UKFast

26 February 2010

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The inspiration for UKFast came back in 1999 when Lawrence Jones and his wife Gail, tried to set up a website to promote artists and musicians.

They encountered so many problems that, out of sheer frustration, they decided they were in the wrong business...They shifted focus and built their own company out of making it easier for others who wanted to make the most of the internet.

Beginning with just the two of them ten years ago, they've grown to a hundred and two people today.

UKFast is one of Manchester's success stories. Their turnover has grown 67 per cent a year for the past three years and they were in the Top 100 fastest growing companies in the Sunday Times Tech Track 2009.

Jonathan Bowers, Communications Director at UKFast, knows what's driving their success, "Google has confirmed what we thought - that speed really matters. The Google search engine rewards websites that are quick to respond and ranks them higher in the search results." UKFast provides hosting facilities for companies to maximise the power and speed of their websites. Their thousands of customers Information and communications technology businesses employ around 46,000 people in Greater Manchester

Since 2001 the industry has grown by 24 per cent range from small local businesses right through to major international companies, such as Barclays Online Banking. Buying online is becoming more common, offering the company and the sector enormous growth potential. "The UK population are the biggest consumers in Europe, so companies all over the world want to be able to exploit this market.

Companies are increasingly using the internet to sell their products and we'll continue to support our customers as they make that move, explains Jonathan.

Broadband cables coming in to the UK from Europe and America connect straight to London and Manchester, which gives UKFast an added advantage in the market. As Jonathan says, "Location is important because we're in the centre of the country and every split-second matters when connecting your business to the internet."

"One of the best reasons for being here is because we get good quality graduates from the surrounding universities, Manchester and Bolton. It's important for us to have the go-getters," continues Jonathan.

Lawrence sums up the three keys reasons he believes being based in Manchester has helped their growth: its geographical location, the universities and the infamous Manchester 'buzz'. "We've just taken on 30 graduates this year from Manchester University. It's a place where people want to come and learn. It was the boom of the industrial revolution and it's got the potential to be the boom of the internet revolution."

"We have 16 and 17-year-old kids coming in on work experience who are actually involved in developing websites, editing video, all sorts of activities. It's very important to us to show them just how exciting the internet is. It's not a stack of machines, there's so much going on behind that. People need to understand what the potential is."

Although they pride themselves as part of the local economy and the majority of their workforce comes from the Manchester area, UKFast has attracted employees and customers from all over the world, from the US to China, Iraq to Australia.

"Although we're small, we're living proof that with an entrepreneurial drive you can grow something from an acorn into an oak tree," says Lawrence. "The future for us is about growing globally, helping people to interconnect across the world. Our focus is on creating a fantastic R&D department and making sure we stay ahead of the curve. So we have 20-odd people whose job is solely to find and invent exciting things that are going to make people's lives easier in the future."

"The last ten years have been an incredible adventure. I've had to learn more than anybody else in this business - and my wife, I think, would say the same. Every single year we go away, at the same time to the same place, for a three week holiday, where for the last week we sit down, we set goals, we work out what we're doing for the future - and we come back and start again."

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