CHRIS WRIGHT | CLIENT SUCCESS SPECIALIST
(Bluefruit Software)
Good things may come to those who wait, but the biggest rewards come to the ones who take action. Whether it’s navigating Cornwall’s rugged trails, or steering his clients’ next big project, Chris knows that success can come by taking a route less travelled. Pushing boundaries, setting new standards, always sprinting ahead, triumph isn’t about waiting for opportunities - it’s about creating them.
Find out from Chris how he got his start in tech in Cornwall.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Chris, I work at Bluefruit Software and I am a Client Success Specialist, which means I help onboard new clients, and find new clients as well. And I also sit on the Employee Ownership Trust Board.
Tell us a bit about your role.
I work in the sales and marketing team at Bluefruit, primarily in the sales realm, although my day to day flexes between sales and marketing. Essentially my job at Bluefruit is to find our clients and help them find the right teams for their software projects.
Bluefruit is an embedded software company and we provide outsourced software services to companies around the globe. Embedded software is a little bit different to what you might think of when you think of software, we don't really do apps or websites. We primarily focus on electronic equipment. So all electronics have software inside of them and we help put high quality software into products across the world, that could look anything like an aircraft one day, a helicopter one day, another day it could be a surgical robot - and more and more we're putting AI into small projects.
How does your role contribute to the tech sector?
My role contributes to the tech sector because I help bring new clients into Bluefruit, and therefore Cornwall, and we have clients across the world. Mostly our clients are in Europe and the United States which brings investment from those parts of the globe into Cornwall.
Tell us a bit about the tech landscape in Cornwall.
There's a lot more to tech than just being a coder, personally I work in the sales and marketing team but all of these businesses are businesses at the end of the day, and they all need the functions of a normal business. There's a lot of opportunity in Cornwall to join the tech cluster at different levels, be that HR, sales and marketing, finance, these businesses all need those functions to operate so there's a lot of opportunity in Cornwall for people that want to be involved in technology but aren't a coder.
How did you get into tech?
I got into the tech sector like possibly a lot of people. I was working a job, I wasn't happy. It was a sales and marketing job and one day I thought to myself ‘where do I want to work?’, ‘what do I want to do?’. I noticed a lot of tech businesses coming to fruition in Cornwall and they all look like really great places to work, so I put myself out there. I approached a few tech companies, applied for a few jobs and then one day I was successful at Bluefruit and got into the tech cluster that way.
How big is tech in Cornwall?
Tech in Cornwall is growing at a rapid rate. I started five years ago and now there's about 1,500 tech businesses in Cornwall and Cornwall's now one of the fastest growing sectors in the South West.
Why don’t more people know about Cornwall’s tech sector?
More and more people are learning about the tech sector in Cornwall. Cornwall's got a lot of nostalgia to it, mining heritage, fishing, tourism, but the tech sector in Cornwall is growing and growing. We've got satellites being launched, we've got marine technology businesses and we've got a lot of digital technology in Cornwall.
Tell us about the tech community in Cornwall.
There's a real tech community in Cornwall, we've got a lot of businesses involved in that tech community and most of it's run by Tech Cornwall which is a really great organisation that does lots of different events for getting people into coding - there are also events like Agile on the Beach for experienced coders and people that work in technology industries.
What do you love about Cornwall?
Cornwall's an amazing place to live and work, there's the obvious, there's the beaches, there's the outdoors, but one of the amazing things about Cornwall is the sense of community. Everybody in Cornwall wants each other to do well, they want Cornish businesses to do well and at Bluefruit we would always look to outsource for another Cornish business that can help us with what we want to achieve. I definitely think that the great sense of community is probably one of the best things about living here and not something I've experienced anywhere else.
Outside of work I love to do lots of different sports and outdoor activities. One of my main ways of getting out is getting out on the mountain bike and exploring the rural parts of Cornwall, getting away from the crowds in the summer and it's a really great way to keep fitness up.
What do you love about your job?
Well I think I probably have one of the best jobs at Bluefruit, if not one of the best jobs in Cornwall. I get to see all of these amazing new technologies from around the world coming to fruition, things like surgical robots or helicopters or things that are going into planes, there are a lot of things I couldn't even tell you about.
Why stay in Cornwall to pursue a tech career?
I would definitely recommend staying in Cornwall to pursue a tech career. The industry is growing and growing, more start-up businesses are starting in Cornwall, but also more large companies are starting in Cornwall. It's got some of the best working practices and some of the best company policies, it's just a great sector to work in and in the future you have options to work remotely. There's a lot of big technology businesses in Cornwall that people don't really know about, so I would highly recommend going into the tech sector.
Digital Futures is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Cornwall Council has been chosen by Government as a Lead Authority for the fund and is responsible for monitoring the progress of projects funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus.
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