news opinion The advent of GDPR


GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation – might seem like a good idea by anyone who has had their personal information misused in recent years.


And, of course, it is great news for law firms, training providers and some IT firms, who are using the arrival of GDPR in May 2018 as an opportunity for seminars, courses and advice.


But for most companies GDPR represents a cost and a resource issue that they will have to get to grips with very quickly.


There are already signs that large corporates will refuse to work with SMEs that cannot show themselves to be GDPR compliant.


And then there’s the expected arrival of GDPR ambulance chasers. These will be looking for any data breach and will then encourage ‘class actions’ against the offending company.


These ‘no-win-no-fee’ companies could prove the biggest headache for any businesses that cannot quickly and comprehensively show that their systems and processes are robust.


And GDPR is not just about data held on computers or in ‘the cloud’. Even printed matter comes under the regulation.


In the build-up to May, and following its introduction, we will keep on top of GDPR as it affects businesses in the south, and report the latest advice.


• Meanwhile, we focus on West London this issue. There is no doubt the London borough of Hillingdon, which takes in Uxbridge and Heathrow, has seen significant development in the past five years, and what happens there has a domino impact on the Thames Valley.


See page 9.


David Murray Publisher


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4 businessmag.co.uk Stay informed businessmag.co.uk THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2017


Thames Valley firms making the Tech Track 100


A client list that includes FTSE 100 companies and government departments has helped turn Reading firm Hunter Macdonald into one of the top private tech concerns in Britain.


The IT consultancy founded just four years ago helps companies to design and operate their IT systems more efficiently. Its short success story has made it the region’s top company in the latest Tech Track 100 league table, which ranks Britain’s 100 TMT companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years of accounts.


Having built a team of more than 100 developers creating bespoke applications, Hunter Macdonald achieved fourth place in the national table with sales in the past year of over £29 million, averaging an amazing 267% average growth.


The company was founded by chief executive Mark Ward with partners Scott Gourlay and Christian Brady. In 2015 they paid an undisclosed sum to acquire softQware, an application development firm, and now has a staff of over 400.


Seven other companies from the Thames Valley made it into the Tech Track 100 table. Farnborough-based UKCloud was in 22nd place with sales of £42.9m last year (average growth 127%). Founded in 2011, it now employs some 150 people.


From processing online driving licence and visa applications to a DNA sequencing project that will help to fight rare diseases, UKCloud has worked to improve the way the Government procures IT and delivers public services.


Backed by growth-capital firm BGF, it has launched new initiatives including a disaster recovery service to help in the event of a data centre outage or disruption, and a division that focuses on the healthcare sector. Co-founder and chief executive Simon Hansford previously set up IT services provider Attenda.


PsiOxus at Abingdon gained 25th place in the table with £8.5m (average growth 120%) after gaining funding totalling £55m from the likes of Imperial Innovations and Mercia Technologies. This has helped develop viruses that delivers medicines to cancer patients.


The company was formed in 2009 from


the merger of two university spin-outs, and most of its income came from research grants. Last year it secured a deal with biopharma multinational Bristol-Myers Squibb and this partnership is expected to boost sales to more than £50m this year. It is led by chief executive John Beadle.


Another Abingdon company Immunocore gained 34th place after sales of £16.5m last year (average growth 100.4%). Led by chief executive Eliot Forster, it develops drugs that harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases.


In 2015 it raised £205m from investors including Woodford Investment Management and Malin, and also set up a subsidiary in America. Partnerships with drug giants such as Glaxo Smith Kline and Astra Zeneca also boosted revenue.


Technology from Wokingham-based CitNOW (59th) allows a car dealer to give a tour of a vehicle without the customer setting foot in a showroom. Salespeople use its app to record a personalised video about a car, mechanics use a separate app to update owners on work needed, and another allows owners to film their car and get a valuation.


Under founder Andrew Howells, sales hit £7m last year (average growth over 71%) thanks to a staff of some 60.


NewVoiceMedia at Basingstoke provides cloud technology that integrates telephony systems with existing company data to improve the performance of sales and support staff.


The company has benefited from the move toward cloud computing, especially by larger enterprises, raising more than £100m in funding since 2010 from investors. Sales of £32.2m in the past year (average growth 50%) earned 82nd place in the table.


Two more of the region’s companies scraped into the top 100 – consumer electronics designer Bullitt Group of Reading (90th) and CV-Library at Fleet (100th), which supplies an online job site.


* The Tech Track 100 is published annually in The Sunday Times, sponsored by Hiscox and compiled by Oxford-based Fast Track.


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