Innovation Puts Company On Track To Achieve £3 Million

16/10/2019
Kevin Coll Managing Director of Solab is a happy man. Is it any wonder?

AN ESTABLISHED North East IT company is on track to achieve £3 million turnover this year, thanks to an innovative approach in a competitive marketplace.

Solab is a leading local IT support company with 28 years of experience in supporting, training and developing businesses across Scotland and beyond, delivering expert IT services and solutions. The company has
experienced a substantial growth in turnover of 24% in the last two years and the upward trend is continuing in 2019.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.

Key to recent growth has been the firm’s Onboard Tracker software, which now manages crewing logistics, certification and competence data on people working on over 70% of the manned rigs in the UKCS and in over 50 countries. The company has secured significant, multi-year contract wins this year with a plethora of clients including Bilfinger Salamis UK, who recently implemented the software to support its North Sea training and
competency operations.

Stephanie Broadley, Competency Advisor commented: “We implemented the certification module within Onboard Tracker in March 2019 and will shortly be implementing digital training matrices and the competency module across our business.

The Bilfinger team enjoy working with Onboard Tracker and are enthusiastic when additional features are made available to them. Digitalisation is a key focus for our business and the introduction of Onboard Tracker provides an ideal solution to enhance our capability to track and report the training and competency of our people.”

Solab and Onboard Tracker have become a leading light in the North East’s Digital Workforce initiatives and help keep tens of thousands of energy workers trained, competent and safe in their daily activities.

In order to appropriately service the needs of a growing client base, Solab has increased its headcount with the recruitment of an Onboard Tracker Implementation Consultant, Vicky Andrew.

With a fresh eye on the IT sector, Vicky brings to the company more than a decade of experience in crewing logistics and further strengthens client support during the onboarding process. Additionally, Sean Lynch has been promoted to the position of IT Manager whilst three new Systems Engineers and three new Developers have also joined the team since the start of this year.

As well as bolstering the team, Solab also added NetApp as a key storage partner which led to some excellent technology refresh deals with major clients, including Operators. Solab’s growth has also further enhanced
existing relationships with Microsoft, Fujitsu, CISCO, VMware and Sonicwall.

“As the world’s data authority for hybrid cloud, NetApp select the very best IT services providers to partner with. Our success with Solab in Aberdeen and throughout Scotland is a testament to their technical abilities, ethos and reputation. Our relationship over the last two years has gone from strength to strength,” says Chris Greenwood, NetApp Senior Director for the UK and Ireland.

Commenting on the success of the year to date, Managing Director Kevin Coll said: “What sets Solab apart is that, whilst we have been in business and thriving for almost 30 years, we are continually improving, evolving
and leading in our field. Our positive culture is also demonstrated by our high staff and client retention levels, with large numbers having been with us for many years.

“These are key factors in creating a stable foundation from which to grow a business and, in our case, it is a strategy which is paying dividends in terms of longevity and sustainability, as well boosting the balance sheet. However, we are always careful to balance our rich corporate history with the need for agility and responsiveness to thrive in a competitive arena. During tough market conditions we didn’t sit back, instead we invested and further developed our innovative approach to support mobile workforces across the energy sector, which has proven to an effective growth strategy for us.”

The latest stories