WebBoss

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by WebBoss's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from WebBoss is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.webbosswebsites.com

41WEBBOSS® |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Kevin Wilson, CEO, and Luke

Wilson, CTO. Co-founders of

WebBoss

The development team at

our Torquay office

Although effectively still a start-up, WebBoss® is a small

UK business that has developed revolutionary proprietary

website-building software that is already being used

by some of the world’s largest companies. Founded in 2011 by

father-and-son team Kevin Wilson, chief executive officer, and

Luke Wilson, chief technology officer, the company employs ten

staff and is based in Torquay, Devon – admittedly a little unusual

for such a high-tech business. Here Kevin Wilson describes the

ambitions and values behind the foundation of this unique business,

and his hopes for the future within the UK technology market.

Our vision

The vision of WebBoss was to create a proprietary website-building, e-commerce

and hosting platform that had the security benefits and ease of use that

proprietary systems like Wix and SquareSpace have, along with the flexibility

of open-source software such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. Open-source

software is developed openly by communities of programmers, making the

code accessible to anyone. Conversely, proprietary software is developed by

one company and the code is not publicly accessible, making it more secure

from hacking. Moreover, proprietary software is also regularly updated by its

developers. If an individual needs a new website, their choice is either one of the

existing proprietary systems that will get them a low-cost, nice-looking templated

website that is technically limited, or – on the other hand – a tailor-made, highly

functional, albeit costly, open-source website. Unfortunately, open-source

systems rely on third-party plugins – or, as we call them, “modules” – which

FACTS ABOUT

WEBBOSS®

»CEO: Kevin Wilson

»CTO: Luke Wilson

»Established in 2011

»Based in Torquay, Devon

»Services: Developers of

advanced web building and

hosting platform

»No. of employees: 10

»Used by many global

companies and UK PLCs

»ISO 9001, ISO 27001, also

WebBoss® registered TM

»www.webbosswebsites.com

www.webboss.io

WebBoss®

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

42 | WEBBOSS®

» OUR PARTNERS

INCLUDE

»Barclaycard

»Worldpay

»Getty Images

»Allied Wallet (one of

the fastest-growing

US payment gateway

providers)

aren’t always updated to the latest

security protocols, along with various

other third-party services such as

secure hosting, domain names, email

accounts and SSL security (the security

technology for establishing encrypted

links between web servers and

browsers), all of which need separate

ongoing management.

What makes WebBoss unique is that

it brings all these services together

into a single package. We combine

the creative freedoms and high

functionality of open-source software

along with the benefits of proprietary

packages, which means that, with

WebBoss, truly specialised, complex,

high-value business websites can

be quickly created by a competent

designer without the expense of a web

developer, reducing costs by up to 60

per cent.

Given that WebBoss-built websites

are secure, reliable and quickly

designed and built, it’s clear why –

alongside numerous small and medium

enterprises (SMEs) – many of the

world’s leading companies use, or are

partnered with, a company like ours.

Team

Having a great product, however,

is just a very small part of having

a successful business, and a

fundamental principle of ours is not

just to have the best product but

also to run our business to the best

possible standards. We strongly

believe in staff development, training

and transparency, and involving the

team in as much of the business

operation as is practical. This approach

has created a very loyal team with

virtually every staff member relocating

to work for us. Accompanying this,

we are keen to promote women in

tech, and our first female apprentice

now holds a responsible position

working alongside our female senior

executiveassistant.

Location

Despite a challenging local technical

infrastructure, we intend to keep our

business in the West Country. This is

because the scenery and pace of life

naturally create an inspiring working

environment, and because we hope to

expand the tech sector in this part of

the country, which at present provides

few job opportunities.

Best practice

To ensure that we maintain the

standards we aspire to, we invested in

the company becoming certified to ISO

9001 for business quality management,

and ISO 27001 for information security

management. This was no mean feat

for a company of our size. To begin

with, working to such a demanding

level of compliance was quite daunting.

However, we all take it in our stride

now, and it keeps everyone performing

to the higheststandard.

Investment and growth

WebBoss has achieved substantial

traction with a small amount of

Online customer support

and training is always a

priority with WebBoss

With WebBoss,

truly specialised,

complex, high

value business

websites can be

quickly created

by a competent

designer

without the

expense of a

web developer

“

43WEBBOSS® |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

seed investment, and now that we

have a tried-and-tested product, our

immediate plans are to scale and

launch WebBoss as a global stand-

alone SaaS (Software as a Service)

product – a move for which we are

seeking further investment to ensure

that we can finance a significant

marketing campaign.

Finding investment for a tech business

in the UK is a very difficult task,

however. I believe this is because

most UK investors still haven’t entered

“Silicon Valley mode” and, from

my experience, many investors still

seem to think in a “bricks and mortar

assets” mentality. Like many similar

companies, we have virtually no

tangible assets, but our “intangible

asset” could process and deliver orders

worth upwards of £1 million in under

five minutes. In 2016, we displayed

as a start-up in Lisbon at the world’s

biggest technology exhibition, Web

Summit, which had 50,000 attendees.

We were inundated with meetings

with investors, though none were

British. The majority were from the

United States, along with several from

all over Europe, and although we are

still in touch with many of them, their

priority is to invest in businesses in

their own territories.

There are funding initiatives available

in the UK, but they don’t really fit

the software/SaaS business model,

and I believe the UK is missing out

on a great opportunity here. Getting

seed money up to £250 thousand is

relatively easy and helped by the seed

enterprise investment scheme (SEIS)

and enterprise investment scheme

(EIS). Larger funds of upwards of

£4 million from the likes of the BGF

(Business Growth Fund) also seem

relatively easy to acquire. However,

there is a huge gap in the middle,

which is where many companies need

funds to grow to the next stage. I

believe if financial institutions and/

or government could address this,

we would see substantial growth in

the UK technology market, as the

UK is never short of innovators, and

companies like ours would grow much

faster, bringing an ongoing boost to

the UK economy.

Most UK

investors still

haven’t entered

‘Silicon Valley

mode’ and, from

my experience,

many investors

still seem to think

in a ‘bricks and

mortar assets’

mentality

“

» OUR PAST AND

PRESENT USERS

INCLUDE

»Mattel

»Collins

»Hasbro

»Trinity Mirror plc

Demonstrating the

WebBoss system

responsiveness website

checker

www.webbosswebsites.com

This article was sponsored by WebBoss. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy