2018 – a year of personal achievement, of growth, and forging closer partnerships with our colleagues and clients.
Blue Frontier has been on an upward curve for several years but 2018 surpassed all expectations. The headline growth for the year was above 23% and we exceeded £3million turnover. Behind this stunning statistic, there was an urgent need for both personnel and working space, and for the first time we passed the 50 employee mark and expanded into a new office in Southampton.
We were delighted to have not only been named as a finalist but also win The Techies' Cutting IT award. This was in recognition of our connected health work with Alere. We developed a web-based platform to support their connected health programme for the screening and monitoring of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
We're extremely proud of how our staff have not only dedicated themselves to our clients and ensuring great results, but also thrown themselves into fundraising initiatives this past year, raising thousands of pounds for charity. You can find out more about all of the fun we had fundraising for Children in Need here.
Blue Frontier has come a long way in the past 2 years, from the 25 employees working out of one office in Netherhampton, and that upward curve shows no sign of slowing any time soon. Our success is a credit to the highly skilled team that work here and all of our highly valued clients. We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us in 2019.
Here's a look back at just some of the remarkable things we've achieved over the last year.
We were delighted to announce that Andrew, one of our developers, received his MCP certificate for ‘70-483: Programming in C#’. Andrew has been working in C# for 15 years and this certification helps demonstrate his expertise and capability to implement modern web apps. You can find out more about this here.
Our Web Design Manager, Rob Jolliffe, marked his 10th workaversary with Blue Frontier. In 2008, Rob joined us as a Junior Web Designer, spending his early years learning about code and how to optimise sites for UX while developing a trade mark design flair. He’s worked on numerous projects throughout the years and has been an integral part of the team, being promoted to Web Design Manager in 2015.
We won the ‘Cutting IT’ award at The Techie Awards, Swindon and Wiltshire 2018. The award was given in recognition of our commitment to making a positive difference to global healthcare and our work on the Alere Data Point™ portal. The portal receives point-of-care diagnostics data, which is transmitted from remote locations to a central repository, enabling real-time analysis and visualisation of statistics for improved device and disease management.
Blue Frontier is an ISO 13485 Medical Devices accredited company, which means that we follow a robust and audited quality management system for all projects to ensure that we always deliver products that meet both customer and regulatory requirements.
Tim Brennan, our Infrastructure Engineer, was awarded Associate status as an Amazon Web Services Certified Solution Architect Professional.
The Associate exam challenges individuals that have pre-existing experience in designing distributed applications and systems. The following concepts are covered by the exam:
(Source: Amazon Web Services)
Also in August, Blue Frontier became an appointed supplier on the government’s G-Cloud 10, an update of the previous G-cloud platform Blue Frontier partnered with. Essential to the NHS, the G10 platform provides public sector organisations with the opportunity to acquire products and services from a pre-approved list of suppliers, and further enhances our continued commitment to offer great service and value to the public sector.
Blue Frontier announced the opening of the new Southampton office in the White Building in the centre of town and made it our home by kitting it out in the blue livery of the company. As our numbers increase, we expect to be filling the 8th floor to near capacity within 6 month's.
The Blue Frontier team went all out raising money for Children in Need and arranged a full day of fun activities in order to raise funds. The team met the challenge and the total raised for the day was over £1,900.00. With this initiative, we made it into in the top 5% of pages on Just Giving in November!
In December, we followed this up with fundraising for Save the Children with festive jumpers and treats.
As the business grows, so too does our service offering. Blue Frontier has recently introduced video production to our existing portfolio of services. We have in-house specialists who can conceptualise and deliver video and animation to complement our clients' existing marketing strategies.
Sammy-Jo, one of our Social Media Consultants, recognises the benefits of a wider service offering and providing video and animation for our clients:
"Video production is an exciting new service to add to our existing portfolio and it complements other services we already offer, including web design, SEO, content marketing and social media. Video is an engaging way to get a message out the right people and retain their interest for an extended period of time. We are looking forward to seeing this department expand in 2019."
Blue Frontier will continue to help organisations to improve efficiency and user interaction while cutting costs and reducing risk. With broad knowledge and experience across public and private sectors, Blue Frontier will continue to deliver efficient and effective service and support.
In total, 14 people joined Blue Frontier in 2018, with specialisms in web design, development, quality assurance, technical support, digital marketing, content creation, photography and video production. We’re delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the team. Here are just a few of the new faces we welcomed in 2018.
“Blue Frontier - what a place to work! Everybody is kind and welcoming. The close-knit environment brings a real family vibe to the workplace, which gives a lovely feeling that everybody cares about one another. Every day I look forward coming in to face the next big challenge.”
Jamie Twycross
Web Developer
“I'm really happy to be part of Blue Frontier. I feel valued and respected by my team, colleagues and Manager. It’s an exciting time for growth and change and I’m looking forward to the future."
Malarvizhi Govindaraj
Test Analyst at Blue Frontier
"I first became aware of Blue Frontier a few years ago when a friend joined the company, and I heard nothing but good things from her! When I noticed Blue Frontier were looking for a PHP Developer, I jumped at the chance. In a fast-paced industry, it’s extremely important to keep your skills up-to-date. After only a few weeks, I already felt settled and a valued member of the development team."
Matt Elkins
Web Developer
"My time so far at Blue Frontier has been an enjoyable whirlwind of meeting new people, learning new processes and working on a broad range of interesting projects."
Matt Kerley
Business Development Executive
"Everything you read about Blue Frontier is true. A friendly, helpful group of colleagues who are focused on helping each other and working hard for their customers. The variety of work is fantastic."
Nick Layton
Content Writer
"As a new starter at Blue Frontier in the Digital Team, the highlight has to be the warm welcome I have had from all the team. I am really enjoying working at the fantastic new Southampton office and getting to grips with a variety of projects going on here and looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2019!"
James Roberts
Content Writer
"The Blue Frontier team is incredibly friendly and supportive, extremely knowledgeable and always work with the clients’ best interests at the heart of all that we do. The opening of our new Southampton office has been a personal highlight since joining in June."
Hayley Clasby
Digital Marketer
Content Creator
Nick has worked in Imaging for most of his life. His work has been seen in print, TV and video for (among others) co-op, Canon, London Zoo, Rolls Royce, IBM, Explore Travel and various county councils. Nick specialises in people, product, food and travel and follows the IT and camera industries closely.
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