At VOODOO, we’ve always prided ourselves on the work we’ve done in helping to make SMS marketing more accessible, and as part of our continued investment in the technology, we’ve recently opened the doors of a brand new Technical Innovation Hub.

Our new Technical Innovation Hub will be based in Ancoats, close to Manchester’s burgeoning Northern Quarter, and will be used to invest in research and development work designed to enhance VOODOO’s powerful messaging platform, as well as helping businesses to unlock the potential offered by the next generation of Rich Communication Service (RCS) messaging. RCS is widely regarded as being the natural successor to SMS text messaging, due to the enhanced levels of flexibility and security offered by the technology.

We have also welcomed on board Rob Kerr, who joins the VOODOO team as its new Technical Director.

Rob’s background as an Agile software developer and business analyst has seen him help a diverse range of businesses and public sector organisations during his career and he brings with him a wealth of industry expertise and knowledge as we turn our attentions to helping business embrace the many new opportunities made possible through the next generation of SMS technology.

For nearly a decade Rob was part of the BBC’s online development team where he led the successful technical redevelopment of the corporation’s GCSE Bitesize service. Rob helped to transform a tired, static website into a modern interactive experience for end users. His work on the project included the development of a new content management system, as well as collaborating with internal content teams and examination boards to ensure relevant course content covering a varied range of syllabuses was available within the platform. Today, Bitesize is accessed by over half a million users each week.

Rob will oversee our team of in-house developers and will be based in our new Manchester hub, and he’s already making his presence felt. When we asked him what he was looking forward to most in his new role, Rob said, “Demand for mobile messaging as a business communication tool has mushroomed in recent years and I am looking forward to helping VOODOO deliver on the potential of the next generation of mobile messaging technology. The telecoms and mobile marketing sectors are constantly evolving and changing, which is an attractive challenge.”

So why Manchester? Well, as our MD Gareth Davies said, “Manchester has a truly international reputation for the innovative work delivered by the city’s digital and technology sectors. With so much knowledge and expertise to call upon, it was the natural choice. We knew the city was brimming with seasoned developers and developing a presence in the city was something we saw as being central to the company’s future growth plans and the opening of our new Manchester Office coupled with Rob’s appointment is a significant milestone in the VOODOO story.

“Rob joins VOODOO at an exciting time for the business, one in which we’ve enjoyed a significant period of growth. However, we’ve never been an organisation to rest on our laurels and we are committed to helping our customers harness some of the latest technology available within the mobile messaging market.”