RealTime DC’s expansion plans were given a boost this summer with the award of the West Sussex County Councils ‘Be the Business’ grant

Be the Business is a scheme offering support and grants to new businesses and existing businesses looking to grow. RealTime applied for this grant at the end of 2013 by submitting their detailed expansion plans and discovered that they had been successful in their application in May this year.

Conditions of the grant are that it is used to increase employment in West Sussex. RealTime has already started to contribute to this by employing a computer graduate to help increase sales of the Real-Link time and attendance solution. As well as providing more technical expertise, Martin Shelley, a graduate of the University of Portsmouth, will help expand how the solution is used, opening it up to other markets and potential customers.

Another part of RealTime’s business plan is to use some of the Be the Business Grant to update and improve IT systems. As part of this, RealTime has contracted local firm Regis IT to provide IT support and advice.

Even before the award of this grant, RealTime was set to have a record-breaking year achieving over £1 million turnover for the first time.

With the expansion now made possible with the Be the Business Grant, RealTime expects to be able to double this turnover and employ another four people within the next two years.