Impact Print & Design, Rotherwas Industrial Estate, Hereford

Impact Print & Design Ltd is a commercial graphic design and printing business based on the Rotherwas Industrial Estate in Hereford. The company has invested heavily in the latest software and technologies.

Benefiting from a semi-rural location with none of the major disadvantages

IPD’s Managing Director, Martin Parry, believes strongly that the arrival of fibre broadband has had an enormous and beneficial impact on the business. It has enabled the company to continue to benefit from being in a semi-rural location with none of the major disadvantages of slow connections. Martin says “Before fibre broadband, a client would ring to ask if we had received a file yet and we would inevitably have to say sorry, it’s still downloading. It made us feel like we were in the back of beyond, the poor country relations. Now we are on the same playing field as any company whether it is in London, Birmingham or any other major city.”

Compete nationally

Impact Print & Design has been trading for 35 years and during that time has seen a huge transformation in its business and that of other companies on the industrial estate. When IPD originally located to Rotherwas, it benefited from the lower running costs and the availability of a skilled local workforce. It was able to compete with businesses in London and elsewhere in the UK with the use of the old broadband. However, this became increasingly harder as the capacity stayed the same and usage on the estate increased, resulting in slower download times.

The new fibre broadband now enables IPD to compete nationally. It no longer needs to use file transfer sites and its customers can send large files that arrive almost instantaneously. The company’s web conferencing services now run smoothly and an enormous amount of time and frustration is saved for both IPD and its customers.

Looking to the future with improved confidence

Fibre broadband has enabled Impact Print & Design to look to the future with improved confidence. Martin believes a lot of companies will or should now consider moving their businesses to the area, with all the advantages and no downsides!