About Us - Charles Square London

SPECIALIST

IT SUPPORT.

“At Charles Square, we know that your trust is paramount. You must find a partner who is not just there to spend your money, rather one who treats your resources and vision as their own.”

Co-founder

SPECIALIST

IT SUPPORT.

“We at Charles Square know that your trust is paramount. You must find a partner who is not just there to spend your money, rather one who treats your resources and vision as their own.”

Co-founder

Craig Harris and Gareth Broekmann came together in 2014 to co-found Charles Square, with Barry Cohen joining in 2017. Their extensive knowledge of the finance sector and their internal values, culture, and ethos have been the driving force behind Charles Square’s growth and grab of the market share. Together the three entrepreneurs have been able to provide the finance sector with a level of service, knowledge, and expertise that they struggled to find at other Managed Service Providers whilst working in-the finance sector for the past 20 years. Now in its 6^th year, the firm has been named the “Best Specialist Financial IT Support Provider – London”,

Since its establishment, Charles Square has been resolutely focused on providing their clients with the experience and knowledge of an in-house IT team with the financial benefits of an outsourced provider.

Both Craig and Gareth initially specialised in providing outsourced CTO services and curating appropriate vendors to successfully implement solutions for financial organisations. Having turned their hand to stretching out IT budgets and making them work, the pair adapted Charles Square into a CTO consultancy that provided specialist IT support pertaining to, but not limited to, security, compliance, governance, and budgeting.

With the addition of Barry Cohen in 2017, Charles Square re-focussed their offering around their four core pillars made up of FMIT IT Services, Cloud Services, IT Consultancy, and IT Procurement.

With dedicated and professional staff available globally 24x7x365, the firm is at the very zenith of what the industry has to offer to financial services companies.

Craig Harris and Gareth Broekmann founded Charles Square in 2014 with the mindset of providing the finance sector with a true 360 IT solution, allowing their clients to focus on their business. With the arrival of Barry Cohen in 2016, this goal was achieved. CSq’s 4 core pillars are made up of FMIT IT Services (including Support, Security and Compliance), Hybrid Cloud, Consultancy and IT Procurement.

With over 20 years each in the financial sector, the directors of CSq are fully focused on the needs and requirements of their clients, having had the opportunity and experience to see it from both sides. CSq provide a premium Client service and more importantly experience by focusing on their internal ethos and culture. CSq are made up of specialists in IT support pertaining but not limited to security, compliance, governance and IT budgets. With dedicated, professional support staff available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Transparency

Our success is underpinned by our transparency, authenticity and accountability.

Simplicity

We’ll spare you the technical jargon and deliver solutions that are easy to understand.

Professionalism

Our honest and professional approach drives our client satisfaction.

WHY CHOOSE US?

24/7 SUPPORT

Charles Square’s dedicated, professional support staff are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

GLOBAL PRESENCE - LOCAL SERVICE

Charles Square has expanded into a global company offering Cloud Services, Support, and IT Procurement. Delivering solutions that set a high bar on reliability, security, and customer experience. CSq provides services to over 200 clients including hedge funds, investment banks, proprietary trading firms, asset managers, fund of funds, and private equity houses in Europe, the United States, UAE, Middle East, and Asia. Clients range in size from $25 million to $65 billion AUM. All under the CSq solutions brand umbrella.

TAILORED & COMPRENSIVE SOLUTIONS

Charles Square are focused on serving the comprehensive needs of their clients and partners, managing their entire IT stack. CSq offers the best of both worlds: an in-house understanding of your business and how best to align IT strategy to this as well as an outsourced model of lower overheads and the added-value of a more extensive experience and skill-set.

Having the right solution is key to allowing our clients to move forward in an ever-changing environment.

HIGHLY-CERTIFIED SPECIALIST STAFF

ISO27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus Certified, Microsoft Gold Partners and PaloAlto and Cisco Partners

The Charles Square team is made up of specialist IT consultants, Cloud infrastructure engineers, and support professionals in disciplines including, but not exclusively to: Cloud Architecture, IT Support, Networking, Cybersecurity, IT Business Strategy, IT Business Finance, and Governance.

AWARD WINNING SOLUTIONS

Best Outsourced CTO Services

Best Independent Financial IT Consultancy

Best Technology for small and Start-up firms

Best IT Managed Service

Best Cyber Security Offering

Ranked 222 on the MSP Global List and 20th in Europe

Best Specialist Financial IT Support Provider – London

DEDICATED IT PROCUREMENT TEAM

Charles square’s dedicated IT Procurement & Distribution team enables us to offer end-to-end services from procurement to installation of IT hardware, software licenses, and warranty, with pre-sale and post-sale support from our experienced internal teams and partner vendors.

FLEXIBLE & SCALABLE CLOUD SOLUTIONS

Charles Square’s Cloud offering provides a complete solution. Providing security, governance, compliance, and seamless access to our clients.

Looking for an experienced finance sector consultancy for your next project?

OUR HISTORY

CHARLES SQUARE WAS FOUNDED

2014

Craig Harris and Gareth Broekmann founded Charles Square in 2014 in order to help financial services companies get the very most from their IT budgets. Craig and Gareth initially specialised in providing outsourced CTO services and curating appropriate vendors to successfully implement solutions for financial organisations.

SUPPORT LAUNCHED

2015

Charles Square doubles its supported clients from and demand for fully managed support from Charles Square leads to Charles Square launching a new Support department, with Mike Brown heading up Operations.

CLOUD DEPLOYED

2015

Charles Square’s highly resilient and highly available cloud environment is deployed, fully supporting two clients.

STAFF & CLIENTS GROW

2016

A Surge in clients increases Charles Square to over 15 staff managing over 30 clients largely partnered through word of mouth.

IT PROCUREMENT

2017

Barry Cohen and his colleagues join Charles Square to form an experienced Value Added Reseller team enabling Charles Square to in-source hardware, software and licensing to our clients.

FIRST RECOGNITION

2017

Hedge Fund Magazine award Charles Square with Best Outsourced CTO service for 2017.

NEW OFFICES

2018

Having outgrown our original offices, we’ve moved to our new offices near Oxford Circus. We now have ample room to grow and we’re looking forward to building on our successes.

CHARLES SQUARE WINS BEST CYBER-SECURITY SERVICE AWARD

2020

On May 14th, 2020, HFM hosted their European Services Awards through a virtual event announcing that Charles Square won the prestigious Best Cyber-Security Service Award and highly commended with the Best Cloud Technology Solution.