ADAM Greenwood is in no doubt that the tech companies of the Bournemouth area are making their mark on the world.

“When I first started to see clients in London, they would say ‘Why are you in Bournemouth?’,” he says.

“Now they either wouldn’t mention it, because it’s not relevant, or they will say ‘I’ve heard some fantastic things are going on down there’.”

Mr Greenwood, who founded the digital agency IADigtial six years ago with friend Ian Campbell, was recently appointed to the board of a national industry body, the British Interactive Media Association (Bima).

Earlier this year, the TechNation report identified the Bournemouth area as having the fastest-growing digital economy in the country, with start-ups increasing 212 per cent from 2010-13.

Mr Greenwood says the findings of that report ring true to him.

“There are events like Silicon Beach and Meetdraw where all these agencies get together and share knowledge,” he says.

“It feels right to me, absolutely. It’s a big deal down here.”

Educated at Bournemouth’s Portchester School, 39-year-old Adam Greenwood spent 10 years travelling the world during a career in aviation sales.

He and Mr Campbell worked together in two companies – the software company Immediacy, then an agency in Southampton.

IADigital originally specialised in a particular piece of software but soon grew and added different technologies.

Now it specialises in building websites – not “brochure sites, with a nice picture and nothing else”, but those that deal in customer relations management (CRM) and online commerce.

“We started with two of us and one client,” Mr Greenwood says – the client being the international company Ramsay Health Care.

The company quickly picked up other big companies, such as Dixons, who knew of the team’s track record.

“It was all good timing because the owner of the software we were supporting was sold and the new owner wasn’t interested. The customers were kind of on the back foot and a bit desperate,” Mr Greenwood says.

The company now has 22 staff and is based in a Richmond Hill office building, where Mr Greenwood’s mother – an interior decorator – designed the striking decor and decked out one of the boardrooms like a Victorian study.

“Most brands and organisations like to keep their marketing or digital agencies for 18 months to two years. We’ve never lost a client in six years,” he says.

“That’s to do with the skills of people here and the quality of work and the fact that we don’t build a site and run away.”

Neither have they ever lost a member of staff. “That’s why the culture and environment are so important. Everyone pays about the same money. It’s about what else you’re going to give.”

He says he spends “about half” his time making sure people at work are happy. “In the morning, everyone shakes hands. They don’t have to but they do. Everybody in the first few minutes says ‘How are you?’

“Then at the end of the day they do the same thing. No one wants to come in late because you’ve got to walk around and shake everyone’s hand. No one wants to leave early because you have to do the same thing.

“As tech as we are, we still do business in an old fashioned way – handshakes, always meeting face to face. We travel all over the place to our clients because you can get much more out of it when you sit in front of somebody.”

At a recent demonstration in London, the company illustrated the Seven Deadly Sins for mobile websites. It brought the issue to life by handing out giant foam hands to emphasise the difficulty of navigating tiny touchscreen buttons – and by making people accept a cookie if they wanted the content.

Like most agencies, the company joined Bima, and went on to beat 100 other agencies to build the association’s website.

“We were really excited, really amazed. The scrutiny that site would be under as the flagship website for the body, it had to be amazing,” Mr Greenwood says.

He applied to join the board when a casual vacancy came up, ahead of elections at the AGM.

“I explained my position for the industry and this area and how much I want to grow it,” he said.

“I think that resonated with them because they’re so London-focused. It came at the right time for somebody who’s trying to grow it outside London.

“I’m really excited about extending the membership, getting more involved and making as much noise as possible about this town, this region, so people start to take notice.”