Five UK cities you didn't know were tech hubs

London might be considered the focal point of UK plc, but resellers are thriving in locations outside of the south east, finds Hannah Breeze

If it's sushi bars, tall buildings and angry commuters you're after, London is certainly the place to be. To be fair to the capital, it also has higher wages, a soaring employment rate and rocketing numbers of businesses setting up shop.

That is the finding of a new report from Centre for Cities (CFC), which claims the capital is the driving force behind the UK's economic recovery. The think tank's Cities Outlook 2014 research found that London created 10 times more private sector jobs than any other city last year, and has done since 2010. Some 19 per cent of all UK jobs are based in the capital, along with 21 per cent of the country's businesses, and a quarter of the UK's economic output comes from London too.

But looking beyond the capital's status as this country's biggest economic powerhouse, a brighter picture emerged in the report for other cities such as Bristol and Edinburgh, which may have been overlooked for their potential as growth engines for the nation.

The duo performed well - often above the national average - on factors such as the number of residents with high-level qualifications (NVQ4 qualification or higher) and the employment rate. And it seems the fact that life exists outside the M25 is not news to many of the UK's resellers, which are thriving in locations others may have overlooked.

For reseller MTI, which has its headquarters in Godalming, Surrey, the decision to branch out into Scotland was not one taken lightly. It first opened its Edinburgh base in 2011 in an effort to better serve customers in the region who were crying out for a firm with local support and training facilities nearby.

MTI's senior vice president for sales in EMEA Ian Parslow, who was charged with overseeing the new base, said the gamble to branch out paid off, and the office is now pulling in about 15 per cent of the company's UK sales.

"When we looked at the opportunity Scotland presented, the lack of credible experienced partners up there was a real opportunity for us," he said. "Scotland is split roughly into three areas; in Aberdeen there's a big oil and gas market, in Edinburgh there's a finance and legal presence, and Glasgow is where the public sector hub is.

"With the three main opportunities up there, there's always something to fall back on. It's always a risk starting a business from scratch, but it has proved to be one of the best decisions [MTI has made] - it's rocketed up there."

MTI served a number of Scottish customers from its Surrey base until the Edinburgh office opened, and Parslow added that having a local presence goes down a lot better with clients, particularly when travelling south for training or tech support could otherwise have taken hours.

Reseller Turstmarque has two Scottish bases - one in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow following its acquisition of Opin Systems last December. The firm's chief executive Scott Haddow (pictured) said having a local base can be the difference between closing a sale and not.

"If you're a customer and you can speak with an account manager on your doorstep or have to arrange a meeting three weeks hence, you want the ease of contact of someone around the corner," he said. "Particularly in Scotland, if you don't have a presence, you are not taken seriously."

Splashing the cash

London's economic dominance and the way it acts as a magnet for talented staff has led to some calls for the government to ease investment in the city in order for its regional counterparts to catch up. But the CFC Cities Outlook report said the way forward is not to stem investment in the capital, but to give its regional counterparts more control over their own destiny in order to thrive.

"Constraining London's growth will reduce national economic growth, and much of the investment that would have gone to the capital may go elsewhere in the world, rather than elsewhere in the UK," it said.

"Other cities should have access to the same policy powers that London has. [It] is one of the UK's strongest-performing cities [and] it is also the city that... has the greatest autonomy over its own economy."

It said giving other UK cities the chance to elect their own mayor and have power over their own budget, police force and transport system would see their economic output thrive.

Bristol-based open source reseller Linux IT agrees. The firm works closely with the local city council in realising its ambitions to run on open standards in line with the government's efforts to create better value for money for taxpayers.
Linux IT's executive director Simon Mitchell said that greater investment in the city would only be positive.

"Bristol [local authorities] are very much about the decentralisation of power - they want more control over their own destiny and are vocally and operationally very driven by resourcing locally."

Edinburgh

Notable VAR residents: Trustmarque, MTI, Logicalis

Key statistic: The average weekly pay cheque for staff in Edinburgh was £559 in 2013, making the city the fifth best paid in the UK (CFC).

Why it's the place to be: "The Edinburgh office has been a runaway success, we delivered against aggressive numbers and the value has been well received by customers and partners. We expect to double the business from that office this year" - Ian Parslow, MTI's senior vice president for sales in EMEA.

Interesting fact: Edinburgh was the first city in the world to have its own fire brigade.

Leeds

Notable VAR residents: LDD Group, SICL, DTP Group

Key statistic: Leeds' £55bn economy is bigger than that of Wales, which reaches only £47bn (CFC)

Why it's the place to be: "Customers value and appreciate honesty and integrity. There is [more] trust from customers - they prefer dealing with a company outside of London. [We are] able to build long-standing relationships with customers and there is a large amount of world-class business support organisations in the north too" - LDD Group's environmental co-ordinator Grant Jackson.

Interesting fact: There are more listed buildings in Leeds than in any other English city outside London.

Bristol

Notable VAR residents: Softcat, Linux IT

Key statistic: Bristol's employment rate between July 2012 and July 2013
was 73 per cent, above the UK average of 71 per cent (CFC).

Why it's the place to be: "Bristol has become a hub for open source technology. Bristol City Council - since about 2004 - has been very vocal about it and since then companies such as Drupal and Forgerock have moved in. I think there's a parallel with Munich, which is the open source hub in Germany, not Berlin" - Simon Mitchell, executive director of Linux IT.

Interesting fact: Bristol is the birthplace of Top Gear's James May and graffiti artist Banksy.

Manchester

Notable VAR residents: Kelway, ANS Group, Insight

Key statistic: Some 13,200 private sector jobs were created in Manchester between 2010 and 2012 - equating to a two per cent increase in the total number, making it the fourth-best-performing city in the UK (CFC)

Why it's the place to be: "We benefit from strong infrastructure and globally recognised universities, producing a steady flow of skilled graduates. Business costs such as rent are also lower than in London and with good motorway and train links, offering two-hour journey times into the capital, it's easy enough to get there when needed" - Imerja's managing director Ian Jackson.

Interesting fact: In a case in 1997, a woman cited her husband's obsession with Manchester United as grounds for divorce.

York

Notable VAR residents: Phoenix Software, Trustmarque, Comparex, SBL
Key statistic: Some 41.3 per cent of York's population have high qualifications, making it the seventh best-qualified city in the UK (CFC)

Why it's the place to be: "[Staff] make a lifestyle choice to live in [York] - they are happy not to commute into a big city centre, for example. This is key for staff retention. In London, [staff] move about to the competition a lot more" - Trustmarque's chief executive Scott Haddow.

Interesting fact: York is home to what is believed to be the oldest shopping street in Europe. The Shambles even got a mention in the 1086 Domesday Book.