Scothosts Win Second W@W Title

By Mike McPartlin (Scottish Enterprise Fife)

Kirkcaldy based web design company Scothosts completed the double this week, after they received their second Winners at the Web (W@W) award of the year.

The company’s Managing Director Mike Clarke and Marketing Director Eddie Gibbs were presented with a trophy and a £1,000 prize cheque by Peter Walter, Scottish Enterprise Fife (SE Fife)’s e-business advisor, after they scooped the Fife Regional W@W Award for Best Use of e-Commerce. In September the company was presented with a trophy and £2000 cheque at the national W@W awards, taking the Best Use of Broadband plaudit.

The company received this award after they dispensed with the need for an office, and resorted to a virtual office for their eight employees, which slashed unnecessary overheads and increased productivity at the firm. They were able to achieve this with the support of SE Fife, who let the company use their state-of-the-art e-business centre for seminars and presentations to clients.

The Regional Award presented this week on behalf of SE Fife marks the second successive year that Scothosts have won this award. This latest award specifically recognises the success of one of the company’s website development projects, called Bookwolf.

Bookwolf is an online shop which offers slimmed down study versions of classic texts which can be read in an evening, such as the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer, as well as 20th century classics such as The Great Gatsby and 1984. The web content was developed by Scothosts, and they commissioned local writers to adapt the texts.

The site is aimed at high school pupils who need to study for exams or essays, and it is unique in that if offers cut price texts which are instantly downloadable. In the eight months since Scothosts started the site, the number of unique visitors now sits at around 5000 per day with 90 per cent of its traffic coming from the US.

The company dreamt up the concept in collaboration with a US associate who passed by a bookstore which was overrun by students at exam time, clamoring to buy study texts. When he spoke to Scothosts, they decided that an on-line solution would be far more effective way of meeting this demand.

The company has been supported extensively by SE Fife, and Business Gateway, in the three years since they set up. They currently manage a variety of other company web sites, such as AMC Electronics, GT Coventry Tobacconists and Wemyss Ware on behalf of Griselda Hill Pottery.

Managing Director Mike Clarke commented: “We are delighted to again be recognised for our innovative and often daring approach, and I would like to congratulate all of our staff for their hard work. I would also like to thank SE Fife for all the support they have given us over the years and hope this relationship will continue, as they have always been keen to embrace our ideas and approaches.

“I would also like to commend SE Fife’s e-Business team for the great strides they have made in raising the profile of broadband locally and emphasising the tangible benefits it can bring to businesses. The e-Business Centre in particular is a superb facility, which is the only one of its kind in the UK.”

“This commitment to supporting the needs of fledging e-Business companies like ourselves has contributed in no small measure to our ongoing success.”

SE Fife e-Business Adviser Peter Walter said: “Scothosts continue to impress me with their entrepreneurial, forward thinking approach, so I’m not surprised they are successful. They are a company with a clear vision and constantly looking to push the envelope of what can be achieved. It gives me great pleasure to present them with this award.”