The innov8 story | Innov8

The Beginning

On the 23rd of January 1997, the founding directors registered Innov8 Technology Ltd with Companies House and our business was born.

Initially, we produced niche vertical market applications to provide touchscreen technology for EPOS solutions in the hospitality industry. Businesses using Innov8 solutions at the time included Pret A Manger & Frankie and Benny's.

Sprouting with Sage

After some initial success providing niche products, we aligned ourselves to mainstream software provider Sage in 2000.

On becoming an accredited Sage Business Partner, we could now provide Sage L50 and Sage L100 solutions and the business began to see significant growth.

Mobility

Building on the niche products being produced and our Sage partnership, Innov8 developed mobility applications and partnered with handheld technology providers Intermec in 2001.

We continue to provide handheld solutions to the wholesale and distribution industry today.

Early Acquisitions

Having established ourselves as a Sage Business Partner, the directors sought to acquire similar businesses to accelerate the growth of the business.

Innov8 successfully acquired L100 and hardware provider Bridge Computers in 2001 and L100 provider Phoenix Business Solutions in 2002.

In 2002 we introduced infrastructure services, following a growing need from customers. In 2002 Innov8 partnered with Microsoft, HP and desktop virtualisation specialists Citrix.

New Surroundings

Having spent 6 years at our office at Depleach Hall, in 2003 Innov8’s continued growth demanded a change of premises.

5 Riverview on The Embankment Business Park was chosen and is still our home today.

Innovating

In 2004 we were one of the first adopters of server virtualisation with VMware.

The idea of VMware technology at the time was extremely innovative and has since become an industry standard, being at the forefront of new technology is something we pride ourselves on.

Cornwall R&D

In 2005 Innov8 recruited a specialist mobile application team.

The team based in Cornwall already had vast experience in developing mobility software and circumstances allowed us to enlist the experience of our now established research and development team.

Expand and Grow

Between 2006 and 2009, we began to grow via increased new business and further acquisitions.

Innov8 acquired Reflex Computers (L100), Tobar Software in Ireland (L100 & Trakker), ASAP (L50), Alpha Business Solutions (L50) and OMS (Mobility/Hand-held technology).

Enhancing Infrastructure

With IT infrastructure environments continuing to grow, we partnered with NetApp in 2011 embracing the powerful NetApp storage technology enabling customers to effectively manage their data growth.

Innov8 were nominated for NetApp New Partner of the Year in 2012.

Sage X3

With our desire to continue growing, in the late summer of 2013 we announced our partnership with Sage X3.

Positioning Innov8 as one of a handful of Business Partners able to offer a wide range of Sage products from Sage One (now Sage Accounting) through to Sage X3, including Payroll and HR.

Converged Infrastructure

As IT environments continued to change. We reviewed the marketplace to expand our offering and took on Dell for their converged offerings in 2015.

Adding this to our portfolio, we can deliver infrastructure solutions that scale and grow as customer’s businesses grow.

Acquisition of Viking Management

The innov8 Technology Group is formed by the bringing together of Innov8 Technology and Viking Management Systems in 2017.

Platinum Sage Developer

In 2018 – Innov8 became a Platinum Sage Development Partner. And over the next 2 years won a number of awards for the vertical products: innware & innvan that undertook product refreshes.

Award winning

At the 2020 Sage Partner Awards, innov8 were nominated in 2 categories: Sage 200cloud Partner of the Year & Sage Customer Success Partner of the Year, securing the accolade of Customer Success Partner of the Year.

The Customer Success award being a new prize, replacing Overall Partner of the Year.

2021

January 2021 – Innov8 onboards with Sage Intacct - the best-in-class; cloud-native financial management solution.

With Sage Intacct now alongside our established partner relationships, we continue to provide hardware and software solutions to solve business problems.

With our experience and knowledge of the application layer and specifically in relation to mobility/remote working, we understand the impact on the underlying infrastructure and the importance in delivering a quality end-user experience.

2022-2023

November 2022 – Innov8 welcomes fellow Sage Business Partner - Wharncliffe Business Systems to the Innov8 Group.

Established in 1981, Wharncliffe are one of the oldest and most experienced Sage Business Partners. Together with Innov8 the acquisition expands the Sage market presence of both businesses, as well as allows greater scale and improvements to our offerings and services.

Spring 2023 – Watch this space...

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Innov8 is a leading provider of software and IT infrastructure for businesses throughout the UK.

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