About us

A Dorset Web Agency with a difference

In 2014 the team at Novus Digital, were sent a text message just before Christmas saying that they wouldn’t get paid. A few put their heads together and Chris Ryu (former Technical Director) founded “The Honest Agency.

It was an instant hit!

The secret to it’s success was simple, the team thought back to what was wrong with previous agencies they had worked for or hired and tried to flip the issues on their heads. This resulted in an agency that charged less for the work, gave their team more flexibility and then to take away greed, gave all of it’s profits back to the community!

Unfortunately, it gave too much back and started to face cash-flow problems in 2018. It had founded an educational non-profit arm and opened a STEM education centre in North Dorset (read more below) and while other funding fell through for the centre, Honest stayed true to its word and kept putting money into the centre to keep the children’s activities going. This along with a medical emergency resulted in Honest’s customer service levels dropping and so urgent action needed to be taken so they didn’t become what they set out to destroy.

Dorset Tech was born

Chris teamed up with another agency owner (more on that soon) to agree a 1 year plan to merge 2 agencies as the Honest Tech Group, sharing resources and overheads, but cover 2 very different catchment areas. Both would be social enterprises sharing the original ethos of The Honest Agency, but rather than engaging in lots of community programmes to give back, we’re focused on helping start-ups and non-profits succeed.

Chris Ryu - You're in Safe Hands!

Chris is a serial social entrepreneur who has devoted the last 6 years to trying to make the world a better place. He recognises he’s a small cog in a big wheel, but actively lives by the mantra of:

“Be the change you want to see in the world”

He’s an experienced marketeer, software developer and a proven problem solver. Notable achievements include:

Studied diplomas in Marketing, Fitness & Mechanical Engineering
Former Marketing Manager for Poole Audi & Yeovil Audi
Over 15 years web development experience in over 10 languages
Ran his own successful E-commerce webstores
An integration specialist – achieving “the impossible” on multiple occasions
Former Technical Director for an established agency
Founded a reef preservation society
Volunteers around 15 hours per month

Testimonials

"Honesty and integrity are words flung around way too much. Chris embodies these ideals and it shows in his work and the way he conducts himself. With an absolutely solid understanding of the web as whole and a thorough technical background, he is the perfect mix between client facing communication and a skilled productive developer."

Jonjoe Whitfield

"Chris is a very organised person with outstanding knowledge of the target market. It has been pleasure, both for myself and my team to be able to work with Chris."

Tomasz Dyl

"Chris possibly knows more about Audi than I've had hot dinners.... and I've had a few! He's also a very knowledgeable person in the specialist field of marketing. Put these two together and you have a formidable force on your side"

Paul Bennett

"Can’t recommend Dorset Tech enough they are absolutely amazing!"

Tessa Robinson

"Chris comes highly recommended by me as a creative and experienced Marketing expert. Being very intuitive into market trends his knowledge is very extensive."

Brian Bradly

Dorset Science & Tech Centre

Opened in May 2017, the Dorset Science & Technology Centre was the only privately funded STEM centre in the UK. It’s goal was to promote the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) to children through fun sessions and exhibits. Nearly 60% of students were girls, far exceeding the targets set.

Almost entirely funded by The Honest Agency, but with equipment/zone sponsors including: Santander, Rubicon People, VOIP Unlimited and Dorset County Council, the centre was able to boast the county’s only fixed Planetarium.

Robot Combat Arena
IT Suite
Educational Shop
Makerspace
3D Printing
Laser Cutting Facility
Dinosaur Zone
Space Zone

Mars Zone with Rover
6m Green Screen
Planetarium
Large Centre Telescope
Engineering Zone
Reptile Zone
Bug Zone
Arcade Zone

The centre is now closed while once half is emptied and will re-open in the near future as the new Dorset Tech offices, complete with public makerspace.

Dorset Tech in the Community

How we give back

Donate our time to produce village magazines
Run a kids robot combat club
Free advice service
Donations to local events

Donate hosting to various good causes
Discounted rate for non-profits & companies working with animals/children
Help run local community events
Free/heavily-subsidised projects for good causes

May We Present Our Team

Chris

``Chameleon``

As the owner of a busy agency, Chris wears many hats. He must adapt to market changes and customer styles - he is ``Chameleon``. With a marketing diploma, a dozen programming languages and 15 years experience under his utility belt, Chris is the leader of the Superhero Web Agency.

Adam

``Zeus``

Adam is our Lead Designer and everything he touches turns to gold! He touches every project before it even starts and performs final sign-off to ensure than all our websites are godly!

Andrew

``The Doddler``

Andrew is our Head of Content. He is a master of the written word and can disarm his enemies (bad grammar normally) with his correct use of apostrophes!

David B

``Uno``

Dave is our SEO specialist, keeping up with new developments as they occur and building new innovative strategies to get you the number 1 spot - Numero Uno!

Emma R

TBC

Coming Soon

Emma S

``Klaxon``

Nothing speaks louder than the power of social media and Emma makes Social media look easy! Whether its a specific campaign, or an ongoing awareness project, Klaxon gets the message to your audience like no one else!

Gitesh

``Nightwatch``

Gitesh holds down the fort while we're all sleeping, providing out of hours support via our ticket system. WIth 8 years experience and a broad range of skills, he's the ideal guardian.

Hugo

``Bright Spark``

Our R&D Specialist Hugo has over a decade of experience in R&D for the Motorsport and Aerospace industries. There's little he doesn't know about electronics and as a result, he's our king of prototypes!

Freelance Development Specialists

Our core team are backed up by a network of freelance specialists, from animators and app developers to integration specialists and even special effect artists. This means we always use the right person for the job!

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