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, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

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

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister