A South Tyneside technology company is doubling in size in a move that will allow it to create scores of new jobs over the next five years.
Howell Technology Group (HTG), which also has bases in London, Edinburgh and Belfast, is moving its head office at Monkton Business Park in Hebburn to the two-storey, 5,000 sq ft former TSG Marine offices, following a full refit.
The firm, which has Advanced Specialist Gold level partnerships with industry names including Microsoft, Citrix and VMware, has a UK client base including the likes of Goldman Sachs, as well as a range of public and private sector organisations, and the new premises will see HTG build the region’s first Microsoft Centre of Excellence.
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It is creating the centre to attract and develop local talent to its workforce, which currently stands at 30 employees, as well as to support its apprenticeship and graduate schemes. It forms a part of a five year plan which it hopes will take it to £30m turnover and a team of 150 staff.
CEO Kevin Howell said: “This move to a much bigger location comes on the back of a series of contract wins across the UK, thanks to our ability to apply the latest innovative cloud technology to solve business problems for clients in any sector and of any size, all backed up by great customer service.
“Organisations right across the board continue to shift more of their infrastructure to cloud, thanks to its proven ability to support digital business transformation that boosts productivity and improves customer service, and enable the secure remote working that has now become the norm.
“IT has moved from being a business support, to being the essential cornerstone on which every organisation stands, and the global cloud market is expected to be worth $474billion this year. Our top level partnerships with Microsoft and other leading vendors give us a major advantage over our competitors, and we are confident we will achieve our £30m turnover and create a team of 150 staff in line with our business plan.
“We have already made some key appointments to our senior leadership team to help achieve our goals, and our new HQ provides us with the perfect base from which to expand the business, create more jobs here in our heartland, and support our customers in their digital journeys. We aim to build on our successful track record, and become the leading cloud provider across a number of sectors. This is a big move and an exciting time in our history.”