A Norfolk technology company which has doubled its turnover in the past year is aiding the rapid expansion of the treetop adventure firm Go Ape.
P1 Technology Partners, based in Norwich, has provided integrated IT systems and managed services for Go Ape since 2006, helping the thriving forest adventure firm to grow from three to 26 locations across the UK.
Tribe was given a brief to gain local newspaper coverage to highlight P1’s growth and capacity to handle clients with needs at multiple sites in the UK and overseas. To read the coverage in the Eastern Daily Press, click this link.
P1, which provides a wide range of technology products and services that help clients work smarter, has enabled Go Ape and other companies to focus on their business priorities rather than their IT.
Dan Simpson, Head of Client Services at P1, said the company’s success had led to software giant Microsoft awarding P1 its coveted Gold Partner status for six years running.
“We revel in the challenge of working with companies like Go Ape, which is fast growing and presents the kind of complex IT environment we like to get our teeth into,” he added.
“Implementing Go Ape’s technology at its forest based locations has proved a tall order, but providing solutions to creative challenges is what we are all about.
“The expertise and experience we have in the team allows us to carry out work that other IT companies in the area can’t.”
Jerome Mayhew, Managing Director of Go Ape, added: “As a company with employees spread over 35 different locations, addressing our IT needs and support was always going to be interesting.
“When you consider that most of those locations are in the middle of forests, at the far end of the telephone exchange and some without power at all, ‘interesting’ quickly becomes ‘challenging’. P1’s IT support has been crucial in ensuring our staff are able to keep ‘linked in’ to the Go Ape family.”
An influx of business since the latter part of 2009 has seen P1’s turnover double to £2.5 million, with 150 clients now on board, 50 per cent of which are based outside of East Anglia. The workforce has increased to 30 to cope with the extra workload, with 10 more jobs planned for the next year.
P1 is led by Norfolk entrepreneur Duncan Cardwell, who wants to steer the company to national prominence over the next three years.
He was behind the Norfolkshoring concept, which aims to promote the benefits of transferring IT support from London to Norfolk rather than taking the risk of outsourcing abroad, leading to cost savings of up to 40 per cent on London rates.
“We are literally running out of desk space, and hope to move from Cringleford to a larger office in the coming months,” he said.
“We have big aspirations for the future and our first challenge is to fill our new offices with 60 employees. We think our turnover will double in the next two years and we want to start selling services and solutions internationally – following the lead set by clients such as Go Ape who have just opened a site in the USA.
“All of this will encompass the goal of improving the national business image of Norfolk and lift our status as a renowned local employer.”
Converts to Norfolkshoring include the London-based Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, which switched its IT support from an offshore supplier to Norfolk.
The company’s local clients include Fakenham-based transport firm Jack Richards, energy association EEEGR and Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
Posted: 18/05/2010