A Cumbrian IT support firm has landed a major £1 million contract to give the Scottish economy a digital sector boost.

Commendium, based in Penrith, delivered the BIG Cumbria programme in Cumbria and is now set to embark on a similar project north of the border.

The aim of both BIG Cumbria, and the new programme in Scotland, is to help businesses make the most of superfast broadband.

This is done by offering free support to businesses to revamp websites, introduce ecommerce, and implement new digital marketing strategies including social media.

The latest contract is more focused on specialist IT support, with funding coming from the Scottish Government.

Commendium says that this means it will be able to do much more, without the constriction of EU funding and its list of terms and conditions.

Businesses will be able to receive three days of free IT support.

The contract began at the start of this month and runs until December 31 2016.

The BIG Cumbria project saw local businesses successfully raising the County’s economy by £15.1m, with accessible business boosting ideas.

Commendium has worked on similar projects in Northern Ireland, Derbyshire and Merseyside.

It says that by refine business processes it has helped boost the UK economy by £81m.

Established in 2000, Commendium has grown steadily, delivering small and big businesses solutions throughout all sectors.

Richard Walters, CEO of Commendium said: “The success of our client’s business growth is down to growth is down to treating each company individually, understanding what issues they face and applying the right solutions to boost sales and save businesses both time and money.” 

On average, the majority of Cumbrian business owners saw a growth of £18,000 after seeking assistance from the team, with several increasing turnover by £250k.

John Nelmes, project manager, said: “Given that EU funding restrictions limited the type of help and time we could give our local businesses, we’re looking forward to our latest project, which sees our business support time increasing, and allows us to help the retail sector in Scotland too, which wasn’t the case in Cumbria”.

The firm has also branched out to China, and is set to reveal ‘exciting work’ there later this month.