Wavescapes
Two years ago Tim Stafford moved his web design company, Wavescapes Ltd, from Manchester to Trevone near Padstow. He assumed that he could run his business from anywhere but when he started work using dial-up it had a very negative impact.
“Uploading a small website used to take 4 to 5 hours which meant that there was lots of room for error as certain changes might not update. We had to ask our clients to send files on CD rather than risk the internet connection going down - it became very frustrating.”
Tim campaigned with actnow and other local businesses to gain the 300 signatures needed to bring broadband to his area and now its available he is able to undertake serious web work from around the country. Recently he’s teamed up with another local designer Jacob Old of Starweb Communications to take on work from Johnson King public relations and RDCL the R&D tax recovery specialist both international companies based in London.
“Now with broadband it takes a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes to upload a site and we are back on course to start seriously thinking about expanding our customer base.”
Wavescapes Ltd is also working with another partner Firefly Graphics in London to create a virtual network/office.
“With Broadband from actnow we really can be located anywhere, the virtual office in London is something we could have only dreamt of 2 years ago.”
Alongside Wavescapes e-media design Tim also runs a bed & breakfast and luxury holiday apartment business. Most of his enquiries for this come from the web as his website is linked to other holiday sites that appear on web searches.
“In terms of communication I’d say 99% is via email and much of that business is generated from the web.”
