Fingal Business Spotlight’s S & S Office Interior’s Founder, Alan Spain
Alan Spain set up S & S Office Interiors in 2008 in a challenging business climate and at the height of the recession. Alan’s background is in sales, from office consumables and stationery to office furniture and he certainly always had the ambition to one day run his own company, and this month celebrates 10 years in business as S & S Office Interiors.
Personally for Alan the timing was right and through a combination of persistent networking, industry knowledge and hard work the company not only survived but flourished from a one-person company, operating from a single office in a shared building, to a 7 person team with a showroom and a warehouse, a turnover of almost €2 million and a reputation for being a trusted advisor and a provider of high quality office furniture.
Alan Spain, founder of S & S Office Interiors
In 2016 Alan completed a business management course with Pfizer and IBM which gave him the framework to put a 3-year business plan in place, setting some ambitious goals. Coming into year 3 of the plan the company is tracking well but there is still work to do. “There’s always room for improvement,” says Alan “It’s important to not only set goals but to continuously check in on how your tracking towards them, and when goals are reached, set your next set of even bigger goals”.
2017 has been S & S Office Interiors most successful year to date, seeing the company securing a €1 million project with an international aviation company. Also taking on a new range, Winsted Command & Control Room furniture which has opened up a whole new market of potential clients and increasing their presence in the 24-hour furniture market. So what’s the secret to this success? According to Alan “Hard work always brings its own rewards. Don’t be afraid to go after the big jobs. Some smaller sized companies may be afraid of taking on projects that seem to be too big, but by building relationships with trusted contractors and having strong project management the sky is the limit”.
What’s next for S & S Office Interiors? 2018 is proving to be another successful year, seeing S & S branch out into the office stationery business. “We want to be a one-stop shop for all of our customer’s office needs. From flooring, partitioning, desks & chairs to the paper in the printer, S & S will be able to provide it all with the same dedication to meeting customer’s needs and expectations that they have come to rely on S & S for” says Alan. 2018 also sees the launch of a new website, with Alan firmly believing that your online presence has to be kept up to date and current “Your website is your shop-front to the world”.
