Businesses looking to cloud help tech company net more work

Leeds-based Netpremacy is looking to add 20 more staff in the next few months after seeing the level of business increase.

Michael Carter, CEO of Netpremacy, told The Yorkshire Post: “The key thing that businesses want at the moment and business leaders are looking at is digital transformation.

“They’re looking at how they take their businesses from where they are and work in modern ways so that teams can collaborate in different offices - it doesn’t matter where they are in the world they can collaborate.”

Netpremacy, which was established in 2000, works closely with Google to integrate the US tech giant’s Google for Work suite of apps into businesses.

Mr Carter said: “We’re a cloud business. We supply cloud services to large organisations around the globe. Our customers include Travelodge. Odeon Cinemas, Just Eat and Sofology.

“We’ve taken their systems out and put new email systems in and all the services around that that we provide from Google.”

Netpremacy was an early adopter of cloud-based services. Mr Carter says they got involved with cloud computing capabilities in 2003.

However, it was in 2006 that things really began to take off for the business when they got involved with Google. The firm started working on Google Apps, which at that point was “quite embryonic”, says Mr Carter.

Alongside supplying Google for Work, the company is also developing its own applications that will wrap around the US tech giant’s products. Netpremacy is aiming for those applications to be ready in the next two months.

Netpremacy, which was launched by Mr Carter and Jonathan Wade, said it will need to add more staff to ensure clients are happy with their service.

“We’ll be putting another 20 staff in here in the next three or four months,” said Mr Carter.

Although many tech businesses have talked about skills shortages, Mr Carter said it isn’t an issue for Netpremacy.

It’s partnership with Google, the working environment and how Netpremacy treats its staff make the firm attractive to skilled talent, said Mr Carter.

He added: “When we get people we tend to treat them well and make sure that they are happy because if you can create an environment that people enjoy they will spend more time in the office. You’ll make sure that you attract the right talent.”

The company recently moved to the ground floor of 6 Wellington Place and Thomas
Davies, global director at Google for Work, helped opened the office.

The extra hires at Netpremacy will be a mix of experienced
staff and young graduates. Mr Carter said: “We’re currently talking to universities about taking on graduates. Some of these young kids have got some great ideas.”

Netpremacy has a turnover of £6m and in addition to its
Leeds headquarters it has an
office in London. The technology firm currently has around 60
employees. It started off in 2000 connecting businesses using DSL.

Security less of an issue now for cloud

Security concerns are less of an issue now than they were four years ago, says Michael Carter, when it comes to cloud computing.

He said: “The security thing has just gone away. We don’t get that issue when we talk to businesses now. You did three or four years ago.”

That’s down to the improvements in security measures and agreements in recent years, he added.

Certain sectors like media and retail have adopted to cloud services quicker than other highly regulated industries like financial services, Mr Carter said.

Netpremacy said it is seeing more and more businesses adopt to cloud based services.