A SWINDON-BASED web development company created at the start of the computing boom is celebrating 35 years in business.

Martin Jarvis set up DMJ Computer Services in 1985 to offer programming and software development services.

The company has weathered many storms including recessions in the 80s, 90s, 2008 and now the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic to become a strong entity with a loyal client base across the UK and more than eight other countries.

Mr Jarvis grew up in Swindon and was interested in computing from his teenage years. He began his career in 1978 as a computer programmer, working first with a factoring company, then moving to Burmah Castrol and then on to Intel.

At the age of 25, with a young family, he decided to leave corporate life and set up his own company.

He said: “It was a risk but when you’re in your twenties it doesn’t seem like a risk. I think it is probably a lot braver to do this when you’re in your fifties.

“I wanted to get a better deal for my family and the gamble paid off.

“We then recognised back in the early noughties that many smaller companies were not benefitting from quality website services because they couldn’t justify the ad-hoc consultancy fees charged by specialists, nor were they able to justify the expense of employing their own in-house staff.

"We launched a boutique website service, aimed at delivering the quality service offered by larger companies at an affordable cost.”

The company concentrated on project work, including programming and software development for a range of businesses like PHH and BMW.

In the early millennium, Mr Jarvis steered DMJ towards web development for smaller business, building websites from scratch and then becoming an early adopter of blogging platform WordPress

He added: “I was looking at a way to build websites smarter, predicted that all businesses were going to need a website and realised that not every business was going to be able to afford the cost of a bespoke website. Wordpress provided the perfect solution for clients.”

As well as web design, DMJ offers hosting and support packages for website. The websites are hosted on servers based in West London, in premises powered by 100 per cent green-source renewable energy.

The company now specialises in end-to-end website service for small businesses, from web design to hosting and aftercare, based from offices in Chiseldon. The firm has worked on hundreds of websites for everyone from dog walkers and a chateau owner, to a professional football club and a design agency which brands international airlines.

Mr Jarvis is now expanding DMJ’s website support packages to include a premium website spam protection product, with more benefits to come during 2020.

For more information about DMJ Computer Services, visit https://dmjcomputerservices.com/, emaimartinj@dmjcomputerservices.com, or call 01793 740964.