Halesowen-based Dot Net IT aiming to double turnover

Over the last four years the company, at St Kenelm's Court, Steelpark Road, has grown to employ 30 and is set to achieve £2.5 million turnover in the current 2012-2013 financial year.

Enterprise resource planning software specialists Dot Net has just embarked on building up sales of the Epicor EPR software system it has expertise in after signing a "platinum" partnership deal with California-based Epicor Software Corporation.

Dot Net was started in 2002 by partners Gary Parfrey from Rowley Regis and Stephen Edginton from Halesowen.

They met when Mr Edginton, then 18, joined the IT department of the group of companies Mr Parfrey, then 33, was working in operational management for and gaining considerable experience in the IT infrastructure needs of a number of businesses.

Mr Parfrey and Mr Edginton eventually decided to combine their skills and start a consultancy business on a 50-50 basis and over the first four years built up the business without any offices.

"Three years ago it got to the point where we were dealing with so many companies and there were then only three of us that we needed to make a push to get premises to enable us to grow and expand," explained Mr Parfrey.

At first they took only the upstairs of their current base but have since grown to take over the ground floor as well.

The consultancy specialises in helping companies find the best system for their needs and get the best out of their investment.

"When people are looking at business systems it can be a scary process. We do it in a way that concentrates on enhancing a business," said Mr Parfrey.

Dot Net has continued to add customers building up to its current customer base of 130 companies of all sizes including Formula One motor racing team Red Bull Racing and London Taxi maker Manganese Bronze.

Nearly half of turnover now comes from work for overseas clients including businesses in the United States, Australia and Africa.

Mr Parfrey said that until this year growth had exclusively come from word of mouth recommendations from customers satisfied with Dot Net's expertise and high standards of customer care.

New head of sales Andy Tomlinson has now come on board to build up sales of EPS software particularly to businesses in the aerospace, gas and oil and manufacturing sectors and also in the Midlands generally to assist small and medium sized enterprises

"We have always been a hidden gem. Our target now is to double turnover by the end of 2014," said Mr Parfrey.

Mr Palfrey added:?"We don't have debt as a company and when we wanted to move into software sales we were able to take on 10 new employees and have them in training for a year."

Dot Net also plans to take on a further graduate and an apprentice this year to train as developers and is in the process of re-launching its website to support the new growth target.