Web Alliance, the Northampton-based specialist in bespoke CRM, ERP and workflow automation systems, celebrated its 13th birthday in December.
Founded in 2012 by husband-and-wife team Ashish Kumar and Iram Gilani, Web Alliance was created to give smaller businesses access to affordable, flexible and scalable software designed entirely around their processes. Thirteen years later, the company has grown into a trusted partner for hundreds of SMEs, delivering custom-built, high-quality systems that clients fully own from day one.
Web Alliance has evolved from a two-person start-up operating from a family home into a thriving international business. The company now comprises an eight-strong UK account management and consultancy team, supported by a 25-person in-house development team based in India.
The journey behind Web Alliance is deeply personal for both co-founders. Born in a small village in India, Ashish discovered computers as a shy child seeking space to explore and learn. That early passion carried him to the DOEACC University and, after completing a master’s degree in 1999, he started his career as a junior programmer, before progressing through the ranks, working first in India and then moving to Tanzania, which is where he met a colleague named Iram Gilani, who then became his wife.
After early-career roles in India and Tanzania, the couple moved to the UK through the Highly Skilled Migration Programme, overcoming financial hardship, employment hurdles and uncertainty about their future. A pivotal job offer, which enabled Ashish to secure the visa needed to remain in the UK, set the foundations for the life and business they would build in Northampton.
In 2012, while Ashish was still working full-time, he and Iram launched Web Alliance with a simple mission: to create affordable software solutions for SMEs clients. What began with one programmer in India (Ashish’s brother) has grown into a remote development team of twenty-five, all working from their own villages, farms and family homes, supported by an eight-person account management and consultancy team here in the UK.
Ashish Kumar, CEO and co-founder, said: “Thirteen years ago, we believed SMEs deserved better than rigid systems that forced them to change how they work. We wanted to give smaller businesses the kind of bespoke technology normally reserved for large enterprises and we wanted to build it in a way that created opportunities both here in the UK and in my home village in India. Today, I’m proud of the impact we’ve made and even more excited about what comes next.”