"We're not an IT company, we're a content and entertainment company. We had a high level of turnover because our office wasn't big enough for starters, and we couldn't really offer a career path. So the high cost of recruitment and training prompted us to find a partner like Applaud," he said.

Although Video Ezy's IT department has shrunk from 20 people to 8, Lamb expects that to grow again. Liberated from the support roles, the IT department will be able to focus on expanding the capabilities that it can deliver back to the stores, he said.

"We are at the moment an entertainment and content company but we are redefining ourselves to be a service company," he said.

"As a franchised organization, we can be accused of not providing the level of service that is expected. With the capabilities of Applaud's team, we can provide support to a larger number of systems and a larger number of customers than we have been able to."

Lamb said he talked to a number of companies, all of which he'd done business with in the past, except Applaud IT.