Company History
When James Cook and Dan Hancock swapped the intensity of learning for the intensity of developing and running their own business, what they found was a world that hadn't moved forward with Information Technology as they'd supposed.
As these two Bristol University graduates went about turning knowledge into application, they realised that the vast potential of internet-based applications for business still remained pretty much dormant - especially in small-to-medium companies with neither the experience nor current know-how to unlock it.
As James and Dan immersed themselves in the IT problems and constraints of local businesses and organisations they met and talked to, they found that their early conclusions were being borne out. The challenge facing management was not about the motivation to adopt better, brighter technologies to improve business performance - it was about finding the right people who understood how these technologies actually worked, how they could be applied to business and - importantly - how they are likely to change and develop in the future. In other words, the energy and vision of talented and ambitious business leaders was falling on the fallow ground of traditional IT support at a time when the demands of growth and competitiveness were crying out for someone who could not only share the vision, but could also use cutting edge IT to make it happen.
And so, SpiderGroup was born.
As part of the new generation of technology consultants "the Spider boys" (as their clients affectionately refer to them) are well equipped for the task.
In 2004 they joined forces with fellow former Bristol graduates Ben Nichols and Chris Falconer who themselves were running a small but successful IT business in the south east of England, and who had also drawn the same conclusion as James and Dan about the real market need. Bringing significant and complementary intellectual capital to the enlarged SpiderGroup, Ben and Chris, together with SpiderGroup's regular programmer Mike Salway are now a Bristol-based team supported by a close and trusted partnership of financial and business advisors and non-executive directors.
This team shares a common belief in the ability of leading edge technology - appropriately applied - to deliver competitive advantage and business performance to the small and medium enterprise market. They also share a belief in their clients' goals and aspirations, and in the SpiderGroup values which are a day-to-day essential in setting and meeting customer expectations:
Listening - Knowledge - Imagination - Delivery - Security - Support - Trust - Simplicity. which form the guiding mantra for all of the group's operations.