Salford Based LIMA Explores New Markets To Underpin Growth

LIMA, a Salford-based IT services and solutions provider, has secured three new contract wins valuing over £2.5m and announced the successful completion of two further high profile projects for the public sector.

LIMA has signed a £1m deal with AJ Bell to help underpin its ambitious growth targets and plan to float on the London Stock Exchange. The online investment platform and stockbroker service has utilised LIMA’s extensive knowledge of enterprise-class infrastructure to gear its business for greater speed, increased capacity and reliability, all of which are crucial to the business’ continued success.

The IT provider has also signed a five-year managed service contract with Southway Housing Trust to enable the housing association to continue providing outstanding customer care to over 6,000 households across South Manchester. The deal follows LIMA’s completion of a six-month digital transformation project for the Trust as part of its relocation to new premises. Work included the provision of a refreshed datacentre infrastructure and improved disaster recovery capability.

Meanwhile, law firm, Brabners LLP, has made a significant investment of over £500,000 to expand its core infrastructure to ensure business continuity and enhance the speed and capacity of its systems and support the firm’s continued growth.

In addition, LIMA has completed a major cloud deployment for the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit to provide secure scalable platforms to deliver quality patient care. The secure cloud platform will allow doctors and dentists greater accessibility, provide time efficiency and ensure full compliance. Herefordshire Police have also embraced a highly innovative technical solution which will provide an annual saving of £300,000, with LIMA installing its patterned Detainee Monitoring Video Solution into all cells, to enable police to conduct the requisite face to face contact with detainees. The investment has created huge efficiency by negating the need for individual officers to spend valuable time travelling across a large geographical area.

Stephen Murden, Head of IT at Southway Housing Trust, commented: “LIMA’s in-depth digital transformation project for us formed part of our relocation to new premises at Southern Gate on Princess Road in Didsbury. This was a hugely significant, business critical piece of work for us as not only did it ensure operations continued seamlessly during the move but it has also enabled us to enhance the high levels of customer service we provide to thousands of residents across South Manchester. From the outset, we were wholly confident in LIMA’s ability and expertise and our satisfaction at the end result is clearly evidenced in us now signing a five-year managed service contract.”

LIMA is on track to achieve its year end target of £14.5m, which will help underpin the business’ growth plans to reach £20m plus turnover and employ over 100 people by 2020.

Lisa Thornton, CEO at LIMA said: “We have continued to invest in the business over the past eight months, most notably improving our operational software through the implementation of a new CRM system in order to support our future expansion. We have also enhanced customer service and technical skills to benefit the delivery of projects.

“Our offer goes far beyond a technical solution, we underpin an organisation’s growth and help overcome business challenges. This approach is evident through our latest project wins with AJ Bell, Brabners and MLCSU and I’m hugely excited that we are able to play a role in their continued success. We aim to provide an innovative technological approach but with exemplary service levels and support and we have proven that our IT capabilities are transferable to all types of organisations and industries.”

Operating nationwide, the number of LIMA employees has so far increased by five in 2018, taking the company’s headcount to 70. Current clients include The Big Lottery, Fresenius Kabi Limited, WH Ireland, M24Seven, Peel Holdings, WM Housing and JMW Solicitors to name but a few.