The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 46: Dec/Jan 2019 | Page 20

BUSINESS REVIEW OF THE YEAR Technology Highlights from 2019 For us having James Phipps join as our non- exec chairman, being joined by one of Europe’s most respected SEO specialists Lukasz Zelezny alongside continued growth of more than 60 per cent on turnover, 32 per cent on profit and our team has doubled from five people to ten. Impacts on sector in 2020 • From a digital perspective it’s certain more household names who haven’t made a big shift Karl Paul, Managing Director, Smarter Media to digital will suffer. We’re already seeing this almost weekly. • From an SEO perspective keep writing great content in line with your target audience, answering questions they are searching and keeping their intent front of mind. • From a lead generation perspective, companies need to attract customers with great offers which are promoted strategically online with good and creative content. Brands which embrace this will leap forward. What are you looking forward to next year? We’re about to launch a new service in pure lead generation, watch this space for more details. We are working with larger firms and extending into the South West and we plan to work with more strategic partners to deliver our services – we believe collaboration is key. With these plans in place we expect further significant growth in turnover and profit. For more info: www.smarter-media.co.uk [email protected] 01793 292171 Technology Paul Eagles, Midwinter Web Design Highlights from 2019 At Midwinter Web Design our goal was to grow by 25 per cent and we’ve exceeded that goal by partnering with credible, ethical local companies and can now offer a broader spectrum of services. We’ve embraced more video and animation and also made good contacts in that area for our own clients. What’s coming up for your business in 2020? Continued expansion through collaboration and training. Plans are afoot to move to a new office. We will also look to keep ahead of the curve by investing in continuous professional development around website security in particular. What is going to impact your sector in 2020? The key things to think about this coming year is consistent, high quality content on websites and social media platforms including animation and video. Website security will continue to be an issue and could affect a website’s rankings and performance, so it’s critical to have a good provider, do updates regularly and to think ‘back up’ and for bigger businesses ‘disaster recovery’. You may also want to consider cyber security insurance protection. [email protected] 01793 706020 For more info: www.midwinterdesign.co.uk Technology Highlights from 2019 Winning the ‘Tech Team of the Year’ at the Techies was a big privilege, especially as people voted for us on the event night. Another major achievement was being appointed to develop a new site for Archives Portal Europe. This site contains some 380 million + pieces of historical content for countries in the EU. My personal highlight was being included in the ‘42 under 42 class of 2019’ young entrepreneurs in the South West to watch. Graeme Leighfield, Managing Director, Gel Studios What are your plans for 2020? We are further expanding our team to deal with an increased demand of clients wanting to work with us. We are also looking into further expansion into more creative services to offer a complete end-to-end solution for businesses of any size. We will continue to make digital marketing spend transparent through a suite of in-house tools we are developing. What is going to impact your sector next year? Strong design and branding aligned to business ethics and purpose will be even more important. Clients will increasingly make more informed decisions by researching across the internet. Video will continue to gain ground, companies which embrace video will find they will grow faster. Good digital marketing, design and content will become more apparent in 2020. Those who don’t embrace digital will become increasingly irrelevant. [email protected] 01793 677150 For more info: www.gelstudios.co.uk Technology Nathan Baranowski, Co-Founder & Managing Director, OJO Solutions Highlights from 2019 It was a planned year of growth, during which we have continued to develop our amazing team and bring on board new talent. This can be hard to find, especially when you are small and compete in a crowded market. I am particularly proud that we have managed to bring in a number of female staff to balance what can be quite a male dominated industry. I was honoured to have won Entrepreneur of Year at the Creative Bath Awards as a recognition For more info: www.ojosolutions.com 20 www.tbeswindonandwilts.co.uk of the work we do to drive innovation and deliver change through technology. What are you most proud of? This year we’re particularly proud of our work with Wiltshire Air Ambulance, developing Helifun – a mobile game to engage supporters in the charity. I’m personally proud of running Race to the Stones this year, a 100km race raising £4,500 for charity. What are you looking forward to in 2020? We have been working in the background in redefining OJO, its purpose and the work we want to do. This will continue to be technology based but with a strong focus on delivering positive impact through tech. As part of this work we are also looking at how we work as an organisation and exploring alternatives to the norm. This includes how we can create the best environment for our team, work four days a week and bring OJO to Bath, Bristol and possibly to Cardiff too. [email protected] 01225 220155