Connection Voucher Scheme News

Latest Connection Voucher Scheme News

Yorkshire accountancy firm set for growth with doubled broadband speeds

Leeds and York accountant Garbutt & Elliott has improved its services to clients and boosted productivity with a £3,000 government grant to help to help small businesses access high-speed internet services.

Garbutt & Elliott, which has a turnover of £5m and employs more than 100 staff across its two sites in Leeds and York, received the £3,000 funding from Superconnected Leeds Bradford towards the installation and connection costs of a new fibre optic line to its Park Place offices in Leeds.

The new line, installed this summer, has doubled broadband speeds from 10mbps to 20mbps, and has boosted the firm’s productivity and response times to clients, while enabling flexible working via faster and more reliable cloud-based services.

“The difference the upgrade to high-speed broadband has made to us as a business is phenomenal,” said Richard Green, partner at Garbutt & Elliott with responsibility for IT. “Everything is so much faster than on the old connection and now that we have shifted to working on the cloud, we have instant access to files and resources that could previously only be reliably accessed from the office, wherever we are working.”

He added: “Providing outstanding customer service is paramount to us and the high-speed connection has enabled us to raise our game even further in terms or our responsiveness to clients.

“As most of our client organisations are growing businesses like ourselves, we are also spreading the word among them so that those based in Leeds or Bradford can also take advantage of the connection voucher from the Government and experience all the business benefits of moving to superfast broadband.”

The voucher awarded to Garbutt & Elliott is one of over 450 received by firms in Leeds and Bradford so far under the scheme, which launched in February. So far over £900,000 has been paid out to cover the costs of hardware and internet connectivity installation to Leeds and Bradford-based businesses by the Government’s Superconnected Cities programme, which closes at the end of March 2015.

Phil Cole, head of business support at Superconnected Leeds Bradford, said: “It’s encouraging to see the difference that moving to high-speed internet can make to an organisation like Garbutt & Elliott. Businesses across the two cities are getting that vital leg up that is proving transformational and we look forward to seeing more organisations come forward to take advantage of the programme before it closes in March.”

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