Umbraco gold partner, Rock Solid Knowledge, gains B Corp certification

-digital agency focuses on benefitting people, communities and the environment-

Open-source CMS company, Umbraco, has announced that its digital agency partner, Rock Solid Knowledge, has become a certified B Corporation, demonstrating its commitment to reducing its environmental impact and operating for the benefit of employees, customers and communities.

Rock Solid Knowledge joins a growing body of organisations that prioritise their social and environment impact as highly as their profitability. With 1,200 certified B Corps, the UK boasts one of the largest communities in the world, according to certification body, B-Lab.

Directors, Richard Blewett and Andy Clymer, initiated the B Corp certification process because they wanted to ensure that Rock Solid Knowledge continues to be a great company to work with and for. They also see the benefits of B Corp status for attracting like-minded clients and employees and to encourage and maintain a positive company culture, which benefits and influences other organisations.

Tegen Eve, HR Manager at Rock Solid Knowledge, led the certification process and explains that becoming a B Corp has driven positive changes that focus on employees’ health and wellbeing, saying, “We’re a small, growing business so a lot of our B Corp improvements are made in direct response to employees’ needs.”

Emma Garland, senior software engineer at Rock Solid Knowledge, agrees that working for a B Corp has already benefitted employees, saying: “Returning after maternity leave, it was very useful that Rock Solid Knowledge had set up a lactation room/chill out space. That gave me reassurance about coming back as a new mother.”

The B Corp certification must be renewed bi-annually and Tegen Eve acknowledges that the company is continuing to look at new ways to benefit its people, community and the environment: “When we’re developing new policies, we’re constantly asking ourselves, does this reflect responsible, sustainable practices? Being a B Corp really makes us think harder about how we do things and the ways we can do good. It’s made us more socially aware. We don’t work with raw materials, so we’re more focused on making a positive impact and doing whatever we can to reduce negative environmental impacts. As an example, we looked at our office building and we worked with our landlord to switch to a sustainable energy provider“.

Emma Garland also values the way that B Corp has changed the way that the company thinks about the impact of its operations, saying, “I’m really proud to be able to tell friends and family that we’ve gained B Corp status. Going through the certification process has made me look at the carbon footprint of websites and think about how we can reduce that when we build new sites.”

Rock Solid Knowledge believes that its status as an Umbraco gold partner aligns with its values: “Because Umbraco has always been free and open-source, anyone can use it to create a website,” says Emma Garland. “There’s also a community-based accessibility team at Umbraco that works on ensuring that everyone can create, use, and access websites. That really aligns well with B Corp.”

Tegen Eve agrees that this commitment to accessibility is effective, stating, “Umbraco has been designed in such a way that an HR manager like me can use it, and I’m not technical.” They also note that the user-friendly CMS is helping to attract new talent to the company, “An apprentice joined us because we use Umbraco and is really enjoying working with the software.”

Emma Garland also welcomes the way that Umbraco rewards the environment for open-source contributions, saying, “Rock Solid Knowledge employees are given time to give back to the Umbraco community. Umbraco plants trees for unique contributors per minor release, helping to offset its own carbon created by tech.”

Congratulating Rock Solid Knowledge on gaining B Corp status, Umbraco CMO, Javier Miranda said, “We are delighted that Rock Solid Knowledge has become a B Corp. There is a natural fit with B Corporations and Umbraco’s core values of making it easy to create online experiences, allowing anyone to take a great idea, then share and grow it with a global community, so that it becomes a force for good. An increasing number of environmentally conscious and socially responsible companies are selecting Umbraco to underpin the digital experiences that they create. In fact, the B-Lab website itself is built on Umbraco,” says Javier.

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About Umbraco:

Umbraco was founded in 2003 with the vision of making the complex simpler.  Powering +750.000 websites worldwide, Umbraco offers a flexible, user-friendly content management system at the core of its composable digital experience platform (DXP), which seamlessly integrates with best-of-breed third-party applications to provide unlimited functionality and customisation.

A leader in open-source tools and server applications, its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100+ employees, headquartered in Odense, Denmark. For more information, visit www.umbraco.com.

About Rock Solid Knowledge:

Rock Solid Knowledge is a B Corp-certified software development house based in Bristol, UK and founded in 2009. Rock Solid Knowledge is the official European Support Partner to Duende IdentityServer and is an Umbraco Contributing Gold Partner. Two Umbraco MVPs form part of the 22-strong development team. With core values of quality and knowledge, Rock Solid Knowledge pride themselves on being an ethical and experienced company. For more information, visit www.rocksolidknowledge.com.