A Fife IT & Telecoms company has more than doubled its staff numbers in less than 18 months after securing a raft of new business that has helped increase its turnover by 69%.
Dunfermline-based Exactive, which has received advice from Business Gateway Fife, saw its annual turnover hit £1.4m in April after securing contracts with the likes of Scottish Government, Chivas Regal and Scottish Borders Council.
Set up six years ago by Scott Millar, Robert Hutchison and Craig Arbuthnott, the company, which provides Unified Communications and Managed Services to private and public sector organisations, now has over 80 well-known clients on its books and 20 staff.
Scott Millar, Managing Director, Exactive said: “We are in the unique position of being one of the few companies that are both Microsoft Enterprise Voice Certified Partners and Authorised Polycom Unified Communications Solution providers. This means we’ve achieved the level of expertise required to provide the most value to the customer when consulting and deploying our products.
“Our work was also recognised by Microsoft at a global level in 2010 when we were presented with the “Outstanding Voice Partner” of the year award for the EMEA region at the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference which greatly increased our credibility and recognised our success.
“During the recession our integrated communications solutions, which include Microsoft Lync, have proven desirable to businesses looking to reduce the cost of telecoms, conferencing, email and even real estate. Our solutions enable flexible working and increased productivity resulting in a higher level of staff well-being and significant cost savings. We anticipate that one council will save £6 million per year for the next three years, and we have evidence that shows our communications solutions allow each employee to gain 20 minutes of productive time per day.”
He added: “Our Business Gateway adviser has been a constant and valuable sounding board throughout the growth of Exactive. As a maturing company we still value his input and regularly seek him out for advice. Most recently he provided the business with access to a consultant who has worked closely with the directors to devise a robust growth strategy and placed the directors on Scottish Enterprise’s Leadership for Growth Programme. This is proving very fruitful and is arming them with additional skills and knowledge which will help them as the company continues to grow.”
David Howie, Business Adviser, Business Gateway Fife said: “Exactive prides itself on providing its clients with the most up to date IT packages and has recently appointed Richard McPhee as its Director of Technology whose role is to keep abreast of the ever changing IT market. It is this sort of dedication that helps keep the company at the forefront of the IT industry.
“Over the years we have worked with Exactive providing a range of assistance – from ISO certification to strategic development planning. The company has also benefited from our Expert Help programme which provided a grant to part fund additional time with a strategy consultant. Exactive is fast becoming a leading light in the IT & Telecoms world and we are delighted that our support will help them achieve their expansion goals.”
Now the firm is looking to replicate its Scottish success south of the border and has already made significant inroads into the English market after opening an office in Reading three months ago. Since then Exactive has managed to secure contracts with Waverley Borough Council, Stockport Council and fresh produce manufacturer Nature’s Way Foods.
Scott said: “We have achieved so much in Scotland and decided that, if we wanted to get a foothold in the English market, we needed a presence down south. As we partner with Microsoft we thought it appropriate to open our office next to its UK base in Reading and that has proved extremely fruitful. There really is no doubt that our new office has helped us secure the recent English wins and will result in the creation of up to seven new jobs this year.”
For more information on how Business Gateway can help your business grow and prosper visit www.yourbusinessgateway.co.uk or call 0845 609 6611. Alternatively contact your local office on 01592 858333.