A Cwmbran technology business is hoping to expand triple its workforce to nine this year and increase it to 22 by the end of next year.

Hudman, which is based at the Springboard Centre, in Cwmbran, is a developer of business software for SMEs.

Its software is cloud based and is accessible from a wide range of internet enabled devices and as well as being affordable for SMEs it is also capable of managing larger businesses with multiple sites and operations.

Hudman has four directors - Paul Driscoll, a chartered management accountant with over 35 years’ experience in a wide range of industries; Ben Stephens, the technical director responsible for the bulk of the software development; Peter Rennoldson, who has a few decades of digital media experience; and David James, who joined in 2015 as managing director after he invested in the company.

The firm started designing the software in 2008 and by 2009/10 had a ‘beta version’ which was rolled out to a number of local clients.

Due to a lack of investment, the software took a long time to develop around other commitments, until 2014 when the company began seeking investment ready for launch.

Much of 2015 was spent redeveloping and updating the user interface ready for full launch.

Hudman also received an award of £50,000 from the Welsh Government’s Digital Development Fund, which enabled the firm to add a number of additional features.

Mr James, who is Newport born and bred, said: "After some time working away in Gibraltar as head of affiliate marketing for a well-known online bookmaker, I came back to Newport to start a commodity trading business, which was very successful until I exited in 2013.

"I spent some time travelling and looking for the next investment opportunity, and after considering a number of options, I met Paul, Ben and Peter, from Hudman. I loved the products and, although they needed to be refreshed and updated, I knew that they had found a huge gap in the market for affordable ERP software. After investing in the company, I joined as managing director with the aim of releasing the products commercially in early 2016."

He said: "The Springboard Centre is ideal for us as a business at our current stage. It’s filled with a wide range of technology companies and we have already started to build partnerships with other tenants. We are all also located in and around South Wales so it was a logical place for us to be located. Our aim is to stay in South Wales for the long term and we’re keen to contribute to the development of the Silicon Valleys.

"In the short term, we’re focused on attracting as many clients as possible to our system. We strongly believe that we have an industry leading solution which can benefit a huge number of UK businesses. With the manufacturing industry facing an uncertain future at the moment, we feel that an affordable software system such as ours will allow businesses to improve their financial performance without the need to invest huge amounts of money upfront.

"We’re a knowledge-based business and we rely on the availability of skilled software professionals. At the moment, we have a growing creative industry in Wales with an increasing number of digital media companies based in Cardiff and Newport. We don’t foresee any major issues with attracting the right kind of talent over the coming months and we also intend to partner with Welsh universities to access a pool of graduate talent."

The business won the Technology Innovation Award from the South Wales Chamber of Commerce in 2013.