Reflecting on a good year

As we look back over the last 12 months, there is a lot for our company to be proud of

2016 was a year that started with much optimism. We were founded in 2006 so 2016 is our tenth year of trading. We survived the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and have come out the other end thriving, nearly doubling our turnover in 2015 alone.

We acquired two new members of staff. Tom and Paul are settling into our support team well and have already resolved more than 1000 support tickets between them. Our support team has also been bolstered by Mat, who finished his apprenticeship this year and is now a qualified support technician. The new office unit we acquired last year is already filling up and we expect to continue to grow in 2017.

After a new software release by Citrix in late 2015, we developed our 3D Design Desktop. Built for architects and designers, who have been a major part of our customer base for a number of years, 3D Design Desktop augments a hosted desktop with virtualised high-performance graphics cards, allowing 3D CAD rendering to be performed anywhere, at any time, on almost any device. This level of work freedom was simply not possible before and our customers have no shortage of positive comments about the product. 3D Design Desktop has also led us to finalist nominations in three business awards – one of which is hosted by the British Computer Society.

After the Brexit vote, much has been said about the future of the UK economy. Some positive, some not. Fortunately, we are well positioned to deal with fluctuations in the currency market and uncertainty in the economy. To echo the words of Sally Taylor MBE speaking at the Solent Business Awards “business is alive and well in the Solent region” – the area in which we are based. This is certainly our experience as we have travelled across the country this year for shows, expos, networking and awards – business is still thriving across the country. Whatever happens in the next few months and years, I am confident we will withstand anything that is thrown at us.

On the non-business front, our team claimed victory in two Go-Karting championships against other technology companies in the South, and a golf tournament against other businesses in our region. Our staff proudly display their trophies on their desks and these events have certainly improved team cohesion!

As we look back over this year, our 10^th year, there is a lot for us to be proud of. A successful business is only as strong its people and our team has worked immensely hard this year, despite increasing workloads, to ensure that we continue to provide a secure, resilient and useful cloud service to our customers. As we continue into 2017 that optimism is still there, but the bar has been raised. An exciting year awaits.