI‑enabled services and Microsoft Copilot adoption work. That combination of roles signals a shift away from purely reactive break/fix delivery toward packaged advisory, governance and managed‑services offerings around AI and cyber resilience.
Source: IT Brief UK https://itbrief.co.uk/story/hubtel-it-hires-for-ai-push-gbp-2-5m-growth-plan/
Background
Hubtel IT was founded in 2002 by Neil Bayliss from his parents’ home in Hall Green, Birmingham, and now operates from premises near Nether Whitacre outside Birmingham. The company serves a largely local and SME customer base — nearly 400 customers by the company’s estimate — and has framed its latest hires and ambitions around two linked trends: (1) the opportunity to embed productivity and automation through technologies such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and agentic AI; and (2) the rising security and social‑engineering risks that those same technologies introduce. Hubtel’s recent recruitment — a Marketing Manager (Craig Potts), a Tech Help Desk Manager (Michelle Loveland), and an IT Support Engineer (Jake Barwell) — is described as deliberate, targeted investment in people who will combine client engagement, day‑to‑day support, and an outward commercial posture to sell AI‑enabled services and Microsoft Copilot adoption work. That combination of roles signals a shift away from purely reactive break/fix delivery toward packaged advisory, governance and managed‑services offerings around AI and cyber resilience. Overview: what Hubtel has announced
- Headcount increase of three roles, bringing staff to 15 — described as a 25% expansion.
- Turnover of “just under £2.3m” reported for 2025 and a public target to exceed £2.5m in 2026.
- Market focus on the West Midlands SME sector and near‑term product roadmap that references Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT integration with Microsoft 365, and agentic AI for workflow automation.
- Public statements by CEO Neil Bayliss emphasise that AI is both a major opportunity and a significant threat — especially via AI‑driven social engineering — and that successful adoption requires consultative advisory work plus culture and awareness improvements.
Why this matters: context for the West Midlands SME market
The regional economic picture
The West Midlands remains a high‑activity region for digital skills, public investment and corporate tech partnerships. Recent regional commentary and public sector plans point to a continuing flow of funding for AI skills, innovation grants and tech centre investments — an ecosystem that SMEs and regional partners can leverage. Notable national policy moves include the UK government’s TechFirst programme, a £187 million package aimed at embedding digital and AI skills into classrooms and communities and training the workforce for the AI economy. That national skills push underpins local demand for AI adoption and creates a narrative for MSPs and consultancies to supply advisory and managed services. Locally, combined‑authority and private investments — including commitments to new AI centres and corporate technology hubs — are creating more opportunities for regional partners to participate in Microsoft and hyperscaler led initiatives. Public bodies in the West Midlands have highlighted multi‑million pound opportunities and dedicated investment lines intended to grow local digital capabilities and infrastructure. That regional momentum is the operating context for Hubtel IT’s repositioning.The SME imperative
Small and medium enterprises form the backbone of the UK economy and are a natural market for MSPs that combine managed security, compliance and productivity‑boosting AI services. For many SMEs, the barrier to rapid AI adoption is not just technology cost, but the absence of pragmatic advisory services: governance, safe‑by‑design adoption, integration into existing Microsoft 365 estates, and staff training. Hubtel’s public positioning — advisory plus help desk plus Copilot/agent deployment — speaks directly to that gap.Hubtel’s AI strategy: two tracks and a people‑first approach
Hubtel publicly describes two tracks for AI development in its customer work:- Tool integrations into employee productivity platforms — examples cited include ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and deeper Microsoft 365 integrations for knowledge work automation.
- Agentic automation — building or adopting AI agents that automate multi‑step business processes, bringing higher degrees of workflow orchestration and potential cost‑to‑value improvements.
What the hires signal
- Marketing Manager (commercialisation & partnerships): signals a move to productise or package services and to strengthen partner channels (notably Microsoft‑centric go‑to‑market).
- Help Desk Manager (service quality & culture): highlights the importance Hubtel places on human touch in customer relationships while rolling out AI capabilities.
- IT Support Engineer (operational execution): ensures day‑to‑day support capacity as customers incrementally adopt Copilot/agent features.
