This year marks the 30th anniversary of Bowe Digital in business and we would like to share with you how it all began.
Company History
Karen & Richard Bowe have been working within the IT industry since the early 1970’s. In 1992, they decided to form their own company to resell Sage products in the accounts and manufacturing industries. Over time, this led to adding additional manufacturing products to the existing portfolio, including Swan Manufacturing. In turn, this led to working with larger SME’s and increasing the target market.
Richard Bowe specialised in software development which set Bowe apart from many other Sage Business partners, who were only able to re-sell the products. This means that Bowe were able to write “add-ons” to existing Sage programs to assist with specific business issues. This gave Bowe a status of Premier Business Partner, which meant giving Bowe a better margin on sales and more support from Sage.
Over the next 5 years the company grew which enabled Bowe to start developing products in its own right, with a bespoke solution for the food industry (Bakery and Production Software – BaPS). This came about at a customer request to write software to fit their criteria as a Wholesale Bakery as there were no products available to them at the time in the current marketplace.
In addition to software development, Bowe supplied and supported the hardware platform, which included servers, desktops PC’s and related peripherals. This progressed onto moving into the networking and IT communications arena.
Due to company growth Bowe decided to move to larger premises in Northumberland. The new location was a converted farmhouse in beautiful surroundings in Bywell, Stocksfield just off the A69 only a short distance to the A1.
In March 2011, a decision was made to move back into Newcastle due to the global recession and Richard’s long-term illness. Other factors included commute time and transport links.
Due to improvements within the IT industry, it was decided that Bowe would re-write the BaPS system on a Microsoft SQL database to ensure that the system remained robust and kept up to date with links to Sage accounts.
From June 2011, Richard was unable to continue to work for the business due to ill health; Karen took over as Managing Director ensuring continuity for existing customers and staff members.
The business focused collectively on the manufacturing arena, due to historical company expertise and growth within the food and manufacturing industry.
To continue with the company development, a new website, branding and marketing drive was created.
With the Pandemic in 2020, Bowe Digital worked with their clients to support and advise on the challenges that working remotely presents. This allowed businesses to stay operational and meet the demands within their own industries.
In 2022, Bowe moved into new larger premises which boasts new modern surroundings on the popular Silverlink Business Park, offering private parking, access to public transport routes and close to the A19. The company is going from strength to strength and plans to expand into new industries as technology is developing and becoming more essential to businesses.