Customer success story
CharlieHR
How seamless IT procurement is empowering a growing HR startup get back to doing what it does best.
The challenge:
HIDDEN FEES, RIGID TERMS, WASTED SPEND, DELAYS
The results:
SAVED
£2K
cut
80%
Of time spent on IT logistics
reduced
35%
of IT budget
About Charlie HR
CharlieHR is a London-based HR software platform built specifically for small businesses, startups, and remote teams. Founded in 2015, the company's core mission is to automate administrative HR tasks and simplify team management so business leaders have more time to focus on growth.
The Challenge
CharlieHR was set up to help small businesses build better workplaces by removing unnecessary complexity from HR. Its platform simplifies people management, allowing leaders to focus on what really matters – growing their teams and supporting their employees. But while CharlieHR was streamlining operations for its customers, making sure its own employees had access to the right technology at the right time was anything but straightforward.
In fact it was time-consuming, costly, and unnecessarily fragmented. Sometimes, team members would rush to a local store to buy a laptop, often paying full retail price for devices, without the ability to compare prices, spread costs or negotiate better deals. Other times, they relied on expensive agreements with leasing providers that lacked transparency and flexibility, or were entangled in layers of intermediaries. Often, they had to buy more devices than needed just to prepare for potential team changes. This approach gave CharlieHR little control or insight; repairs were slow and difficult and a simple request often meant dealing with multiple contracts, financing companies, and endless admin.
CharlieHR found IT procurement time-consuming and costly.
Existing leasing providers lacked transparency and flexibility with hidden fees and rigid contracts.
It was forced to buy devices at full price or lease more than needed to pre-empt team changes, leading to inefficiencies and wasted spend.
Slow repairs and replacements then created admin headaches, delayed IT support and directly impacted productivity and staff morale.
Why Ooodles
When CharlieHR was recommended Ooodles by a peer, it not only saw an opportunity to fix all of these IT procurement woes in one, but found a like-minded partner who truly understood and advocated for SMEs.
Like CharlieHR, Ooodles was built to simplify how small businesses operate, and get them back to doing what they do best. Its mission is to make IT procurement fast, easy, seamless and scalable, giving businesses the flexibility to equip their teams with the right tools without being locked into rigid contracts or outdated models.
This approach meant CharlieHR could begin with a small order – to determine which of Ooodles' services best suited its needs. Ooodles provided CharlieHR with a fully streamlined and transparent IT process, removing intermediaries and hidden financing contracts, and had the required devices in the hands of the CharlieHR team the next day.
Ooodles removed intermediaries and hidden fees, providing full cost and contract visibility and transparency through its asset management dashboard.
With Ooodles, CharlieHR only ever leased what was needed and could easily and affordably scale IT procurement based on demand.
Ooodles provided expert advice, wrap-around support and fast device replacements to ensure business continuity.
Results
The ability to lease only what they needed, with transparent pricing and no hidden costs, meant CharlieHR could scale its IT operations in line with actual demand. Almost overnight, employees were able to access top-tier tech suited to their specific needs. Ooodles helped CharlieHR reduce the hidden costs of downtime, admin, and inefficiency, ensuring that time and resources were spent on growing the business rather than managing IT headaches. Not to mention the support the Ooodles team provided – from deep technical knowledge and recommendations about the devices themselves, to the after-care and repair processes.
Such was the success of CharlieHR’s early experience with Ooodles, when its existing IT supplier contract came to an end, they made the switch to Ooodles exclusively. With more than 30 devices due, or coming up for renewal, CharlieHR now has a flexible, cost-effective plan in place that allows them to scale IT procurement to match their needs rather than being locked into outdated models.
IT spend was reduced by 35% thanks to CharlieHR being able to eliminate full retail purchases and avoid hidden fees.
Faster repairs and replacements gave employees quick access to high-performance devices, got rid of admin headaches and downtime, while increasing productivity and morale.
CharlieHR trialled Ooodles with a test order before quickly scaling due to Ooodles’ flexible approach.
CharlieHR found a trusted partner that understood SME needs and now actively recommends Ooodles to its own network of customers.
“We wanted a provider that made IT procurement simple and that’s exactly what we found with Ooodles. They’ve taken a frustrating, time-consuming part of our operations and made it seamless. We’re not just using Ooodles for our own team. We actively recommend them to our customers. It’s rare to find a provider that truly understands what small businesses need.”
