BC Technologies

Two years’ later and with the arrival of another child, Brendon made the decision to set up a division in Scotland and move full-time to Argyll: “I was a bit drained by the commute, so we decided it made sense for all kinds of reasons to move the administration of the company up here to Scotland. We kept a smaller office in London, which is really a base for engineers to come in and out, but our main premises is here now. Office space is much cheaper here, and we also got rates relief, so that was very helpful.

“Recruitment has been easier and cheaper here, too. In London, you end up using an agency, which costs around 15-20% of the annual salary. That’s a lot of money – especially if they only stay with you for a while. Here we took out a half-page advert for £80 in the local paper – and we got some excellent CVs. We also took on a IT engineer who literally knocked on our door looking for an IT job, and he’s still with us now. It’s a different approach to what we’re used to. We’ve also taken on apprentices, which has worked really well for us.

“Our biggest challenge was getting superfast broadband, but we got it in place about three years ago, and it’s helped us a lot. So much more can be done remotely, and we’re able to offer many more services, like voice-over internet protocol (VOIP) telephony. I can also have video conference meetings with my team down south, which is only possible because of this high speed connectivity. Now we can pretty much do everything we could in London – but our costs are less!”

Business Support in the Highlands and Islands

“In December last year we moved into a new HIE building in Dunoon, and it’s made a big difference to how we operate and function," Brendon commented. "It looks and feels very professional, and it’s been a way for us to up our game a bit.

“HIE has also supported us on the research and development side. For example, they helped us invest in researching technologies around cybercrime, and in running workshops and seminars to create awareness. We’re now certified Cyber Essentials Plus assessors – one of only a handful in Scotland and the only one on the west coast of Scotland. With new data protection rules coming into force in 2018, more and more companies need to prove they take it seriously.”