Product development boosts Nottingham business
Nottingham-based Skylight Media Ltd has expanded its portfolio
of web design services with a little help from EMB Ltd, the leading
enterprise and economic development company that delivers a range
of business improvement services, including Business Link, the
Leadership and Management Advisory Service and Investors in
People.
The business was formed nearly seven years ago and became a
limited company in July 2004. Skylight Media is a website design
and development consultancy working with companies from a wide
range of different business sectors. Director Matthew Riceman
explains how the business has developed. "This is a fast-moving
market and we are continually developing our services and products
in line with demand. Our professional web design services
include sophisticated CMS brochure and ecommerce models which are
constantly evolving, offering our clients high levels of content
control and online marketing flexibility.
New product
"We initially contacted EMB to find out if there was any support
available to assist us in the development of a new e-commerce
system-based solution to accompany the brochure website package we
have and they came up trumps."
EMB assigned us a business adviser who helped us identify, and
successfully apply for, grant funding that was available to help
towards developing the system, as Matthew explains. "Our
adviser was instrumental in identifying the relevant grant funding
opportunity for us, and guiding us through the whole application
process, enabling us to purchase the required software and hardware
to implement the project and has remained on-hand to offer ongoing
support as the business continues to flourish."
Investment bring returns
The development of the new system enables Skylight Media to
increase efficiency and competitiveness says Matthew. "It has
allowed the complex e-commerce website developments to become
system based, allowing for much faster production lead times. This
has, by definition, increased both our competitiveness and
profitability in the market place ensuring we remain at the
forefront of providing technological solutions to meet our
customers needs."
Matthew is pleased with the help he has accessed through EMB and
says that it's well worth contacting them in the early stages of
any project development. "The main advice that I would give is to
allow plenty of time to complete the entire grant sourcing,
application, purchasing and claiming process. For us, the project
involved several members of our team, who all had input with their
related areas of responsibility in relation to the grant,
purchasing and implementation.
"As a small, energetic and thriving business, we have received a
tremendous amount of real-world support through our involvement
with EMB. Their knowledge of the business support arena is second
to none - and we have found that it certainly pays to ask for
help."
Matthew's Top Tip
• If you've received help and support before, keep the
information on file, it's useful to refer back to it.
Website: www.skylightmedia.co.uk