Financials and corporate verification
Hubtel’s public turnover claim — “just under £2.3m in 2025” — aligns with the company’s filings history at Companies House, which shows accounts filed for years ending 30 November 2024 and 2023 and confirms the company’s active status and registered office near Coleshill/Nether Whitacre. While the company’s public communications provide the turnover figure, Companies House filings provide an independent registry of accounts and filing dates that corroborate the existence and accounting cadence of the business. Independent verification of the exact turnover totals in the latest filed accounts is possible by reviewing the company’s PDF accounts on Companies House. A word of practical caution: small-company accounts submitted under “total exemption” frequently provide a high‑level view of income and balance sheet items rather than multi‑page narrative disclosures. For detailed financial analysis or investment decisions, request the full statutory accounts or a management pack; for press and community reporting, the company’s own statement combined with Companies House filings are a prudent baseline verification step.Cybersecurity: the threat narrative that shapes the advisory opportunity
Hubtel’s CEO explicitly highlights the twin reality: AI is an accelerator of productivity and an enabler for criminals. The firm points to high‑profile cyber incidents in 2025 — including the severe cyberattack that disrupted Jaguar Land Rover’s operations — as concrete evidence of how modern social‑engineering and targeted attacks have become materially more effective with AI assistance. That threat framing is aligned with mainstream reporting on major 2025 incidents and the surge in social‑engineering sophistication enabled by readily available generative tools. The security argument Hubtel makes — that cyber resilience is as much about culture and behaviour as it is about technical controls — is a well‑established principle in modern security practice. It also creates commercial demand: firms that want to adopt Copilot and agents often require parallel workstreams to implement data classification, prompt‑use policies, secure connectors to protected systems, and bespoke user training that reduces the likelihood of credential theft and targeted scams. This is precisely the advisory wedge a small MSP can sell at higher margin than commodity managed hosting or device support.Regional policy and ecosystem tailwinds
Hubtel repeatedly references the national TechFirst skills programme (a £187m package announced by central government) and local grant activity as enabling factors for the company’s growth plans. TechFirst’s remit — schools, graduate scholarships and local innovation funding — is a direct investment into the talent pipeline and community skills that small regional IT firms can tap into through partnerships, apprenticeships and local delivery contracts. The government’s public materials and industry responses confirm this fund and its scale. At the regional level, the West Midlands Combined Authority and other local bodies have signalled investment commitments targeting innovation, creative and frontier tech firms. Public‑sector announcements and regional reporting point to multi‑million‑pound programmes and corporate engagement (e.g., commitments by large vendors to establish tech centres). These programmes create procurement and collaboration opportunities for local MSPs that can demonstrate governance, compliance and measurable outcomes. Hubtel’s explicit mention of Microsoft’s Copilot Adoption Factory (a partner‑centric packaging to accelerate Copilot uptake) is an example of how a local MSP can slot into larger platform-driven adoption frameworks.Strengths in Hubtel’s approach
- Focused, pragmatic hires: three targeted roles map directly to commercialisation, customer experience and delivery — a cost‑effective way to scale capabilities without overextending payroll.
- Platform alignment: emphasis on Microsoft Copilot and M365 integration plays to the dominant stack in many SMEs, reducing integration friction and accelerating time‑to‑value. Industry analysis shows that Microsoft‑centric MSPs gain traction by packaging Copilot and agent adoption as governed, measurable services.
- Security‑first messaging: coupling AI adoption with cyber awareness and governance addresses buyer anxiety and creates higher‑value advisory opportunities, not just transactional software sales.
- Regional fit: Hubtel’s local footprint and client base of nearly 400 customers gives it an incumbent sales channel to cross‑sell AI readiness and managed Copilot services.
Risks and blind spots
- Talent compression and scale risk. The company’s strategy hinges on a narrow set of human skills (advisory, delivery and marketing). As AI adoption scales, demand for specialised roles such as prompt engineers, agent architects, and MLOps specialists can outstrip the supply available to a 15‑person shop; winning and retaining these skills may require higher pay, training investment, or partnerships. Industry discussion suggests the market will value specialized AI roles and that smaller firms must either upskill internal teams or partner to remain competitive.
- Implementation complexity for agentic automation. Delivering safe, reliable agentic automation at SME scale is technically non‑trivial and often requires data engineering, integration, and sustained human‑in‑the‑loop controls. Premature automation projects can create compliance or operational failure risks if governance and fallbacks aren’t robust. The company’s advisory framing is right, but execution risk remains significant.
- Security exposure from accelerated adoption. The same features that drive productivity (e.g., copilots with access to corporate data) also expand attack surfaces. Without disciplined data protection, segregation, and monitoring, an SMB’s IT estate can become a vector for social‑engineering or data leakage. Hubtel’s security messaging is appropriate — but it must be converted into repeatable technical tooling and managed‑service SLAs to be effective.
- Pricing and margin pressure. Selling advisory and adoption programs at scale will test pricing models: advisory is high value but can be labour‑intensive; automation and tooling may reduce per‑customer revenue if not bundled with recurring governance and managed services. Smaller MSPs risk commoditisation unless they productise IP or partner with hyperscalers to embed unique accelerators. Industry commentary highlights the need to productise rather than sell purely time‑and‑materials consulting.
