Hamilton IT firm casting net wider

DONNA PAGET/Waikato Times

WORK PERK: Enlightenment production manager Stacey Peters gets a back rub from Kirsty Herapath. As a company perk, employees of Enlighten get free back runs.

Relevant offers

A Hamilton web and software design company started eight years ago in a caravan is planning to open branches in Wellington and Auckland next year.

Damon Kelly started Enlighten Design fresh out of Waikato University, building websites for an internet provider in exchange for it hosting his website.

They liked his work so much more came his way and the company has grown to employ 17 staff servicing 400 clients across the country.

He said expanding the company's presence in the capital would allow it to serve a growing number of corporate clients.

"Our head office will always be based in Hamilton and with the internet it's not hard servicing clients from anywhere but Wellington is a bit of a flight."

Mr Kelly said the business, a finalist for the Infrastructure Solution of the Year category of this year's New Zealand Microsoft Partner Awards, had grown largely on word of mouth with referrals from other clients making up 70 per cent of new business. Although Auckland firms had made up almost 90 per cent of clients the company was now the largest web designer in the Waikato, in staff size, following a concerted push in the region in the last couple of years.

Web business was divided between small, usually local clients and larger corporates.

"We have been moving up in the number and size of the contracts we deal with."

A recent major project had included an eight-month redevelopment of Jasons Travel website prompted by TradeMe moving into the travel sector with its booking service.

The company had also done website work for radio station The Edge and been responsible for running the National Party's website, featuring video diaries.

Mr Kelly said he had always wanted to have a variety of income streams for the business, but customer demand had pushed some developments like the move into webhosting, software development and more recently SMS messaging.

The company picked up the innovation award at the recent Westpac Waikato Business Excellence Awards, staving off Waikato Business of the Year winner Stainless Design and Fairview Education Services.

Mr Kelly said having the right people was the key to succeeding in the IT sector. Rewarding workers with regular parties, outings and visits from a back-rub company were part of a strategy for retaining staff.

Mr Kelly had plans for projects within the next year that would require more capital, meaning he could look for investors in the business that he has kept tight control over.

"We started with nothing but a computer put together from scraps really. I had the view that everything we did should be self funding. It worked but it was a fairly hard road.

"I don't know if I would do it that way again but it has left us in a fairly strong position," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News