Cream of the crop in Cornwall and Devon
Beyond the ice cream, fudge and cream teas, the South-West can be an IT hub with incomparable lifestyle benefits
It's summer, and time therefore for a summery feature. Failing access to an around-the-clock pipeline of Pimm's, what better than a trip to the glorious south-west to discover channel life in Cornwall and Devon?
Government agency Invest In Cornwall uses the strapline "See the light", and it is true that the county's £8bn economy has more to offer the IT industry than many might assume. It is becoming popular for business relocation, with a proliferation of small consultancies, developers and support providers as well as top-notch education facilities - as has neighbouring Devon.
There's a strong community spirit, a fantastic landscape, and a quality of life supported by the mildest, sunniest climate in the UK.
Andy Trish, managing director of Penryn, Cornwall-based Microsoft VAR and services provider NCI Technologies, moved from Liverpool to Cornwall after a stint in the Navy, founding the company 11 years ago in his back bedroom. Today the firm has 30 staff - making it one of the largest Cornish IT companies - and can boast continued expansion throughout its life, supported by local, national and international customers.
"We support them from the UK. We've got fast fibre internet down here, so you can actually work a lot faster than a lot of people in other places - there are still places in London without fibre," he says. "I don't plan on moving."
On 31 July, Saltash became the 250th town in the UK - and the first in Cornwall - to get 4G.
Cornwall might seem remote but it is home to 536,000 people across its small communities dotted about 300 miles of often-spectacular coast. Getting staff is no object, notes Trish, because of the calibre of local graduates and because the area appeals to young and old alike.
"Cornwall is an expensive place to live, but to work here is actually pretty cheap," Trish notes, adding that the business has to get the balance right for it to work. "If we overcharged, we'd be in trouble. If we undercharged, we'd be in trouble. We have to stay competitive."
The business environment is "very, very" friendly, and word-of-mouth testimonial is crucial. Developing loyal customer relationships is vital, as it is always easy to move on if a service doesn't suit, and the local opportunities can be especially important in a smaller market, Trish suggests. "A personal connection, that leads to repeat business."
On top of that, NCI does a lot of charity work, helping local schools with their IT suites and so forth - and Trish also contributes with charitable activity in the Falkland Islands.
He says the biggest disadvantage is transport. Newquay airport might offer one-hour flights once or twice a day to London, and Bristol has some useful international connections, but it is usually better for him to do the five-hour drive to Gatwick or Heathrow, partly because the flight times often don't match up.
"Some larger vendors don't seem to believe that Cornwall exists," admits Trish, meaning that the south-west is often passed over when major OEMs schedule their UK partner events.
"But we've just taken on a customer with offices in South Africa, Australia, America, Canada and London - so we will be looking for additional staff to support that," he adds.
The opportunities are clearly there for IT companies that have the innovation, the commitment, and the approach that will work.
Neighbouring county Devon has a population of 748,000 - the area is both larger and closer to London. Perhaps that is reflected by the fact that the IT industry also seems to be more developed, although once again it is smaller companies, the consultancies and the development or design start-ups that seem to predominate.
Matt Barton, technical director and co-founder of Exmouth managed services provider Ostrich IT Services, notes that the advent of remote support, leveraging IT from the likes of CentraStage, has been part of the broadening of the appeal of the regions for up-and-coming IT companies. Devon is probably more expensive than, say, Coventry as a location for businesses - but more cost-effective than London, and perhaps even further-away Cornwall.
Ostrich moved to Devon from Birmingham - and Barton had commuted to Brum from Staffordshire - for a slower pace of life, he says. The number-one attraction for businesses continues to be lifestyle; fresh air, rolling hills and ocean access, coupled with a shorter daily commute and more freedom for growing families.
"There is so much more outdoor space; there's so much more opportunity to do things," Barton says. "If the children want to walk down to the beach or spend the day out of the house, it is much easier. Whereas in the city you often cannot. You have to worry more about what they're doing and who they're with."
Barton himself sometimes stops by the coast during his 20-minute commute to jump out of the car and enjoy the seafront - 10 minutes or so from home.
At first, locals thought they would not stay, but after a few years they have realised that Ostrich and its people are in the county for the duration. As a result, socially things have warmed up as time progressed, he notes.
Is the business growing in Devon? Barton says it works out at about 12 per cent a year - not as much as hoped, but steady.
"We're a small sort of organisation. We have some growth in parts of the business but not in other areas where we might have liked to have, through client acquisition. We do have steady work, and we're working with local education to bring young people into the industry," he says. "There are some areas where we've found it quite hard to get the right sort of staff, simply because of the small population."
Ian Creek, marketing director at bespoke mobile apps developer and design specialist Rokk Media, says being an online business in the regions definitely makes sense. The infrastructure is available, and customers are ready to do more with SaaS and in the cloud - related areas that have represented the lion's share of growth for this 30-strong Exeter firm in recent years.
Being based in Exeter has definitely been an advantage for Rokk, he says.