- External shock and reputational risk. High‑profile incidents in large customers (e.g., JLR’s 2025 cyberattack) raise generalised fear among SMEs and can lead to procurement freezes or risk‑averse buying. That dynamic can slow the near‑term pipeline for firms selling innovation services even as it increases demand for security work. The net effect is uncertain and creates short‑term volatility in sales cycles.
Practical playbook for Hubtel and similar MSPs (recommended actions)
- Productise a three‑tier Copilot adoption pathway:
- Readiness and risk assessment (fixed fee).
- Pilot + governance controls (time‑boxed project).
- Managed Copilot & agent operations (recurring subscription with SLAs).
- Build a repeatable security offering:
- Standardise an “AI safe” configuration (data connectors, DLP, telemetry).
- Offer staff anti‑phishing and AI‑awareness training as a subscription add‑on.
- Partner where skills are scarce:
- Use Microsoft partner programmes or local systems integrators to access specialist agent builders and MLOps skill sets.
- Invest in measurement:
- Instrument time saved, MAUs, and incident reduction to create case studies that demonstrate ROI for SMEs.
- Manage expectation and governance:
- Publish clear service boundaries and “what Copilot cannot be used for” policies to limit prompt‑leakage and regulatory exposure.
How to read Hubtel’s £2.5m target: realism versus ambition
A year‑on‑year revenue target that nudges turnover from ~£2.3m to over £2.5m is reasonable and achievable for a focused regional MSP that executes cross‑sell and upsell on existing clients while capturing a small number of higher‑value advisory deals. The critical success factors will be:- Converting existing customers (nearly 400) into Copilot pilots and governance engagements.
- Pricing repeatable managed offerings to ensure predictable recurring revenue.
- Containing delivery costs while building differentiating IP or repeatable playbooks.
Regional partnerships and policy opportunities Hubtel can exploit
- Leverage the national TechFirst campaign and local delivery partners to promote apprenticeship and training programmes aligned to Copilot and cyber awareness, creating a low‑cost talent pipeline.
- Explore local WMCA and council grant schemes aimed at creative and frontier tech firms to co‑fund pilots or proof‑of‑concept work (public bodies in the West Midlands have highlighted innovation grants and collaborative opportunities).
- Position as a Microsoft Copilot Adoption partner for local SMEs, offering affordability and governance as primary selling points; partner certifications and co‑sell frameworks can materially accelerate pipeline gains.
Final analysis — strengths, caveats and likely outcomes
Hubtel IT’s hiring and public target are a textbook small‑business manoeuvre for the AI era: invest in a small set of strategic hires, formalise an AI‑aligned service portfolio, and lean on regional and national policy tailwinds to access skills and grant funds. The company’s strengths lie in its local footprint, the practical blend of sales/delivery/customer care hires, and clear messaging around the twin nature of AI as opportunity and risk. If Hubtel productises adoption and pairs managed security with Copilot deployment, it can scale revenue without proportional headcount increases — the classic MSP move to increase recurring revenue while maintaining a lean delivery model. However, the execution risks are real. The market for AI and Copilot services is fast‑moving: specialist skills are scarce and competitive pressure from larger Microsoft partners can be intense. Delivering agentic automation safely requires capabilities beyond traditional help‑desk or break/fix teams, and the small size of the company means Hubtel must prioritise productisation, partnerships, or targeted hiring to avoid being outpaced. The security landscape is simultaneously a demand driver and a risk amplifier: high‑profile incidents such as Jaguar Land Rover’s 2025 cyberattack make security work commercially attractive but also raise buyer caution and procurement complexity.Conclusion
Hubtel IT’s announcement is a pragmatic, credible step by a West Midlands MSP to transition from traditional support services to an AI‑and‑security‑led managed services model. The company’s strategy—targeted hires, Copilot and agentic automation focus, and a security‑first advisory stance—matches the immediate needs of regional SMEs that require both productivity gains and tight governance. Public funding for skills (TechFirst’s £187m) and regional investment signals provide useful tailwinds, while Companies House records substantiate the company’s financial footing and filings. If Hubtel converts its customer base through productised adoption programmes, secures recurring managed‑service clients, and uses local partnerships to fill specialist capability gaps, the firm’s £2.5m turnover ambition is credible. The decisive challenge will be turning bespoke advisory wins into repeatable, measurable services that sustain margins without materially increasing headcount — a problem both practical and strategic that will determine whether Hubtel’s 2026 chapter becomes a growth success story or a cautionary lesson in scaling services in the AI era.Source: IT Brief UK https://itbrief.co.uk/story/hubtel-it-hires-for-ai-push-gbp-2-5m-growth-plan/
