An award-winning company which pioneered the introduction of computers into the Hull and East Yorkshire business community is now harnessing the region’s latest internet innovation to target customers nationwide.

Hull-based Golding Computer Services was launched nearly 32 years ago and equipped many local firms with their first IT systems.

The company remains a leader in the supply and maintenance of hardware and has also emerged as a top provider of high quality accounts training offered in partnership with Sage and the International Association of Book-keepers (IAB).

Those services, which have previously focused on the Yorkshire and Humber region, are now being rolled out across the country, with Managing Director Vic Golding crediting KC Lightstream, KC’s superfast fibre broadband service, for presenting the opportunity to expand.

Vic said: “KC Lightstream has helped us enhance key areas of our business. We have improved our ability to offer remote support to our IT clients, offering better quality equipment in the process, and we are able to reach more customers, further afield, with our training services.”

Goldings, based in George Street, Hull has won a string of awards during the two years in which it has been associated with the IAB.

In 2012 Goldings was named as the IAB’s best centre in the UK for delivering the Level 2 Certificate in Computerised Accounting for Business and during 2013 it was named as the UK’s top centre for all three levels.

Now, Goldings has won IAB Silver status for 2013–2014 and has launched new courses, accredited by Sage and the IAB and covering payroll and accounts including auto enrolment pension legislation.

Key to the company’s success is a formula which makes the training affordable and flexible. Goldings’ expertise in distance-learning appeals to employers and their staff because it minimises disruption of the working day, and it is this element which has become even more effective with KC Lightstream.

KC Lightstream is available to more than 25,000 properties in locations including Kingswood, Greatfield estate and Beverley, as well as many local business parks and industrial estates.

More than 6,000 homes and businesses have signed up to the service, which delivers download speeds that include 100Mbps (megabits per second) and the UK’s fastest fibre service at 350Mbps.

Vic said: “There is no question about the quality of the training and the professionalism of our approach, because we are winning awards alongside colleges who have been involved with the IAB for 20 years.

“What we now have in addition to that is the ability to promote our services and deliver the training to more people by making full use of the increased connectivity and faster broadband speeds provided by KC Lightstream.

“The training gives people the experience of Sage that businesses value so highly, backed by IAB certification, and the distance-learning element, with full tutor support by phone and online, enables individuals to undergo training when it is convenient for them and their employer rather than to fit in with a college timetable.

“We know from our own experience that as we emerge from recession businesses are increasing their investment in technology. We have done the same with KC Lightstream and are developing a brand new business opportunity as a result.”

Picture:Vic Golding, Managing Director of Goldings Computer Services with the latest laptop used to deliver distance learning courses and one of the Amstrad computers supplied by the company to many local businesses in the 1980s.