Steve Collett, Taranaki telecommunications company OurCloud's new general manager is no stranger to the firm

OurCloud's new general manager, Steve Collett, has been with the company since its inception in 2014

The new general manager of a Taranaki telecommunications company is no stranger to the business.

In fact, OurCloud's new general manager Steve Collett has been with the company since its inception in 2014.

Steve joined the company back then as a senior virtualisation consultant, becoming the technical operations manager three years later, a role which gave him responsibility for the whole engineering team.

His latest promotion, to the role of general manager, has been warmly welcomed by the entire OurCloud team, a company spokesperson says.

"He has certainly put in the hard work over the years and it is fantastic to see his determination and loyalty rewarded."

Steve describes himself as a geek who is at his happiest when solving complex IT problems, as well as a keen fisherman who is partial to a spot of fishing off Great Barrier Island on a calm sunny day.

While he was born in Tokoroa, Steve spent a lot of his childhood in Samoa and Papua New Guinea before settling in Taranaki aged 12. As a teen he developed equal loves for fishing and the world of IT. Despite winning a number of fishing competitions, he decided information technology was a better employment option and began his career in the IT department at PIHMS in New Plymouth before spending eight years working for Powerco, learning everything he could about firewalls, data networks, citrix and windows servers, before he joined OurCloud.

OurCloud was started by a group of local investors and has grown to a company which services more than 150 customers across Taranaki and beyond. With an inhouse data centre and a Taranaki-based IT team, the company is focused on providing the best technology systems, says Steve.

"The great thing about OurCloud is the level of service we provide, the technology we have available and the speed at which we can turn things around. We have a great team of engineers who continually go the extra mile."