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Our History
The history of The Pollen Shop can help explain who we are and how we want to evolve.
The Pollen Shop is a small, successful, socially responsible company. We are proud of what we have achieved. We have had many successes, been inspired by the people and organisations we have worked with and continue to offer high quality services in the most efficient way. Our past describes our present and informs our future.
The Pollen Shop began in January 2000. Initially it was just a name that a group of communication and IT professionals used when working together. We shared a belief that technology could improve the way people and organisations related to each other.
But we felt that the technology used wasn't fulfilling its potential. It was too expensive or complicated for many people to use. Groups such as older or disabled people were being left out or marginalised. Some organisations, especially those in the voluntary sector, couldn't afford to invest in the latest technology and were in danger of being left behind. Everyone involved in The Pollen Shop wanted to provide solutions to these problems. It was a tall order but we thought we could give it a go.
In our first year The Pollen Shop was responsible for creating national communication strategies, building websites and running campaigns. We also project managed the networking of offices, the installation of servers and building CRM (customer relationship management) structures.
The flexibility of The Pollen Shop meant we could call upon people with various skills. These included graphic designers, network engineers, database administrators, public relations experts and public
affairs specialists. We also developed relationships with the commercial and voluntary sectors.
The Pollen Shop umbrella grew. We were successful but there was a danger
we would lose focus. It was obvious that we couldn't do everything. To compensate
for this we decided that The Pollen Shop would concentrate on three areas;
- On managing or advising on inclusive communication projects
- Providing expert advice on inclusive communication strategies
- Creating accessible websites
We also formally became a limited company.
Many of our initial clients were in the voluntary sector but following this reorganisation we started to be increasingly contacted by businesses. We were also being asked for our ideas on how inclusive communication could fit into wider structures. Responding to this we expanded our consultancy services.
Which brings us to the future.
The next challenge for The Pollen Shop is to provide a range of solutions
to meet the needs of our clients in the coming years. To do this effectively
we will again have to redefine what we do.
We are continuing to develop our Web Accessibility Consultancy services.
This provides clients with the support they need to ensure that their new
media services comply with legislation, best practice and contractual requirements
and to ensure disabled people can use them. A particular focus for this
will be achieving W3C compliance and compatibility with the latest media
devices such as mobile phones, pda's, interactive digital television.
We are also expanding our Communication Management services. Since the start of The Pollen Shop we have project managed inclusive communication campaigns many of which have relied heavily on the internet. These have been successful winning awards, gaining national press coverage and achieving their goals. But we this isn't good enough, we want to do it better, be more inclusive, be faster be more fun.
