TECH
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURES : CHRIS BOOTH
New service - NorthLink Digital eCommerce developer Kieron Day , left , with founder and CEO Graham Orrell .
How a 12-week course prompted thriving tech firm to diversify
DIGITAL DIVERSITY
A
12-week management course proved a real game changer for NorthLink Digital founder and CEO Graham Orrell .
Things were already going well for the digital development firm Graham founded in 2016 , having honed his skills during a 17-year tech-based career in the financial sector .
From being a “ one-man band ” in 2016 to hiring his first employee in 2019 , Graham ’ s rapidly growing firm now has a team of 15 working across its two offices in London and Middlesbrough ’ s Boho Eight complex .
Until recently , its main specialism was building bespoke web and mobile apps for various clients – many of which were financial , given Graham ’ s work background .
But Graham , who graduated in computer science from Teesside University back in 1999 , felt NorthLink Digital had even more to offer – and that 12-week course proved it to him .
He explained : “ Over the last few years , we ’ ve focused on building bespoke , enterprise standard web and mobile applications for a whole range of clients using the latest , cutting-edge technologies .
“ Our core competency is custom development and we have a team of excellent developers . However , earlier this year , I attended a 12-week “ Help to Grow ” management course and came away from that with a plan to diversify our service offering .
“ I wanted to become a more rounded company – to add a few strings to our bow , if you like .”
One of those was graphic design – and by hiring Steven Roberts as head of graphic design , it means the firm now offers visual design services “ in house ” whereas before they were outsourced .
Another sector he ’ d never properly looked at before , says Graham , was eCommerce . But now , guided by experienced eCommerce developer Kieron Day , NorthLink Digital hopes to make big strides in that area – and initial successes bode well .
An early beneficiary is Stockton-based Elizabeths Embroidery , known Teessidewide for supplying schoolwear over the past 30 years .
NorthLink Digital has rebuilt the firm ’ s outdated , difficult-to-navigate online presence from scratch and helped digitise its in-store retail processes , including a new electronic point of sale system . And Elizabeths Embroidery MD Lisa Halligan says it ’ s been transformational .
She told Tees Business : “ The prospect of changing the website terrified us , but we realised we needed to get into the 21st century .”
It was a daunting prospect , says Lisa , but Graham and Kieron “ solved every issue we could come up with – we call them our little magicians !”
She added : “ You need to trust the people you work with and I trust them implicitly .
“ The website is mind-blowingly better than we could have ever hoped for . It ’ s got everything we asked for and additions we never even considered . The quality , the professionalism , the look of the website – it speaks volumes for what NorthLink have done for us .”
Modest Graham smiles gratefully at Lisa ’ s praise – but he ’ s confident the reaction from Elizabeths Embroidery can be replicated with other clients , given the time and care NorthLink Digital puts into each project .
He said : “ We ’ re different from a typical eCommerce agency in that we have an entire development team capable of building advanced customisations and tooling .
“ This depth of development expertise means that not only can we offer eCommerce solutions based on all of the popular platforms , but we can also build a completely custom platform from scratch or offer a hybrid of the two .” And he says cost needn ’ t be an issue . Graham added : “ A lot of business owners may be put off from creating or updating their online presence due to a lack of technical knowledge , or a concern about the costs of a new eCommerce platform . However , there are lots of sources of potential funding around that will cover part or all of the cost of a digital transformation .
“ NorthLink Digital can advise clients on the sources of this funding and hand hold them through the entire process .”
32 | Tees Business
For more on NorthLink Digital , visit northlink . digital And for the new Elizabeths Embroidery site , go to elizabethsschoolwear . com