Cardiff company secures more than £2 million worth of contracts with Business Wales support.
Gee Communications are a leading supplier and installer for “on and off” the rail communications in Wales and the UK. Managing Director Terry Gee attended a Meet the Buyer event for Transport for Wales, organised by the Welsh Government’s Business Wales service, and has since engaged with business advisers to achieve:
- 10 new jobs
- half a million increase in turnover on last year’s figures
- over £2m worth of new contracts secured
Introduction to business
Operating across Wales and the UK, Cardiff-based Gee Communications Ltd is a one-stop shop for telecommunication solutions, offering a wide range of services, from design and installation to maintenance and technical support. The successful completion of several ongoing projects has seen the company’s client base expand significantly since their inception. Gee Communications deliver both "On Rail" and "Off Rail" telecoms work and are an accredited NSI installer.
What objectives did you set out to achieve to ensure your business’ growth?
Initially, Chris Gee, our Operations Director, and I had a joint review of our goals. When we were incorporated in 2009, the initial challenge was to solely target rail telecoms as core to Gee Communications’ future.
Since our incorporation 10 years ago, we have evolved into something stronger than a rail telecoms company providing a range of disciplines “on and off” rail to our portfolio, including electrical installation, car park and platform lighting, CCTV, encrypted wireless connectivity and fire and security, amongst others.
We then reviewed areas of the business that required improving and used a variety of tools to assess it, e.g. SWOT analysis, benchmarking, market research and competitor analysis, which has helped us stay ahead of the competition and gain accreditations and certifications such as NICEIC and NSI.
How has Business Wales helped you in securing more work?
Our relationship with Business Wales is in its early stages but we have already been very fortunate to have their support with regards to:
- Skills and Training – we have already hired three new apprentices, with a view to increase this over the coming years.
- Exhibitions and Events – these are valuable for businesses because they allow face-to-face communication and offer opportunities for networking.
- PR – we were nominated to be interviewed by BBC Wales due to our support of the Transport for Wales project, as part of their first-year anniversary celebrations as a Welsh train operating company. Business Wales were helpful in attracting the attention of the BBC editors and broadcasters.
Outcomes
Since engaging with Business Wales, Gee Communications have been able to secure several high-profile contracts, including:
- Transport for Wales (Maintenance and Installation)
- Alun Griffiths (Installation)
- AMCO (Installation)
- Fire & Security (Installation)
Over the last 12 months, the business achieved a £500,000 increase in turnover on last year’s figures and has hired 10 new employees, including fire and security staff, apprentices, admin and telecom assistants, as well as project managers, taking the total up to 25.
Future plans and ambitions
One of the major plans of Gee Communications is to continue to have a close relationship with Transport for Wales. We are the sole maintainer of their retail comms (CCTV, Customer Information Systems, Public Address, TVMs, etc.) for all their railway stations throughout Wales and England. We see our company as one that can assist TfW on their path to grow the transport network within Wales.
Our business has and always will be a strong supporter of keeping ahead of technology. This is done in two ways: growing the skills base in-house and continually looking to employ people who can add value to our future. For example, we have several Welsh speakers and are keen to further promote the Welsh language.
We are also on target to achieve ISO 9001 accreditation by the end of 2019.
We have diversified from the norm (rail) with the introduction of our Fire & Security division, allowing us to be involved with organisations such as the HMRC.
Something that we are currently involved with is the purchase of hybrid/electric vehicles with plans to convert our whole fleet by 2023.
If you want to read more success stories of how Business Wales has helped other people like you to start or grow their businesses, visit https://businesswales.gov.wales/case-studies or follow @_businesswales / @_busnescymru on Twitter.