"We have won a number of contracts, some in partnership under NDA," Creek explains. "And there is a mix of projects - such as an app for a TV "psychic" right through to more technical projects such as analysing potato crops. There's a really wide range of customers."
Jon Hogg, head of platform at Exeter Science Park-based procurement services provider Blur Group, says its "s-commerce" platform is about enabling professional services, such as design, legal, marketing, and accounting, to bid and quote for projects and contracts online. It's a global service; so far about 42,000 businesses in 145 countries use it.
Head office used to be in London; it retains a sales office there, and has another office in Dallas, Texas.
"Blur is a truly global company. And we moved down here because as we grew, it seemed that London was not the best place to grow the global operation. And the one thing we needed, as a cloud business, was great internet, so we looked around the country for places to go," Hogg says.
Several locations in the UK fitted the bill, but Devon won in the end because of its other good infrastructure, sources of talent, and transport links. It is also a place where people actually want to live and become integrated into the local community. Staff in fact wanted to move down from London and elsewhere.
"Everything started to point towards the south-west. We looked at Bristol, and Wales, then we heard about the science park in Exeter. And the time was right," explains Hogg. "That was our bet: that people
would want to come here."
Three years ago Blur had 15 staff; today - assisted by a supportive local business environment and County Council - it has 80, including 60 in Devon. Among them are hires from Spain, Italy, Croatia, Ukraine and Uruguay, as well as Brits.
The office is 3.5 hours from London by road, two hours by train, and 40 minutes by air, with Flybe looking to boost the number of flights this year.
By 2020, Blur aims to be a $1bn business.
"My children are really happy having come here. They love the place," Hogg adds. "And in Devon people take a real pride in their work."
Chris Barling, co-founder and chairman of Teignmouth start-up Powered Now, has been in Devon for 10 years - moving back to the county after several decades in London and Surrey - and is also currently involved as an entrepreneur or director with three other companies.
"It was for a number of reasons, which included lifestyle, and the fact that my parents were getting older," he says. "And this company - Powered Now - is the nearest thing to full time of all the companies I'm involved with."
Powered Now offers a mobile app that serves builders, electricians, plumbers and the like by delivering a cloud-based e-commerce platform that enables them to save time, hassle and paperwork. "That's [the trades sector] an absolutely enormous industry - a £40bn market in the UK," Barling says. "And at the smaller end of the market, they're out and about all the time."
Using a development team in Hungary that Barling has worked with on previous projects has presented no difficulty from Devon, as it might have done in previous years. Cloud and mobile technology - as well as the services around them - have developed to the point that a business such as Barling's can be profitably run from almost anywhere.
"The thing about Exeter is it's not far from London, it's very different from being in North Wales or somewhere, and it is not a difficult journey to do," confirms Barling. "And we currently do all our marketing online; we're not doing face-to-face selling at all.
"It just depends on what you are doing."
Five facts you might not have known about DEVON
■ Alan Hope became the UK's first Monster Raving Loony Party mayor in Ashburton, Devon, in 1998. Thereafter, Hope moved to Hampshire, losing the 2010 vote for Witney MP to one David Cameron.
■ By the 14th century, Exeter had a man-made drinking water system that brought pure spring water into the city - unfortunately passing through lead pipes.
■ Westward Ho! near Bideford is the only British town named after a novel, and one of only two in the world with an exclamation mark. Charles Kingsley's novel of the same name was set nearby.
■ In pre-Roman times Devon was the home of the Dumnonii tribe, the "deep valley dwellers", for whom it is named. A Roman legionary base, Isca Dumnoniorum, was founded at modern Exeter circa AD55.
■ Sir Walter Ralegh, courtier of Elizabeth I, poet, and navigator, was born in Woodbury in 1552.
Sources: Information Britain; Britannia.com; Roman-Britain.org.
Five facts you possibly don't know about CORNWALL
■ Jan Tregeagle, a 17th century magistrate, is said to have made a pact with the Devil which made him rich. The winds around Porthcurno Cove are said to be his howls as he tries to sweep up the sand - a task set for his soul by demons.
■ St Piran's Day - or Gool Peran - on 5 March is officially the "national" day of Cornwall, in honour of the county's patron saint, a sixth-century monk who is also the patron saint of tin miners. Perranzabuloe is his main shrine.
■ The Cornish pasty market has been estimated at £300m a year. About five million are eaten a day and each genuine pasty must contain at least 12.5 per cent beef.
■ DH Lawrence wrote much of his controversial novel Women in Love in Zennor. Sadly, he was expelled in 1916 - partly because locals believed his wife Frieda's red knickers hanging out to dry were signalling to the German submarines.
■ The world's first parabolic satellite antenna was sited at Goonhilly in 1962. The dish, dubbed Arthur, also handled the first satellite TV broadcast.
Sources: Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain; Cornwall Food and Drink; Cornish Pasty Association; St Piran Trust; The Flag Institute; Information Britain.