Nottingham, UK

 A software company that monitors website applications to ensure they work as efficiently as possible, thus minimising downtime and lost revenue has been recognised with an enterprise award just six months after beginning trading.

Aware Monitoring, based on the University of Nottingham Innovation Park, has scooped the New Enterprise Award at the Nottingham Evening Post Business Awards 2010.

Although relatively young in terms of trading, the research and development behind the software (two years) and experience of the directors, which includes senior roles at Capital One and ComputerLand, has led to sharp growth since it began trading in December 2009.

That growth has included contracts with Mfuse, the powerhouse behind names such as Ladbrokes and William Hill and project management giant Huddle and seen the business expand into a larger facility on the University of Nottingham Innovation Park. Aware Monitoring has now taken on new staff in order to expand their service delivery capability and accommodate their rapid growth, as Nick Barker, CEO of Aware Monitoring explains;  “My co-director Simon Oxley and I have over 25 years’ experience in using and selling the largest system monitoring applications from some of the world's biggest names and we spotted a niche focussing on web applications, rather than just websites. We did our research and after a huge amount of feedback we decided to produce an intuitive, dashboard-based product to meet what we saw as untapped demand for at-a-glance reports and live information.

“Essentially, we check web page content to ensure it is correct, that pages are not slowing down, and that [sign-ins] applications are working properly. We then automatically e-mail and SMS text message site owners to advise of slowdowns and failures. This enables rectification of defects which can lead to dissatisfied customers and loss of business. Prevention is always better than cure and spotting trends or issues as early as possible is the best way to ensure that websites or apps are running as efficiently as possible."

“This award is testimony to the hard work we have put in throughout the research and beta phases and alongside our growing portfolio of clients adds further credibility as we look to take the business forwards from here.”