TECH
Paul Drake , commercial director of Sapere .
14 years of taking the agony out of digital
LEAP OF FAITH PAYS OFF
Software specialist Paul Drake describes his company as being like a “ digital agony aunt ”. Certainly , the advice and software it provides is helping businesses negotiate an increasingly digital age .
And it proves that the leap of faith he and business partner Shaun Merryfield took back in 2007 was worth the risk .
Fourteen years ago , both were software engineers working for others but felt they had more to offer as a team . They set up Sapere – it ’ s from the Latin sapere aude , meaning “ dare to know ” – to provide firms with software expertise .
After a tricky start – they launched fully during the 2009 recession – slowly but surely they built a name for themselves .
And now , from their base in Stockton ’ s Fusion Hive , they and four colleagues are successfully providing a full software design and development service to a wide range of customers .
But Paul , Sapere ’ s commercial director , admits it ’ s been quite a journey .
He said : “ It was scary because there was very little income to start with and we both had lots of commitments . The recession hit too , so it was a difficult time to get work from anybody .
“ But thankfully , people we knew were prepared to take a chance on us . We originally took up website work to pay the bills , but writing software is our expertise and that work then started to come in .”
The emergence of Apple was timely too . Paul explains : “ People were starting to tune in to what apps were , so we knew we needed to get into that space and we started to learn mobile development .”
Now Sapere ’ s six-strong team continues to pick up business at home and abroad and recently won the “ Digital Transformation ” title at the Tees Tech Awards .
“ One of our core principles is we keep it on a level people understand ,” said Paul .
“ We provide a lot of consultancy and advice which , ultimately , leads into us developing a piece of software , whether that ’ s for the web , mobile or a combination of the two .
“ But we take the complexity out of developing software and provide the solutions to problems .”
Their winning project at the Tees Tech Awards is a case in point – developing software so the Tees Music Alliance could video stream events online during lockdown and keep the income .
Paul says it ’ s important people realise the benefits of digital rather than shying away from it .
He said : “ It automates lots of things – it removes repetition , paperwork , inefficiency and human error .
“ Businesses have to get digital-savvy . Software can be scary to many , which is why we try to take that scariness out of it . And it needn ’ t be expensive , especially if
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURE : TOM BANKS
the right solution is recommended .” The businesses that come to Sapere , says Paul , tend to be “ ones struggling with their current way of working because it ’ s a heavily manual process .”
He added : “ We ’ re a bit like a digital agony aunt . We listen to problems , we probe and we ask questions . Then we can go , ‘ These are the sorts of things your business can do to improve by using digital ’.”
And while its software is used worldwide , Sapere is a proud North-East firm .
Paul said : “ Someone once referred to us as an anchor business , one of those that stays anchored to a particular area . You ’ re not going anywhere , but you ’ re reliable , you ’ re dependable .
“ But we ’ re happy to be based where we are . We ’ re passionate about the area and want to help people here become more efficient at what they do .”
And that leap of faith taken in 2009 continues to pay off . He said : “ Many firms from around that time aren ’ t here anymore .
“ We ’ ve been through a recession and a pandemic , but we ’ ve employed people and put something back into the community – I ’ m happy with the job we ’ ve done and will continue to do .”
Visit sapere . co . uk .
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