Spotlight - Eastpoint Software
Standing l-r: Oliver Gilmour, John Puddifoot, Michael MacCuaig, Dan Guest. Seated l-r: Kelly Collins, Miray Has, Theodora Adjepong, Amy Gray, Mark Alexander
Amy Gray
Co-founder of Eastpoint Software
Tell us about your company
We’re a tech consultancy celebrating our tenth anniversary and we create custom location-based applications.
There are 13 of us and as we develop everything in house, we have a breadth of experience with multi-skilled developers, designers, engineers - and I’m in there somewhere too as a co-founder.
Going back to our early days working from a converted garage, we are very much a company built on technical expertise (I am not representative of said expertise), and as a result we often work with businesses doing something novel, usually projects that explore geolocation opportunities across various industries, including R&D projects.
In the last year we have moved from being a software consultancy for web, mobile and IoT products, to a location, navigation and mobility specialist, which has always accounted for a good chunk of our work anyway.
How do you help transform the businesses you work with?
We work collaboratively with clients. Our mentality is that you are the expert in your domain, and us in ours, and we’ll get the best outcome together.
At the outset, we’re looking at current and future requirements, with scalability and maintainability at the forefront. Technology is always evolving, and yes it needs to look great and be easy to use, but also we need to ensure consistent deployment of updates.
It’s not a matter of ‘build this’ but understanding and optimising the benefits of the software for users. We build multi-tenanted SaaS applications, so our clients also have the option of rolling out their solution industry-wide.
Many of our clients are digital first, but we also work with people passionate about using digital to transform and evolve long-standing companies.
One of our clients is Imray, the world-renowned marine chart publisher based in St Ives. They have Horatio Nelson’s chair in their office - really. They are gradually converting all of their amazing, authoritative, real-life books into a digital mega-library and social platform for sailors on the go.
It’s easy to lose sight of how powerful technology is and this new platform provides an incredible amount of knowledge and data in a simple map-based UI.
Their loyal customers were so into it that the development was crowd-funded. It’s a real achievement to get people to part with cash in advance for a new digital product and we’ve had the pleasure of working with Imray on multiple transformation projects.
What is the most remarkable project Eastpoint Software has been involved in?
A project that we’re proud of – and that typically sparks people’s imagination – is something called GLOSA, which is traffic light tech that advises motorists on safe, optimum speeds to avoid stop starts at red lights, reduce journey times, and ultimately improve air quality.
We’re on our fifth GLOSA-based software project and were featured on the BBC. As the app was built to be part of critical infrastructure, no blue screen of death, phew.
The first project was led by West Midlands Combined Authority and currently we are working with Amey Consulting, among other partners and specialists. GLOSA projects are very collaborative and we worked on the technical solution for the user interface, including the advisory algorithm and user experience, and infrastructure and tools for scalability and data analysis.
Why is it important for Eastpoint to be based at the Cambridge Science Park?
Having been part of the Cambridge tech scene for a decade, we definitely value the collaboration, networking and support that you get being part of a community. We are a small company and the science park connection helps us, from an icebreaker at networking events to the special interest groups.
At the Innovation Centre in particular, we’ve met so many great people and benefited from their expertise, such as our neighbours Legalesign, who we now use for e signatures within our software.
We’ve actually moved lots over the years – fun – and when we moved to the Innovation Centre a few years back, a colleague of mine was keen to stay on the science park because it made him look good when he told people, and really what is more important than posturing?
Who is your science/tech hero and why?
I’m not so much with the science (I have a Creative Writing degree), I managed to get a C for my GCSE coursework on woodlice even though I neither handed it in, nor wrote it in the first place. I can only assume the teacher thought he’d lost it, and played the odds.
My tech hero is my old neighbour Jack Clements, who was at the D-Day landings, and also on Skype way before it was mainstream. He played piano. On an app. And bear in mind, this was when people were still using flip phones.
He defied ageist stereotypes and was willing to embrace everything technology had to offer without cynicism. He also kept a mannequin head in the porch. Got me every time.