What does your business do?
Netcraft provides countermeasures against some 75 forms of cybercrime. So far, we have disrupted over 5,000 Coronavirus related cybercrime attacks and we disrupt at least a quarter of all phishing attacks worldwide.
We provide services to internet infrastructure, financial services, large enterprises and governments in over fifty countries, including six of the world’s ten largest companies by market capitalisation and eleven of the top fifty banks. In the UK, our services are used by the British Government and seven of the eight constituents of the FTSE-350 Banking index.
Why did you apply for a Queen's Award?
I’d noticed some people and businesses I was familiar with – Dafydd Stuttard at Portswigger, Richard Godfrey at Rocketmakers, and St. Austell Ales, receive Queens Awards, and I’d been introduced to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh at an event a couple of years ago which piqued my interest to look at the qualifying criteria.
When I looked at the constraints set by the BEIS, they seemed a good fit for us. Netcraft is entirely funded by its customers through retained profit and our services developed through innovation and incremental refinement and the Queens Awards criteria play to our strengths.
What has winning the Award meant for you, your business and your staff?
You have to bear in mind that the Queen’s Awards are made on the Queen’s Birthday, with winners notified about five weeks in advance, which this year was at the peak of the fear, uncertainty and doubt in the middle of March. So, at the time the notification arrived, I was preoccupied by the developing Coronavirus situation and didn’t feel any triumph or elation, perhaps a little bit of relief.
But to take stock, there are about 4.5 million companies at Companies House, of which 220 received a Queen’s Award this year, and four which received two awards, so Netcraft is literally a one in a million business. That’s an extraordinary outlier.
One of the things it brings home is that your support network is bigger than you realise. The range of people who identify with Netcraft is much larger than we deal with on a day to day to basis; teachers and lecturers working at the schools and university departments who have educated us, suppliers who provide us with fundamental and integral services, former staff who worked here during the period of the award, people who were involved in the decision making process that brought our services into their company all feel vindicated that their time with us was well spent.
How does the Award benefit your business?
In the past few years governments have become important customers for us and a Queen’s Award helps us fit in with that community. And it gives all our customers, notwithstanding their own expert due diligence, powerful independent reassurance that they are doing the right thing in contracting with us.
Tips for Applicants
A Queen’s Award says something material about a company because the length of time and the range of metrics used is a much stronger assurance than most other business awards and league tables.
It’s something that everyone becoming tentatively connected to your business; prospects, regulators, applicants, whoever, can identify with and sets their expectations.
Have a good look at the qualifying criteria before you apply. If you find you don’t meet the criteria, note the one(s) which don’t match, and check again each year when you file accounts. If you meet the criteria, congratulations, you have a successful & interesting business. Apply!
To hear more, take a look at their YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/GwHpmif5dwg
Find out more about Netcraft here: https://www.netcraft.com/
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