IT among the vines in Martinborough

Mike Lace's company has a varied customer base in the lower North Island

By Darren Greenwood, Auckland | Friday, 12 March 2010
The Martinborough region in south Wairarapa is known for wine production, dairy farming and tourism, which makes for an interesting customer mix for Interlace Technology.

Established in 2003 by British-born Mike Lace, the business began when locals started asking for IT support.

Born in Manchester, he emigrated to New Zealand aged four and got into computing at high school. This was followed by electronics work in the military and he has worked in IT since 1990.

The business now employs the equivalent of five full-time staff, with vineyards and dairy farming businesses among the client base, which extends to Masterton and Wellington.

Martinborough, with a population of 1200, also attracts conferences, and Interlace Technology supplies conference equipment such as projectors and laptops.

“Generally, most of the conference providers have their own equipment, but they want an on-site engineer as support,” Lace says.

While the conference trade dropped last year, he says the economic downturn led to more tourists opting for domestic travel rather than heading overseas, which led to extra work from people visiting the region.

This has since turned into a steady source of work, says Lace.

Businesses comprise about 80 percent of custom for Lace Technology currently, and these are mainly small firms with staff numbering 15 or fewer. Supporting local accounting firms is also a niche market for the company.

Lace says the company tries to be selective in the clients it serves, and adopts the same approach when recruiting staff.

“We have a limited number of very skilled staff. Our focus is on high quality work at reasonable rates for selected clients, rather than doing everything,” Lace says.

The company’s sales and service model is a mix of on-site and remote.