Digital design, engineering and consulting business secures long-term services of management team that has delivered sustained period of growth
Following a recent management buyout (MBO), Softwire, the London-based digital design, engineering and consulting agency, is delighted to announce the appointment of Andrew Thomas as its new Managing Director (MD).
As Operations Director since 2012, Thomas has been integral to the management team responsible for a sustained period of profitable growth for the company. He will be supported by the existing management, including outgoing MD Zoe Cunningham, who was not part of the MBO. By keeping the same leadership team in place, the new ownership structure will enable Softwire to redouble its long-term focus on the strategy that has made it the digital partner of choice for organisations across multiple sectors. Its clients include the UK government, BBC, Channel 5, David Lloyd Leisure and Starling Bank.
Becoming a trusted full-service digital partner
This management team has guided Softwire’s growth from a boutique, £5M-revenue software development business in 2012 to a £20M-plus full-service digital design, engineering and consulting agency today.
The period has seen the company significantly expand its service offering, with the launch of both its Consulting and its Design and Innovation divisions. Meanwhile, Softwire has also built its expertise around the cloud, DevOps, artificial intelligence and other technologies and approaches that enable its customers to achieve their business goals more effectively.
As a result, Softwire is now trusted by some of the most well-known organisations in the country with their high-profile digital programmes. In recent years, these have included Channel 5’s My5 cloud transformation, the rebuilding of various BBC services, and David Lloyd Leisure’s digital transformation. Softwire has also been responsible for numerous UK government projects. These include laying the groundwork for Public Health England’s new healthcare analytics platform, as well as the design and delivery of the Simple Energy Advice service.
In addition, Softwire has been involved in cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) projects, including DeepMind and Moorfields Eye Hospital’s much-publicised collaboration using AI to analyse eye scans for signs of serious eye disease.
Planning for the future
New MD Thomas commented: “Our plan for the coming years will be to push ahead with the strategy that’s made Softwire so appealing to its clients. Our number one goal remains razor-sharp focus on solving our customers’ business challenges. Key to our ability to do this is ensuring we continue to recruit the best talent and give them an environment in which they can develop to their full potential.
“We’ll also be working hard behind the scenes to ensure we’re equipped to deliver the larger, broader and ever-more-business-critical projects our customers are asking us to take on. This will involve further investing in our people, processes, technology and sector-specific expertise, to ensure we continue to keep our customers ahead of the curve.”
Energy, vision and commitment
Softwire co-founder, Pete Kenny, said: “As Operations Director, Andrew has overseen virtually all of Softwire’s customer-facing work for the last eight years. The vision, energy and commitment he’s shown to the business and the culture we’ve worked so hard to nurture, means we’re delighted to have him leading the company for the coming years. We’re excited by the plans he and the management team have in place.”
Outgoing MD Cunningham added: “It’s been a privilege to lead Softwire and to be able to help our amazing customers use technology to do pioneering, and in some cases, life-changing things. I look forward to helping the business build out some powerful new services and capabilities that will enable us to do more of this transformational work.”
