roundtable
SOUTHERN TECH 100
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The Business Magazine hosted this Southern Technology 100 event with Barclays bank, intellectual property specialists Marks & Clerk, business advisers Moore Stephens, and specialist business and home insurers Hiscox. It was held at Marks & Clerk’s Oxford office. Tim Wickham reports on…
Growth and how to achieve it Participants
Lee Atkinson: Relationship director, Barclays
Marco Essomba: Founder and chairman, iCyber-Security Group
Simon Fahie: Managing director – global technology, Bybox
Nigel Kilpatrick: Sales director, Roc Technologies
Miles Hewitt-Boorman: Partner, Moore Stephens
Robert Lind: Partner, Marks & Clerk Lined up to debate: the Roundtable team
Ben Neville: Head of group marketing, Prodrive
Damian Ryan: Partner, Moore Stephens
William Sachiti: Founder, Academy of Robotics
Coping in uncertain times
For Nigel Kilpatrick at technology services provider Roc Technologies, it’s a case of listening to and tapping into what customers want. “That’s more important than just trying to do the same thing as everyone else. Organisations that keep doing today what was right 25 years ago are finding it very hard to adapt.. If you just throw money at problems you won’t survive.
“We are finding that large organisations often don’t want to go to larger consulting firms, where you get the same old thing and pay a high cost for it. This has allowed us to have
a huge growth curve, based on trust and credibility.”
Simon Fahie from software company Bybox said one of his company’s challenges is adapting its processes as the organisation transitions through growth. “We are at the top of the tree in our sector, so our competitors’ main line of attack is on price. We are focusing on innovation, our ‘secret sauce’, and feel we are now at a transition point as our growth takes us global.”
Technology support and solutions provider MCSa was created from the merger of two companies and Terry Storrar said its focus is on moving from the traditional ‘break/fix’ fee-for- service model to one of ‘fix/break’. “We have concentrated on our existing customers, but now we must prove to new customers that we can offer value, which is difficult to do when you offer a service.”
Innovate to stay ahead
The world of video conferencing has transformed in the past 20 years. Kevin Wilson from AuDeo noted:
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businessmag.co.uk
Terry Storrar: Director of managed services, MCSa (Maindec Computer Solutions)
Kevin Wilson: Managing director, AuDeo
David Murray: Managing director of The Business Magazine, chaired the discussion.
“Like a lot of technologies, you have to find the best way to do it. It’s a bit like going from vinyl records to CD. We are moving video conferencing to the cloud, delivered via desktop computers. In about nine out of 10 cases, if we can get in front of the customer then we can win the business. I am very hopeful for growth.”
Engineering group Prodrive’s Ben Neville said that while motorsport is still at the heart of its business, the company has successfully diversified into other sectors. “I agree with Simon about having a ‘secret sauce’; we offer innovative problem solving and can transpose what it takes to win
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2017
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