New and established Gloucestershire businesses continue to discover ways of propelling themselves forward using the power of digital, to reach new audiences and to deliver new efficiencies, with the county also blessed with incredible array of experts able to help them succeed.
We have teamed up with one of those experts, managed IT services provider ReformIT, to highlight 15 county firms thriving thanks to their use of digital technology.
ProCook
If anyone running a business wanted inspiration on what can be achieved if you harness the digital potential of your company, then Gloucester-based ProCook is it. Founded more than 20 years ago by Daniel O'Neill, first as a mail-order business, the firm quickly moved online and focused on developing its range and brand. Last year it floated on the London Stock Market valued at £158 million. It also won the Corporate Social Responsibility category at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2022.
Core to Cloud
Cotswold-based cyber security specialists Core to Cloud scooped Growth Business of year at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2022 – just days after its boss, James Cunningham, was named in The Times’s LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders list. Earlier in 2022, the cyber security specialist was also shortlisted in the Cyber Security Company of the Year award at the national Global Business Tech Awards 2022. And it has just moved into impressive new offices – in Cirencester Castle!
Smart Home Sounds
When Andy Hazel retired as one of Gloucester Rugby’s most formidable and respected players of all time, the former flanker could have gone on to trade off that name in his home city in whatever he chose to do. Instead, he launched a completely new brand, Smart Home Sounds, a specialist in home entertainment equipment. Despite incredible growth driven by its ability to harness social media, it feels like that journey is still only beginning. Also a finalist in the SoGlos Business Awards 2022 Customer Excellence category.
Wagada Digital
A finalist in the Best Place to Work of the year category at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2022, this Cheltenham-headquartered company is a crack team of expert digital marketers. If you or your business needs help with its digital marketing strategy, to better understand its target audience and how to reach it, to plan a campaign, measure its success, and wants it all to look and be a roadmap for growth – that's exactly what Wagada Digital can help you achieve.
Nimble Elearning
Stonehouse-based Nimble Elearning delivers effective, affordable and dynamic online training. It has helped businesses of all shapes and sizes UK-wide with its intuitive e-learning creation tool and learning management system that allows users to build beautiful online courses with ease – and keep track of staff progress at the click of a button. At last count, its cloud-based e-learning platform was home to 16,000 courses created by an estimated 6,000 businesses and benefiting more than 450,000 users.
Visit Dean Wye
If you want to see an example of a website which shows off the wares of the county to best effect, Visit Dean Wye has it nailed. Admittedly, it helps that the organisation exists to champion the many wonders of the Forest of Dean, and the district is blessed with plenty of incredible picturesque places to visit, but it does so with so much skill and visual charm, and provides just enough detail to accompany, it is hard to resist. From what to do to where to visit, stay, eat and drink, it represents the many hundreds of companies that make up a truly spectacular part of Gloucestershire.
Cotswold RAW
Who would have thought dog food would be something to get excited about! Cotswold RAW did, immediately seeing the potential in its concept of high quality 'biological appropriate raw food' for dogs. And it's been proved right. Happy with its product it then went to work on its website, which would not just become its shop window and help spread the word to dog-lovers far and wide about the health-benefits of its products, but also deliver a user-friendly e-commerce function to allow customers to buy with ease.
Farrar & Tanner
Cheltenham-based luxury bespoke gifts business, Farrar & Tanner, is on track to reach a £10 million turnover by 2024, after a rush to online shopping saw its sales increase 190 per cent in a year. Last year it was also a finalist in the Growth Business of year at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business awards 2022. The increase in customers turning to online gift shopping and finding the Gloucestershire business shows no signs of going away with increased demand creating news jobs each year. Due to open its first showroom on its home on Lansdown Industrial Estate on Thursday 23 March.
16i
Few know as much about turning ideas (complex or simple) into functioning, intuitive, user-friendly websites as Cheltenham firm 16i. It is a name SoGlos knows well. The business, founded by managing director Alex Clough in 2010, is the architect of the all-new SoGlos.com website, something we are confident is one of the most advanced local media platforms in the UK. Clients range from the small to some of the very biggest businesses, it enjoys every challenge and creates not just impressive websites but apps and bespoke software solutions.
Synalogik
The Tewkesbury-based business describes itself as a team of open-source intelligence, data processing and automation experts from across the intelligence, law enforcement, banking, gaming and investigation industries. Its vision is to revolutionise the automation of targeted data collection and analysis, allowing organisations to make 'smarter decisions'. Its Scout technology slashes fraud detection and due diligence report preparation time to around 60 seconds. It won a Queen's Award for Innovation in 2022.
SLG Brands
Ever-evolving, Cheltenham firm SLG Brands seems to manage to stay at the forefront of how to promote and spread the word about its customers products, which are often in the fashion and beauty sectors. In days of yore that would have meant the front page of Vogue, now its moved on to pioneer work with social media influencers. In 2022 it grew the audience on the social media platforms it operates by one million followers. It also won Team of the Year at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2022.
Holland Cooper
Fashionistas in the UK and increasingly outside these shores will know of the up-market womenswear brand that is Holland Cooper named after its founder, now under her married name of Jade Dunkerton. The Cheltenham-headquartered label opened a flag-ship shop in the town in 2021 which has proved a hit, but it is online and through savvy use of social media that it continues to excel – mastering the art of creating excitement around launches and helped to turn products into must have items.
Fasthosts
This Gloucester business is probably tired of the story of how it was the brainchild of former owner Andrew Michael while he was still a 17-year-old A-Level student in Gloucestershire and how its sale in 2006 for £61 million made him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Since then Fasthosts has continued to excel under new leadership as a provider of internet access and hosting services. It also operates the domain name registration service UKreg. Fasthosts employs an estimated 150 staff in the county.
Gardiner Bros
This Gloucester family firm is a fantastic example of a business which has embraced the potential of digital to transform an operation. The specialist in workwear has also now forged a name for itself as the go-to platform for footwear too, with brands including Hush Puppies, Caterpillar, Skechers, Muck Boot, Hunter, Base London, Hard Yakka and Dickies. In October 2022 it revealed investment in new premises, the creation of 50-plus new jobs and a growth in turnover over three years of 70 per cent.
Wildlife World
Who would have thought the ability to make fetching feeders, birds nest boxes, bee hotels, hedgehog houses and bat boxes would prove such a business opportunity? Cotswold-based company Wildlife World announced last year it had secured a 'significant investment' to help it serve its growing European export market. The business, which now trades internationally through its website, also sells its range to the United States and works closely with the likes of the RSPB and National Trust.
