Immedia Solutions reputation brings high-profile contracts

A SOFTWARE development start-up is reaping the rewards of its reputation after securing high-profile contracts in its first year of trading.
Leeds Digital Hub tennants Immedia Solutions. From left, Tom Walton, Matt Gaffney, Paul Henshaw and Dan Rathbone.Leeds Digital Hub tennants Immedia Solutions. From left, Tom Walton, Matt Gaffney, Paul Henshaw and Dan Rathbone.
Leeds Digital Hub tennants Immedia Solutions. From left, Tom Walton, Matt Gaffney, Paul Henshaw and Dan Rathbone.

Immedia Solutions, one of the first businesses to join Leeds Digital Hub this summer, is working with a number of household names, including the NHS.

The company was launched in March by directors Matt Gaffney, Paul Henshaw, Dan Rathbone and Tom Walton. It now has 13 employees working on-site with clients and is looking to recruit further in the next six months.

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As well as working with the NHS, Immedia has secured parcel delivery firm Hermes as a client. It also has interest from multinational clients and has received enquiries from companies in the US tech hub of San Francisco.

Mr Henshaw said: “We’re ahead of the curve on our growth so we’re now looking to take on further work and recruit more staff.”

Immedia provides software development and implementation services, built on the principle of “agile” delivery.

It stands itself apart by addressing business processes beyond IT through its systems.

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“A lot of our competitors are technology companies that are software developers in a narrow sense,” Mr Gaffney said.

“We’re about organisational transformation, looking end-to-end in a business and making sure other areas fit with the solution.”

Tailoring services for the client is a key part of the company’s offering, Mr Rathbone said.

“A lot of companies will say, ‘this is how you deliver agile software’ and read from a book. What we offer is more customised,” he said.

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Key areas for the future include mobile, “dev ops”, which aligns incentives across software development and maintenance operations, and cloud.

Mr Gaffney said: “This isn’t just website development; we produce industrial-strength IT systems at scale.”

Immedia’s founders have worked together at various companies for the past nine years, most recently as developers for Sky Bet.

The capabilities and reputation they developed in their previous roles has been central to winning work, as recommendations were passed among the IT community.

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Mr Henshaw said: “A lot of people looked at what we delivered at Sky quite enviously and thought, ‘we want a piece of that here’.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to help other organisations be more agile. It’s very encouraging and flattering that people recognised what we’ve done.”

The strength of Immedia’s reputation despite its infancy means recruitment is particularly important.

Mr Walton said: “We offer quality and reputation.

“There’s a real focus on recruitment. We need to be absolutely confident that every person we bring in adds value through their skills and abilities.”

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Immedia is now recruiting software developers, systems testers, solutions architects and project managers with a view to boost its team to 20 by the end of its first trading year in March. By the end of 2015, it expects to have grown to 30 staff.

While the company has grown rapidly to date, competing against and winning business ahead of more established companies with greater resources, the team said there are “no delusions” about the “big leap” from start-up to major player.

Mr Gaffney said: “We’re focused on building the foundation and recruiting to expand.”

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