Business case studies

Oxford Innovation

Oxford Innovation is running the ERDF Convergence funded programmes ‘Grow Cornwall’, which are designed to help high growth businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly reach their full potential.

With offices at Greenbottom, on the Three Waters exchange, one of the pilot areas for superfast broadband, Oxford Innovation were quick to seize the opportunity of upgrading their broadband connection.

Belinda Waldock, Business Coach and ICT Specialist for Grow Cornwall, says: “Superfast broadband is already transforming the way we run our organisation.

“Our broadband speeds are now averaging 20Mbps download and 8Mbps upload. This is radically faster than the broadband speeds we were previously able to achieve.

Revolutionary impact

“One revolutionary impact for us is that we have enhanced our use of video conferencing for our internal meetings and client support. Oxford Innovation is fortunate to have recruited a network of high calibre sector specialists, working remotely across the UK. High quality video conferencing now allows easier access to this knowledge base by our clients in Cornwall, adding to the value of our relationship with them. Apart from the positive impact on our carbon footprint, this means we can spend more time directly helping our clients.

“Thanks to superfast, we are now able to make far more use of cloud computing, making it easier for everyone to access cutting edge applications and software. We already use the cloud for document and customer relationship management as well as for our business management systems.

"We are now able to adopt more complex and bandwidth hungry applications without high initial costs as we can source them from the cloud as suitable solutions become available.

New ways of delivering our service

"Our own use of ICT is more robust now that we have superfast broadband, as it is a far more stable connection. In addition, we are investigating enabling online access to events, in ways that would suit our clients, saving them time and reducing costs."

Belinda concludes: “It is not just a matter of being quicker; superfast broadband enables rapid scalability and new ways of delivering our service. It allows us to implement effective solutions, knowing that the infrastructure will be sufficient to support it.”

Treve Willis, Joint Managing Director of Innovation Services at Oxford Innovation, adds: “Our ethos is built around finding innovative ways to help Cornish businesses grow and making effective use of superfast broadband will of course be a central theme. Whilst it is great that we have been able to benefit from superfast broadband in the early stages of the programme, we are committed to exploring opportunities with our clients beyond those currently in the public domain that create a lasting competitive advantage both for them and for Cornwall.”

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