A company on the cutting Edge
Featured in this weeks Herald SME focus, Susan Chadwick and Brian Ferrie of member company Edge Testing Solutions share their aspirations and challenges.
IN this week’s SME Focus two technology entrepreneurs who have succeeded amid challenging conditions say the Government has to help reduce the risks involved in employing graduates if small and medium sized enterprises are to create the kind of high-skilled jobs that Scotland needs.
Edge test software, so looking for bugs in software hopefully before it goes live and is found by users, is their bread and butter. Brian Ferrie explained : “ There are four parts to the business. We help customers with how they test. We train customers how to test more effectively. We test software on behalf of customers, and we provide supporting tools and technology to test software. We’re partners with the leading vendor in this space, HP. “
“We have quite a mix of clients, from Blue Chip to niche software development companies, and across the private and public sectors. The list includes Heineken, Ignis Asset Management and Historic Scotland in the UK. Some of our clients outsource their development and then employ us to do testing. We’re also involved in partnerships with developers – we’ll test the software before it ever goes to their clients, to iron out any problems. “
Susan Chadwick, MD added “We set the company up in late 2007, just as the credit crunch hit but despite the timing we turned over £1.2m last year and we’re aiming for £2.5m this year. We have a staff of twelve, plus around 10 consultants.
Asked what could the Westminster or Scottish governments could do that would most help their business, Susan responded : “Incentivise small businesses to employ people. Some sort of reduction or change to employers’ National Insurance contributions or tax incentives would help. And we need some way to help companies employ graduates. We’re passionate about giving graduates an opportunity and yet there isn’t anything we have come across that’s being done to encourage businesses to take them on.”
Read the full article at : http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/corporate-sme/a-company-on-the-cutting-edge-1.1120343?48720
