E-creation Helps Write Joint Press Release with Google & Vince Cable as Expert on Poole Technology Companies
E-creation | Press Release in association with Google
In summer of 2013, Google commissioned the National Institute for Economic and Social Research to carry out research into technology based businesses across the UK which discovered that “Poole has the highest concentration of technology based businesses in the South West” supporting more growth and jobs than many other areas of the UK.”
E-creation was asked to provide its experiences of technology, along side the government’s Business Secretary, Vince Cable: “This is an interesting alternative report. As our recently published Information Economy Strategy highlights, innovation, entrepreneurship and growth are spread throughout the UK. The information economy transforms every other business sector, driving productivity and creating new opportunities for growth.”
How did the business start?
E-creation was founded in 1999 in a bedroom. We started out at a technology innovation company, helping FTSE100 businesses to re-engineer the way they do business to take advantage of emerging technologies, such as the Internet, content management systems & interactive multimedia. Today, E-creation provides business consultancy for blending leading-edge technology & creative ideas, to create a sense of ‘delight and wonder’.
Can you tell me about your company/ bit about what you do?
E-creation brings ‘cool’ into technology. We work with our clients to go beyond the everyday, coming up with functionality that captures imagination and heart – using technology. Our ’emotional’ approach is different to the traditional, utilitarian view of how businesses should use technology.
How many people do you employ?
Our head office employs just two people but we have hundreds of freelancers on tap to deliver larger projects. In the early stages of growth, we grew to 20 full time employees but discovered UK tax law is not kind to SME businesses employing people. By creating our own project / freelance management software and giving the people the freedom to work in the way most appropriate to them, we have been able to create a culture that delivers the performance of a large organisation and attracts the brightest skills.
We have noticed a trend towards this business model amongst most creative & idea consultancies both in the Dorset & London.
Have you seen revenue, sales, conversions, ROI, etc. increase as a result of using technology?
Digital technology is our main source of revenue. Our website created over £500,000 in revenue in less than 12 months, with an investment of less than £20,000 and Google’s help, which is a fantastic ROI in the service sector. Many businesses fail to understand that spending money on websites or digital marketing is investment, you get back what you put in, and business’s running with a sub-optimal websites, achieve sub-optimal results. You buy a Ford and can expect a Ferrari’s performance!
Would you recommend utilising technology to other small businesses?
Technology is the best way for small businesses to level the playing field. Open source technology puts powerful functionality, built by thousands of clever, motivated individuals into the hands of smaller businesses for a fraction of the ‘true’ development cost.
Two key standout open-source technologies have been Magento & WordPress. Whilst we were initially skeptical of WordPress, we have now fully embraced technology as part of website development, providing incredibly powerful content management which would otherwise take us weeks to create but with the flexibility to be modified to even the most exacting customer requirements.
E-commerce solutions with £100,000’s of functionality can now be delivered for less than £20,000 using Magento – something impossible just a few years ago. This is an advantage to the SME, who with a strong offering, can become multi-million pound businesses in a matter of months.
Jan-Erik Paul, MD at E-creation, setup digital digital design agency E-creation in 1999, after becoming disillusioned with the advertising industry’s vision for the future. His specialism, blending creative ideas with technology, has delivered digital marketing products that allow SMEs to compete with FTSE100 businesses through ‘digital guerrilla warfare’.
“Digital technologies is a fundamental business enabler. Technologies like ‘the cloud’ have been existed for many years but now have a brand value which is easily understood. Cloud, mobile & online marketing are creating businesses which would otherwise never have existed but these technologies deliver business advantages to even the oldest, most traditional businesses. When a business grows at 100% year on year, you can can be sure that technology, somewhere, is a key element in achieving that growth.”