Our Story

Our principals have over 20 years commercial experience backed by appropriate technical qualifications.

Our founder Colin Barnes, is an Honours Graduate in Electrical and Electronic engineering from the University of Manchester, and after spending an initial period in industry at British Aerospace he joined his families’ Electrical Contracting business and gained invaluable experience working ‘hands on’ in a busy contracting environment.

Combining this experience with his technical expertise in 1983 he formed Barnes Computing a company specialising in the development, implementation and support of specialist contractor software solutions. Over the next 20 years he managed and expanded the business to establish it is one of the foremost software and support suppliers in this sector, before selling the business to a competitor in 2001. Following the sale and his appointment as a main board Director of the purchasing company, he assisted with the integration of the two businesses to form the largest specialist contractors’ software supplier in the UK. He left in 2004 and co-found
Host -Telecom, an innovative telecom start-up operating in the emerging market of mobile advertising.

At XBC we draw heavily on this experience and offer a range of consultancy service, some of which are generic and are aimed at all SME’s others are specific and draw directly on the experience gained within the contracting sector.

Our experience extends to cover consultancy in all areas of business, with special emphasis on Sales & Marketing, Business Development and Strategic Planning, Finance and Grant Aid and of course ICT.

We are happy to advise or undertake on your behalf: