BUSINESS REPORT


123 Internet Group on their team trip to Dublin


SUCCESS FOR VISION REALMS


Champagne corks were popping in Milton Keynes after Visual Realms, a city- based provider of virtual tours and online walkthroughs, was awarded the title of ‘Best New B2C Technology Innovation in the Milton Keynes and SEMLEP Region’ at the Biztech Bright Sparc awards. Visual Realms had recently


TURNOVER IS AS EASY AS 123


A full service creative marketing agency has doubled its turnover every year since it moved to Milton Keynes five years ago. 123 Internet Group provides award winning web


design and development, search engine marketing, social media management and hosting and email services to more than 500 UK and international businesses. This year the firm’s 10-strong team will be moving


into larger premises near Knowlhill to accommodate the company’s plans to double in size. Managing director Scott Jones said: “About 80% of


our meetings result in new clients so we have a good conversion rate. We will be doubling our turnover again this year and are working towards the £1m mark.


“I’m pleased to say many of our initial interactions


with clients have come through the Chamber so that has helped us without a shadow of a doubt.” 123 Internet Group’s client list features a variety of Chamber members, including Dominos, ICR Leasing, Mercure Abbey Hill, Woughton House – MGallery by Sofitel and Ridgeway Centre Conferencing. It has also recently become the outsourced marketing


partner for a LinkedIn Influencer whose social media posts and articles go out to 1.6 million followers. LinkedIn Influencers are selected by invitation only. Scott said: “We’re very excited to be handling the


email marketing for this particular LinkedIn Influencer as it shows major corporations that we can be trusted at that level.”


completed a 3D Scan and VR Walkthrough of Willen Hospice, which led to them being shortlisted. Managing director Iain Row


said: “Our clients are generally organisations who need to promote their physical space in a cost-effective way, like schools, hotels, and conference venues, and their customers love exploring their venue with our spectacular online tours, wherever they are and whenever they like, so there are clearly benefits to the consumer too.”


For more information, visit visualrealms.co.uk or call 01908 239971.


Northampton based GOODWILL Solutions CICis one of the county’s


most successful commercially focused social enterprises


The Goodwill Solutions Learning Academy CIC is an approved training provider for the Department of Work and Pensions, an Apprenticeship training provider for the Skills Funding Agency and is on the NHS list of approved Apprenticeship training organisations. Since 2016 we have been managing a strong partnership of 12 organisations across the county to deliver the Big Lottery Building Better Opportunities programme which is successfully supporting those furthest from the job market to gain the work relevant skills they need.


With police officers and County Council early years teams based on the premises, we are also developing a hub with these and other stakeholders in order to further support those in need gain a sense of purpose in their lives.


We are now working with Northampton College and other local training providers to increase the number of people (both employed and unemployed) to gain relevant work skills and to take up apprenticeship training - at all levels.


This programme is free for employers to access and provides businesses with an understanding of how apprenticeships work, a training needs analysis and impartial training provider recommendation(s) - as well as an apprenticeship helpline. It also provides individual applicants with robust pre-apprenticeship support.


To find out more about Goodwill Solutions Learning Academy CIC and the support on offer to help with training, personal development and Apprenticeships, contact Stephen MacFarlaine at: apprenticeships@learningacademy.org.uk


FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 inbusiness 5


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