Local growth to global reach

Carolyn Moses, who co-founded The Config Team, shares her export experiences for Family Business Week.

The Config Team is a tech firm based in Cumbria specialising in SAP supply chain software.

Like many family businesses, success has meant building sustainable, long-term growth, supporting skilled jobs in the UK and overseas, and global revenues flowing back into the UK. 

Founded in the 1990s by husband-and-wife team Andrew and Carolyn Moses, the company began as a small consultancy helping manufacturers and retailers run complex software that ensures their global operations and supply chains run efficiently.  

The business now spans three areas: consultancy, rolling support and its own warehouse software, PreBilt. It employs about 240 people and supports customers in more than 30 countries, while maintaining the family values that shaped it. 

“We wanted our business to be as professional as a big company but with the niceties of a small one, caring about people and the culture”

“In our industry, it’s typical to build a company and sell it, but that’s not us. We’ve grown very cautiously, managing our own cash flow as we grow, which keeps us safe and independent.” 

From the start, The Config Team has worked with some of Britain’s best-known brands, including Cadburys, Heinz and Greggs. But, by 2019, the company was managing a major project for a Swiss pharmaceutical company, its first fully offshore client.  

“There’s always been international work for us,” says Carolyn. “It might start with a UK company, but the next project would be another site in Europe, and then another after that. It shows that British expertise can compete anywhere in the world.” 

International expansion 

In 2021, The Config Team opened a subsidiary in Australia, a move that turned years of international experience into a permanent foothold overseas. 

The opportunity came through two long-time industry contacts who shared the company’s ethos. “We took the risk of starting the business in Australia with those two people,” Carolyn explains. “But within two years we were up to about 15 staff, and now there are around 25.” 

From its new base, the team has led major projects across Australasia. The offices in the UK and Australia complement each other, meaning the company can offer true 24-hour cover. 

That expansion has helped The Config Team reach a milestone: around a quarter of its annual turnover now comes from outside the UK. “We’re proud that we are bringing that revenue back into Britain,” Carolyn adds. “We pay our taxes here, we invest here and we’re growing talent here, that’s what being a responsible family business means to us.” 

Running The Config Team has always been a shared endeavour for the couple, who met while working at Procter & Gamble in Newcastle. The eldest of their three sons has already joined the business and their middle son, who is still at university, is taking an interest.   

“There are lots of ways the next generation can and do contribute to the family business and it would be great if they all wanted to join,” says Carolyn. “The proposed new rules around inheritance tax can make succession harder and that is frustrating. We should be encouraging businesses like ours to stay in family hands.” 

Export lessons 

Like many British companies expanding overseas, The Config Team’s export story hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Working across different time zones, cultures and regulatory systems has brought a few surprises and valuable lessons along the way. 

“When we’ve worked in the Middle East, we realised it’s much more important to make some of the deals face to face,” says Carolyn. “That personal connection really matters in certain markets.” 

In contrast, they have found that American clients are often more comfortable handling complex projects remotely, though the company still believes in making the effort to visit key sites in person when it can. 

One of the biggest shifts has been learning to partner locally rather than go it alone. Carolyn says: “We tried to sell our software ourselves for too long, but eventually we realised we needed to find partners in each region, people who could take our technology and include it as part of their own solutions. That’s how you reach new markets.”