Ekkosense

From zero to eight employees within the last 12 months, EkkoSense has established itself as a vibrant new firm who provides services and software solutions to Blue Chip companies to help them save energy, reduce risks and increase capacity.

From zero to eight employees within the last 12 months, EkkoSense has established itself as a vibrant new firm who provides services and software solutions to Blue Chip companies to help them save energy, reduce risks and increase capacity.But the team has even bigger plans for 2015: doubling in revenues and people are among the company’s key objectives for next year. With the support of Nottingham’s universities as well as our growing clean tech sector, Managing Director Dean Boyle is confident that Nottingham provides EkkoSense with “the perfect base” from which to tackle these ambitious goals.

After establishing relationships with 10 new customers this year, EkkoSense, whose 2014 highlight has been successfully deploying remote monitoring for 1000+ wind turbines and solar PV panels, is not only keen to continue growing and developing its relationships with customers, but also to expand its team based at The University of Nottingham. The company, which is wholly dedicated to nurturing fresh talent within the city, is committed to employing 30 new members of staff over the next 2-3 years, and will be welcoming at least 1 new employee to the team by spring 2015. Although some of the team’s current employees are direct from industry, the vast majority have studied at either The University of Nottingham or Nottingham Trent University, as Dean has been impressed by the new eager workforce which is emerging from our leading universities.

For EkkoSense, based at the Jubilee Campus at The University of Nottingham, “the students of the university are key”, as they work closely with the firm on an array of placement schemes that involve postgraduate students as well as the university’s leading academics, providing EkkoSense with a “cost effective workforce without sacrificing quality”. The company has also been able to use its monitoring equipment on the campus to test its software systems, and has benefitted strongly from the “innovative and collaborative working environment with access to university resources” that their current workspace offers. Over the next 12 months students at Nottingham Trent University may also look forward the prospect of collaborating with this pioneering software developer as the company is currently working on creating a Knowledge Transfer Partnership opportunity, as well as a sandwich placement course, with the university, whilst continuing to offer graduate placements.

As well as working closely with both the Careers and Employability Service at The University of Nottingham, and the Unitemps facility to provide Nottingham’s undergraduates with development opportunities in the form of work placements and temporary contracts, EkkoSense is also keen to welcome more permanent members to its evolving team as customer acquisition grows. As a result of the growth of Nottingham’s clean tech sector, the company has been pleased to witness an emergence of software analytics and developers in the local talent pool. While Dean Boyle has found it “great to be working in a city associated with being green”, the real selling point has been the skilled employee base that we provide, as he has felt that “the quality of Nottingham’s workforce is excellent. Our people are at the heart of our business, particularly in this sector”.

EkkoSense has also recently benefited from the Nottingham Technology Grant Fund, which has given the firm “the impetus to recruit more people, the support to build relationships with key customers and an aid in maintaining these relationships.” The grant, together with other help from the council, has allowed the company to significantly increase its turnover, and has been “a real positive in the journey of EkkoSense so far”. The team at EkkoSense are enthusiastic about taking on the aspiring targets they have set themselves for the next twelve months, whilst continuing to work with our fresh talent pool and building upon “the support from the council that has proven to be essential” in their emergence onto the market. For new and evolving businesses, like EkkoSense, “Nottingham’s thriving clean tech environment is ideal, particularly when you throw two leading universities into the mix.”