Former Hampshire student wins SME Apprentice of the Year

Surrey has a new rising star in Andrew Doyle, aged 20, who has won the prestigious Apprentice of the Year accolade at the SME National Business Awards. Andrew has worked as an apprentice at Woking-based Invotra for over two years and overhauled the accessibility of its digital workplace services.

Andrew has worked hard to improve accessibility for people with visual impairment across Invotra’s intranet services, which are used by 45% of central government.  He has received mentoring support from government accessibility consultant Leonie Watson, who lost her sight to diabetes.

Doyle has championed Invotra’s approach to accessibility which is now given prominence during product design. All new features and improvements are tested to ensure that they work effectively for people with visual impairments as well as accessibility software users.

Andrew Doyle joined Invotra as a Software Developer Apprentice in 2015, graduated to Level 3 and is now planning to further his career to degree level, probably in analytics. He is a former pupil of The Wavell School and Farnborough Sixth Form College, Hampshire.

The SME National Business Awards took place on Friday 1st December with over 450 business people from across the UK coming together, at Wembley Stadium. With a maximum of 14 companies or individuals shortlisted in any one category, being a winner is a huge achievement.

Alison Galvin, director of HR at Invotra explained the impact of Doyle’s work at the company,  “Thanks to Andrew’s passion for and understanding of accessibility, Invotra has built a reputation for being one of the most accessible digital communications platforms available.  This is naturally a high priority for many of our clients, particularly those in government, who work hard to be inclusive.  The Invotra team is incredibly proud of Andrew’s achievements and we are delighted that he has been recognised publicly.”

Andrew had previously beat off fierce competition at the regional awards before going on to compete and win at the national awards.  

Doyle, who lives in Farnborough, commented; “My apprenticeship has been the making of my career. Invotra has invested in my development and I’m pleased to have contributed positively to the company. I’m seriously delighted to have my achievements recognised and I hope it goes to show you are never too young to make an impact in the world.”

About Invotra: A fast-growing digital workplace company providing online software services designed to transform information systems, improve efficiencies and employee collaboration. The company was established in 2012, by a team of experts with decades of experience. In that time, Invotra has quickly become a trusted supplier to UK government, delivering an easy to use and highly secure digital workplace. Clients include the UK’s Home Office, Department for Work & Pensions, Department for Transport and HMRC.

Invotra has offices in Woking, Newcastle, Dublin and Denver.