An Interview with Mark Sweeny: Founder and Group Chief Executive of de Novo Solutions
Mark Sweeny, Founder and Group Chief Executive of de Novo Solutions – and Gold Partner of Wales Tech Week 2025 – is no stranger to building successful companies. This year, de Novo Solutions ranked 8th in The Sunday Times 100 list of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, the highest-ranked business from Wales. It’s a remarkable milestone that not only celebrates the company’s phenomenal growth over the past four years but also shines a spotlight on Wales as a hub for innovation, talent, and digital transformation.
In this exclusive interview, Mark shares his reflections on de Novo’s journey so far, the driving forces behind its success, and his vision for the future of both de Novo and the wider Welsh tech ecosystem.
Mark, a huge congratulations on de Novo Solutions’ incredible achievement – ranking 8th in The Sunday Times 100 list of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, and the highest ranked company from Wales. What does this recognition mean to you and your team?
“Big, huge, massive!” to be recognised by The Sunday Times and then rank in the top 10 as one of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies takes it to another level. It is a real testament to every member of the de Novo team and their commitment and contribution to building the company over the past 4 years. It is something everyone can put on their CV, and it will stay with them forever! It really is an award for everyone.
What do you believe has been the driving force behind de Novo’s phenomenal growth over the past few years?
Several members of the de Novo Executive Team were part of our previous venture – Certus Solutions, the original pioneers of Oracle Cloud across UK & Ireland and renowned Public Sector specialists. That company was sold to Accenture in May 2018, but we felt we had significant “unfinished business” that we had not achieved.
Basing the new business in Wales was an insightful and strategic move. “Big fish, small pond,” but with the potential for UK and global reach, and the benefit that as we promoted the company in a very busy landscape, we could also promote Wales in return. This was helped by the fact that ServiceNow only had one strategic partner in the country, and Oracle had nobody based here. Wales also gave us the ability to leverage the Welsh Government’s apprenticeship scheme, providing a baseline from day one to create a sustainable company addressing the digital skills crisis we have in the company.
So, with a fledgling Welsh infrastructure in place, we focused from the outset on what we saw as the many missed opportunities. With assistance – shall we say – of market forces working in our favour, we reset our stall, putting “delivering excellence” at the very heart of our propositions. We began developing our own Industry Cloud Solutions for key market segments using both ServiceNow and Oracle Cloud technology, leveraging new innovations, like artificial intelligence and all wrapped with a differentiated managed services proposition – Value as a Service™ – where we focused on maximising our clients’ financial return on investment in Cloud technology.
All of this combined with our rich heritage in Public Sector, has seen our services adopted by the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Justice, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – where it all started back in 2016, with the first implementation of Oracle Cloud in Central Government. More importantly, we have won significant new business and long-term contracts with Kent County Council and, nearer to home, Swansea City Council.
For those who may be new to de Novo Solutions – what’s the big idea behind the company, and how are you redefining digital transformation in the public and private sector?
The big idea behind de Novo is taking advantage of the latest Cloud innovations available in the ServiceNow and Oracle Cloud platforms by creating pre-packaged Industry Cloud Solutions with specific functionality required for a given industry, all serviced by our managed services operation – Value as a Service™ (VaaS™). This focuses not just on fixing things when they go wrong, but on measuring the value our services provide to ensure we maximise our customers’ long-term investment in Oracle Cloud technology.
With Certus, we built a blueprint for Central Government. That blueprint today sits under the ONS, HM Treasury, Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service. Consequently, we recognised the value of having a pre-packaged blueprint accelerator. However, with de Novo, the industry has gone beyond digitalising standardised business processes for Finance, Procurement, HR, and Payroll. Now, we have the ability to create custom workflows over a standardised framework that reflects the way people actually work. This is what we consider to be the experience economy. Consequently, we now have our own Industry Cloud Solutions for Central Government, Local Government, Education (Multi-Academy Trusts), and in the future, Police. For those organisations that really struggle or openly admit they cannot digitally transform themselves, we are now venturing into providing Business Process Outsourcing services, initially for Payroll, using our Cloud solutions from Langstone, Wales.
Looking back, how has your journey as CEO shaped the company’s direction and culture, and what have been the most pivotal moments so far?
Unfortunately, and it is with regret, when we sold the original company Certus, we could not capitalise on the market opportunity as we saw it through the acquisition. Consequently, I felt I had a significant amount of “unfinished business”. However, I had also been on a sabbatical for three years, and I could see the market was changing, with entrepreneurship becoming more widely recognised and spoken about in the UK. Also, I am smart enough to recognise you never stop learning, and I wanted to understand how the next generation were thinking and going about their own entrepreneurial journeys. So, I went back to my roots to gain new insight into the tech scene. In doing so, I quickly appreciated the amount of knowledge and experience I had from building a company through to selling it. Not many entrepreneurs actually manage to sell a company for financial return. So, my previous experience, and also that of my long-term business partner Tim Warner, has significantly influenced every aspect of de Novo’s operations. Put simply, we really do know where many of the “landmines” that plague business ventures are, and more importantly, how to navigate around them.
de Novo has seen several pivotal moments in what has been a relatively short journey to date. These include, winning our first deal – it took us six months of hard work, but after that the stars aligned and the dominoes started to fall. The creation of our apprenticeship scheme, now in its fourth year in partnership with University of South Wales, has seen our first apprentice graduate! We re-established ourselves in the Public Sector by winning our largest and long-term managed services contract with Swansea City Council. We also won our largest implementation and most high-profile Oracle Cloud contract to date with Kent County Council, which when it goes live later this year will be another pivotal moment and another chapter written.
In a tech landscape that’s constantly shifting, how does de Novo stay one step ahead, and what role does innovation play in your strategy?
