2020 sees Blue Rock Systems celebrate 15 years in business. Sales Director Glen Jewell talks about the company’s development and growth against a backdrop of change in the merchant sector.
For every business, a new milestone is a measure of the hard work and passion of a dedicated team. The nature of our industry means we don’t have the luxury of resting on our laurels at any moment and each team member is a vital part of our operation; and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We work with complicated businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our challenge is to offer expertise, assistance and practical knowledge to our diverse range of customers. We understand that no two businesses operate in quite the same way so, in order to see our customers flourish, it takes that little bit extra to ensure success, growth and profitability.
In the beginning
Southampton has been HQ for Blue Rock Systems since the very beginning, with a move across the River Itchen to the beautiful Shamrock Quay Marina, where we have stayed as we’ve worked to expand the business.
2005 saw Blue Rock acquire CMS and work towards increasing projects until, in 2007, we celebrated our 100th customer. Two years later we acquired Sense Computers in Nottingham and comfortably expanded Blue Rock to include a larger team and a second office in the Midlands.
2013 saw us become an NMBS approved supplier, before being chosen to deliver our Buying Group solution to the NMBS itself. In 2014 we acquired two smaller businesses that brought new team members and access to a secure server farm in Kent, which enabled us to offer cloud hosting services for software and existing clients.
2015 was our 10th year in business, with 50 members of staff and over 350 customers. Since then the company has worked tirelessly to strengthen the aspects of our business that have made it so successful — working with our customers to provide them with modern solutions that will allow them to improve efficiency, analyse data more effectively and ultimately, achieve their business goals.
An independent working with independents
Blue Rock Systems has always been an independent business dedicated to working with independents. This reputation has accompanied us while we have become firmly rooted in assisting SME businesses; all the while building our credibility, references and resource. Our growth has seen the team are taking on bigger projects while maintaining a personal service and meticulous attention to detail.
Blue Rock has always operated in vertical markets with our primary focus in distribution and supplies, and the buying groups of these organisations. Building Supplies would be our core, where our references have enabled us to grow laterally throughout the merchants and up the supply chain to their suppliers and manufacturers. In a similar mode, we also have a growing number of cleaning supply organisations, plus food, medical and several others.
We stay active in our community, too. For the last few years Blue Rock Systems has taken up sponsorships of the Website and Digital Initiative of the Year category at the Builders Merchants Awards for Excellence; we have significant presence at other exhibitions around the UK and have sponsored customer events over the years. The Blue Rock brand is stronger than ever, and we make it our mission to remain as connected as possible to our customers and their industries.
Amongst our customers we have facilitated numerous upgrades to the latest version of their chosen software packages. Benefits such as streamlining work processes, providing detailed analysis and improving communication between departments allows businesses to concentrate on their core activities and ultimately sees them generating profit. Our customers’ success is central to our success, and we’re thankful for the trust they have put in us over the years.
The future is now
Hosting has become as big a part of our business as we anticipated when we purchased space in The Bunker back in 2014. We now estimate that 9 out of 10 clients prefer to go for our privately hosted cloud solution, compared with just 1 out of 10 in the first year. This setup offers peace of mind for our clients in a time where data location and security are critically important (with the bonus of a team of professionals monitoring the hardware and administering updates).
The future for Blue Rock Systems is looking very bright. Our newest team members bring extensive skillsets in programming, project management and hosting. We have expanded our key marketplaces to include Buying Groups and continue to bring new and exciting projects to our skilled consultancy, development and support teams.
For more information about the services offered to merchants by Blue Rock Systems, including customer testimonials and video demos, go to: https://bluerocksystems.co.uk/builders-merchant-software/
