CASE STUDY: 6point6 - Greater Manchester is the right place for us

The challenge

Having experienced a period of rapid growth, the cyber security and digital transformation specialist 6point6 (external website) was seeking to expand its UK operations in one of the nation’s leading digital cities. With its workforce of cyber security, architecture, AI and data experts more than doubling, 6point6’s challenge was to find the right location to lay a strong foundation for greater growth - in a region with ambitions that matched its own.

The solution

As one of Europe’s fastest growing centres of digital excellence, Greater Manchester provided the ideal location for 6point6’s expanding operations. Home to a vibrant tech and cyber ecosystem comprising many other high-growth businesses, 6point6 was drawn to Greater Manchester as the city-region where global enterprises rub shoulders with tech start-ups, many of which have spun out of the North West’s world-leading universities and academic centres of excellence.

A base in Greater Manchester provided 6point6 with proximity to many clients and partners located in the region, with the emergence of a North West Cyber Corridor seeing the area become a destination of choice for the UK’s cyber security community. The draw of this world-class cyber cluster was manifold and would position 6point6 at the vanguard of technological innovation and research whilst also crucially providing access to top-tier tech talent emerging from the region’s renowned universities.

The outcomes

Since joining Greater Manchester’s digital and cyber community in June 2022, 6point6 has found that Greater Manchester’s internationally-recognised ecosystem of tech excellence and innovation has created the right opportunities to accelerate growth. With the support of MIDAS, 6point6 found a temporary home in HOST Salford before becoming one of the first residents to move into DiSH (the Manchester Digital Security Hub) headquartered in Heron House. In a few short months, the local team has grown with new colleagues appointed within cyber security, data, and solution architecture roles.

The opportunity to contribute to the success of the city-region has also underpinned 6point6’s expansion strategy. Having found a home within Greater Manchester, 6point6 was recently announced as sponsor of Manchester Tech Festival’s (external website) Women in Tech Track which highlights the community’s broad spectrum of diverse talent and innovative tech businesses. 6point6 also supported CyberFirst Empower North West at HOST Salford as well as the North West Cyber Resilience Centre ‘Life After University’ event, bringing together young people across the region to showcase the possibilities unlocked by careers in tech and cyber.

Janet Coulthurst, Chief of Staff at 6point6, said: “Since joining the Greater Manchester ecosystem, we’ve been absolutely blown away. The growth ambition of everyone here is massive, but the city-region has preserved the essence of its original vision - community comes first. Greater Manchester brings together the very best minds with a shared purpose of making the North West a world-class destination for digital and cyber. Thanks to this, in a matter of months we’ve been able to grow a strong and supportive network, and we’re ready and excited to play our part in Greater Manchester’s brilliant story.”

Positioned at the very forefront of technology, Greater Manchester has provided 6point6 with the right environment to unlock greater innovation. 6point6’s growth ambitions go hand-in-hand with its commitment to the city-region and its plans to collaborate with other world-class businesses and academic institutions to support in building a lasting legacy of opportunity within Greater Manchester.

Watch Janet talk about Greater Manchester in the video below.

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About 6point6

6point6 enables the right change through the positive impact of technology. We do this by making our clients’ brilliant ideas happen, helping them to realise the value of their business strategies and enabling them to engage in a more meaningful way with their stakeholders.

Leading with strategy, design and architecture, we harness our expertise in cloud, data and cyber technologies, to engineer and deliver solutions, which achieve complex transformations for public and private sector organisations. For more information, visit 6point6 website (external website)