Technology has always been about the impact it has on people. Knowing this, and it will never change, we look to constantly leverage new innovation being provided by Oracle and ServiceNow, creating our own products and services that specifically address “pain” points in given industries. We have our own R&D capability, and with the extension of our business operations in Chennai, India, we have been able to really learn and understand how artificial intelligence can be used – specifically when it comes to our AI digitally driven Business Process Outsourcing services. This is yet another differentiator we have created that sets us apart from our competition.
From your perspective, how would you describe the current energy and momentum in Wales’ tech ecosystem right now?
The Welsh technology ecosystem is one of fantastic potential and is already known for punching above its weight. The country offers something different to London and the other major tech hubs across the UK. Not only does it have a relatively untapped local talent pool, but it also has a real desire and a forward-thinking mentality to promote itself on the global stage. Being a small country, it is also more accessible, and trade bodies like Technology Connected and Fintech Wales are very good at engaging the Welsh Government, academia, and business. Collaboration across bodies gives us a louder voice. As I say, let the dragon roar!
As someone who’s helped build one of Wales’ most successful tech companies, what do you see as the biggest opportunities for growth in the region?
I think Wales has an incredible untapped talent pool. I have worked down here for 20 years and have always seen this. de Novo has allowed me to leverage it. From the local colleges through to being able to leverage graduates from Welsh Universities, tech organisations can address the digital skills gap and over time build a highly skilled, sustainable workforce.
Initiatives such as the Welsh Government Graduate Apprenticeship scheme are just one way that businesses can access this talent pool and get young people into tech.
Not to mention Talent4Tech!
You’ve spoken in the past about the importance of collaboration – what does effective collaboration look like to you, and how can it help Welsh tech scale even faster?
Collaboration comes in many forms.
The most relevant example is leveraging the Welsh Government Graduate Apprenticeship scheme. de Novo is now in our fourth year, and we have collaborated with the University of South Wales to deliver our apprenticeship programme, which has just seen our first apprentice graduate this year. By September, we will have introduced 10 young people into the industry through this route.
What more do we need to do to ensure Wales isn’t just growing, but leading on the global tech stage?
We need to do more to promote ourselves as a successful, vibrant tech ecosystem. It’s a two-way street; we need the Welsh Government to continue developing business-friendly policies, and we also need to support the Welsh Government. In doing so, we can generate economic growth.
As a tech community, we need to support one another where we can, celebrate each other’s successes, and in doing so, promote Wales as a place to do business. The more we do this together, the more we create the narrative for the industry and the country – and we all win and benefit.
Let’s talk talent. How can successful tech businesses like yours help unlock and nurture the next generation of digital leaders in Wales?
It requires investment, and it is not straight forward, as developing talent is a long-term commitment. However, while businesses can create opportunities and/or take advantage of such initiatives as the Welsh Government Apprenticeship scheme, the Welsh Government still has to step up and get the message out early through the education system about the opportunities the tech industry offers. But with all things, we have to be proactive and engage with the Government to make this happen. We have a great untapped talent pool, and we want that talent pool to stay in Wales. Through this and promotional activities to keep Wales on the global map, the next generation of digital leaders will come through. Trade bodies like Technology Connected has that important role to play in “connecting” people across the ecosystem.
If you could fast-forward five years, where do you hope to see de Novo – and Welsh tech more broadly?
de Novo has significant potential. Now, with the latest artificial intelligence functionality found in the ServiceNow and Oracle platforms, we can power our own state-of-the-art Business Process Outsourcing operation, offering payroll services. With a focus on the public sector, predominantly Local Government and Education, we see a route for de Novo, using the Industry Cloud Solutions it has created, to become a £50m revenue turnover company.
You’re a Gold Partner of Wales Tech Week 2025 – what made you want to align so strongly with the event, and what do you hope to gain (and give) through it?
Wales has been good to me personally and also to de Novo. It is our home. A key part of our success has been in being a Welsh-based company, as it has allowed us to differentiate ourselves against the immediate competition and be a positive voice in the marketplace. In doing so, we reciprocate and promote Wales as a place to do business. The more tech businesses that start or relocate here, the stronger the ecosystem – and in turn, our voice.. Wales is a great place to live.
What are you most excited about at Wales Tech Week – and why should other business leaders, professionals, and future founders make time to attend?
First and foremost, it is a great opportunity just to learn from one another and experience first-hand what is going on across the tech industry, with insights from recognised tech industry leaders, respected academia, and of course the Welsh Government. It is a very diverse sector, and there is truly something for everyone.
Secondly, it’s a great opportunity to network, especially with the fringe events; as Technology Connected brings together Government, academia, and business all under one roof. Finally, it is possible to promote and win business here. From the last event in 2023, we subsequently generated £250K revenue from just one introduction and one conversation.
Finally, if you had a magic wand, what would your vision for Wales’ tech future look like?
I tend to live by the metaphor “Go big or go home”. So, I want to see Welsh tech recognised as a global leader, with people queuing up wanting to start businesses here and generating money that will stay in the local economy.
We have plenty of valleys here in Wales, so what is stopping us from being the next Silicon Valley? However, we need the Welsh Government to recognise this and use their devolved powers to create as favourable an economic environment as possible. We must make it happen. If you look more closely, we already have a great semiconductor industry, one of the largest data centres primed for artificial intelligence, and we have a vibrant Fintech startup community, with a great track record specifically in the insurance sector. Whilst it is challenging to attract VC and PE capital to Wales, the more success stories we create and companies break through on the global stage, from my experience, the more success attracts investment. We won’t be ignored by those with external capital if we demonstrate success. That part is in our own gift.