Martin Port, Trailblazer

A positive and very determined Yorkshireman, Martin Port actually began earning a crust in New York City, where he worked for a specialist bakery company and sometimes used to stand on street corners selling pretzels. Following his American experience, Martin returned to the UK and started his own successful bakery business. But he soon craved a new challenge and decided to join an emerging technology company.

“I could see that there were new ideas, new ways of doing things and providing services, so I decided to set up my own company.” The result was Masternaut Three X, a vehicle tracking company which helped companies save money and improve their customer service.

“Good service is absolutely paramount in business; we pride ourselves on the service we give our customers. We want our customers to be the happiest customers in the world. We humanize the technology and Dell shares the same vision as us.”

Martin Port’s passion to deliver great customer service has been a powerful driver in his company’s success and it is one reason why he feels strongly about having the right technology partner.

“We have to ensure we give the same levels of service every time, day in, day out, 365 days a year. We’ve grown at a phenomenal pace over the last few years so it’s absolutely important that the solutions we use in our data centre can manage our future growth. They need to be scalable and resilient. Only the partnership that we have with Dell can deliver this.”

Downtime is something neither Masternaut Three X nor their customers can afford. With Dell at the heart of their data centre, Martin is confident he has a robust solution.

Together the Masternaut Three X technology people have hundreds of years of experience between them, so when they came to Martin with a proposal from Dell, he listened.

“The proposal encompassed Dell PowerEdge™ Servers, EMC storage and VMware utilisation software. This was a unique solution which Masternaut Three X could not get from any other supplier and one that would stand the test of time.

”Dell was also able to provide Masternaut Three X with all the mobility they needed.

“We can communicate with our engineers in the field and our sales people. Orders, appointments – they’re all done electronically; the days of paper are gone. It’s crucial not only to our business but to our customers as well, because they use the same technology.”

When it comes to advice about striking out along a new path, Martin believes a great business idea goes hand in hand with great vision. The ability to see the opportunity is crucial. But true to his Yorkshire roots, he also believes there is no substitute for hard work and determination.

“You need to get up in the morning and say 'I am going to achieve my goals, objectives and aims'.”